How to get work experience for the job after degree?

It is a prevalent fact that in today’s times it is very difficult to get a high-paying job after a degree without work experience. Almost all employers, interviewers, and companies are looking for experienced job candidates.

If you think about it, It is a paradox that an unproven employee remains unproven because no one is willing to give him a chance to prove himself. If he doesn’t have any experience he can’t get a job but he can’t get experience because no one gives him a job. A confusing and frustrating situation that makes many people lose hope and even give up.

I agree, that getting your first break in a profession can be difficult when you are up against people who have the experience to show, but take my word for it that it is not impossible if you show your potential to the employer in a creative way. If you can prove that you can be a valuable asset to his business then you are as good as hired.

A confusing and frustrating situation that makes many people lose hope and even give up. I agree, that getting your first break in a profession can be difficult when you are up against people who have the experience to show, but take my word for it that it is not impossible if you show your potential to the employer in a creative way. If you can prove that you can be a valuable asset to his business then you are as good as hired.

Companies prefer experienced candidates because they believe that an experienced candidate will start benefiting their company from the 1st day after hiring. In general, 90 job candidates out of 100 are not getting the job because they don’t have any work experience. Completion of an MBA, or MCA degree is not a guarantee that you will be hired but it is helpful.

Education does not equate to experience but you can extract and demonstrate useful experiences that you have had during your degree, from on-field projects, and from internships that you have finished so far. Interviewers are looking for job-relevant skills and knowledge derived from prior education or training and also from work experiences mentioned in the resume.

It is true that employers don’t want to take a risk on an unproven employee but if you can validate your skills in a tangible way then those requirements don’t matter to the employer as much as your capability of executing the job.

That’s why the real competition starts after your degree. The problem is not with all graduates and masters who completed their degrees with higher rank from top institutions like IIT, IIM, and the University of Delhi. The problem is faced by the other 50% of students according to what I feel who graduated from lower-ranked universities and institutions in India. The decrease in the unemployment rate is very low and the speed with which this is happening is even slower, despite spending a similar amount of money every year.

Getting back to the topic after this thought, let’s think about how to get your first work experience. To do this you have to use the knowledge you obtained from your degree and display creativity while presenting yourself to potential employers. But questions that arise within a fresher are varied- how to get a job without work experience? How do add work experience to a resume?

And where to find the jobs in which experience is not required? These types of questions are often going through a student’s mind after the completion of the degree. Freshers have to roll large wafers to get their first job.

Today I am sharing with you the different imaginative ways with which you can get work experiences and ideas that will be helpful in your career progression. And I believe that if you follow the suggestions written below then you can get practical work experience and a high-paying job too.

So, let’s start! The first thing we need to know – is what is work experience?

According to Wikipedia, “Work experience is any experience that a person gains while working in a specific field.” That is OK! But I think the main goal is a successful career in the field you have selected for yourself.

The success of your career depends on your knowledge and passion to excel. Let’s take a look at an example of an accounts professional, and a programmer and how both can formulate their plan to get work experience based on their skills and interests.

Case Study: Steps for a successful career according to me!

1st: Identify your Interested Career – e.g. Accounting, Programming

2nd: Display your Knowledge/Degree/Skills/ – e.g. CA, MCA, Basic knowledge of computer

3rd: Explain your work experience through prior jobs – e.g. working under CA, assistant programmer, working on a personal project from home.

4th: Define your permanent work (job), Business/ Lifetime job – e.g. Authorized charted account, Web/Software Developer, Website development company.

5th: Repeat – e.g. updated skills and knowledge, salary Increment, new project or job.

The above is just a sample, which you can create for yourself by analyzing your skills, time, situation, expectations, and definition of career success. The definition of a successful career and the steps for a successful career can be different for everyone.

Ideas to get work experience for a first job or high-paying jobs or for the first project

1. Create a plan to get work experience for the job

It is very important that you create a plan that will get you to experience upon proper execution. You can do the following things to start the process of getting work experience.

(i) Create a list of things you can do practically related to your degree. For example, If you learned to program in MCA in which you are interested to learn more and you’re performance in programming is great, you should emphasize this and the corresponding bullet point should look like this:

Programming skills -> Proficient in PHP/ASP.NET/JAVA.

(ii) Set Time Limits – Set the time duration of 6 months or 1 year, which you want to allocate for getting more and more work experiences related to programming or any other field. Your goal for the preset period of 1 year is only to get more work, more answers, learn how to handle more duties and increased responsibilities, and get a better understanding of the programming industry and skills in demand at the moment.

Don’t focus on money initially, be willing to get your hands dirty. Focus on improving your skills and enhancing your knowledge. Money will come automatically once you understand the pulse of the industry you want to work in.

(iii)Define desired Job or designation – Ask yourself what exactly is it that you want to do for earning your livelihood. You can also write answers to questions in your work experience plan such as what kind of job you want to do? What kind of designation do you want for yourself? What do you want to be known for? For example HR Managers, Project Managers, Team leaders, Designer, assistants, Senior PHP developers or etc.

2. Find work in your local city

No matter which city you’re living in you will get work related to your degree if you know where to look. But you have to be creative and work hard to find the few and far-between jobs available. You can use the following methods to find work and attain work experience in your local city:-

(i) Network and communicate about your skills with people in the know. Get in touch with people who have established businesses in your field. Ask them questions about their working methods and business advancement strategies. Ask them what kind of help they need in their business or career. If only 1 out of 10 people responds to your question then talk to the person that you can help. Don’t explain everything instantly.

But convey that you have to do little research and then create a plan and show the process of how you’re going to help this person. After you complete the work successfully, take a written note or feedback from this person. This is your 1st work experience.

Let’s understand this in an example: For instance, you ask the person about their business promotion, and how they promote business online. You discuss the benefits for your business using Facebook. Then if the client is interested, you can pitch the idea of starting a Facebook page, investing in Facebook ads, cross-promotion within related groups, getting more likes/traffic, and Facebook call to option by showing examples of other local businesses using Facebook for promotion.

I am 100% sure that they will look upon this very soon and make inquiries about this. Now you will have to learn a few things about Facebook promotion, which you may not have learned in your degree course. No matter how much this person is paying you, weigh your efforts and time spent against the work experience you are gaining.

(ii)Visit and volunteer at NGOs, companies, and business shops in your local area or city. Ask them questions about what kind of problems they are facing in their business and offer to volunteer without worrying about money at first. And ask what kind of solutions they are looking for. Tell them that you’re looking for work and will be able to help them with such things with little cost or no cost. Don’t tell them that you need a job. Tell them that you have the solution to their problem and here is how you can help.

For example, Local businesses are facing problems about how to compete with online or eCommerce sites. How can they start online marketing? How can they make their employees more productive? How can they attract more customers? If you have an idea that clicks they will definitely hire you. Don’t talk about money at the first chance, your goal is to apply your skills and original thinking, execute a business or management strategy, and experiment with your creativity and knowledge.

Another example: NGOs or Businesses need their own websites; brochure designs, advertisement banners, office decorations, marketeers, helpers, and most importantly customers or buyers, etc. If you are able to do the job successfully, well, and well, but even if you failed at doing it, learn from the mistakes and in both cases ask for feedback in writing.

(iii)Golden tip: Find out about businesses that are failing or suffering losses. Find businesses in which sales are low, the staff is minimum and they don’t have an innovative or creative growth strategy. You will notice that you will get more work experience from small-scale business people. Make your intentions known that you want to help in learning how to expand business and success rate.

3. Personal branding

Brand your personal or professional skills on the internet to stay visible to potential employers. Promote your image by becoming an expert in your field. One way to do this is to continually keep learning about the trade and executing groundbreaking plans that result in increased revenues for a company. Also, keep looking for online jobs and work consistently to build a good reputation.

(i) Create a Facebook page related to whatever skills and knowledge you possess. Invite your friends to like your page and share the things you are learning related to your field on your page and on other similar pages as well to increase the reach. For example, if you’re looking for a business manager or management-related job then share your knowledge about HR management, marketing management, staffing, employees productivity etc.

If you’re looking to become a web designer then share what you know about it and what you find interesting on the internet. Share content related to the importance of the website for local businesses, how to use the website as a marketing tool etc., and other promotional ideas.

The primary benefit of doing this is that you can learn while you’re researching and sharing. The secondary benefit is free additional promotion for business people who are using Facebook. A business is always looking for sales and business development. Most business people or professionals are using Facebook for knowledge and business reasons. That’s why it is easy for them to contact you because you are, let’s say, a local web designer.

Your knowledge and skills influence others to contact you. The better you get at understanding the demand of a business, the better are your chances of finding success in jobs and better your work experience from it. You can also highlight total likes, comments, shares or Facebook page links in your resume. It will make a difference and provide evidence that you’re a tech-savvy candidate. It will influence the decision of employers or interviewers while choosing the right candidate for the job.

(ii) Create a profile on freelancing websites related to your skills and apply for projects. For example, Upwork.com, freelance.in, people per hour, evanto, Behance etc. are freelancing websites in which you can bid for projects and showcase your talent and skills. The benefits of using these freelancing platforms for work experience are the following:

You will get knowledge about the skills that are in high demand in the market, and about the latest developments and updates in your field and professions related to your degree.

If you do bidding then you will learn after failure or success how to apply for jobs or bid for projects? What is important for landing a job? How other people similar to your category are presenting their skills and getting success.

You can give skills tests on freelancing websites, especially on Upwork and it will increase your knowledge and expertise besides providing proof of your skills and command of the subject. When you go through this process of sending job proposals and facing Skype interviews, you will learn valuable new things related to interpersonal communications and get a depth understanding of practical things you can use from your degree.

If you can get a job on a freelancing site then the best part is that you can also work from home. The benefit of this is that you will get experience and income along with sufficient time to spend with your family or to complete other important tasks in life.

You can also add screenshots of the above-mentioned things to your resume. Such as if you’re in the top 10% or top 30% in the skills test results on Upwork, highlight this fact to leave a good impression. Also, the screenshot of feedback you got from clients can be included to show transparency and honesty in your work ethic.

4. Create your own website

This is really important for personal branding and for getting work experience. Your personal website is like Adhar Card on the Internet, it defines you as a person, your passions in life, your work experiences, and your career direction in real-time to everyone out there. I think every professional and student should have their own website.

Fortunately, WordPress and the use of the free themes are easy to start the process. If you’re in the web designing field or looking for web design work experience then it is most important for you that you have your own website that showcases your talent and skills. You can create your professional profile on your website and share knowledge, skills and creativity.

And whatever ideas you have to grow business or for business development or personal development, write about these things related to your interest and knowledge. You will get the following benefits from this:

(i) When you market your skills on the Internet it will create big chances of getting clients from around the world.

(ii) You can add your website content like screenshots, testimonials or referrals in your resume or job proposal as a reference for your skills. This will make a positive impact on employers who will consider this substantial work experience.

(iii) If you are into blogging and like to write about interesting things, write on topics related to your skills on your website/blog then it will expand your knowledge further. And in this process of blogging, you will get interested employers, clients, and followers for your skills and knowledge. People will pay you for your ideas and If Google likes your website and knowledge the world is then at your fingertips and you can generate many income sources.

(iv) If you have a website and people like you and are following you for your solutions and knowledge then it will increase your professional confidence and knowledge consistently.

5. Collect and share your work experiences

Whatever you come across during your professional life, take it as a lesson, be it good or bad. Do not try to hide a bad experience from your profile or resume but learn from it and display how it has changed you for the better.

Similarly do not be overconfident or arrogant about your achievements and stay humble and work-oriented. You can follow these guidelines while collecting and sharing your work experiences.

(i) During the process of doing above mentioned works, whatever feedback and response you get from employers should be documented and recorded for future reference. You can also create presentations and share the success stories with others in your resume.

(ii) Give the reference to your website, and Facebook page during the discussion related to your career to people you meet with. List the work experiences you have had with a local business or with overseas clients on your website and ask people to visit the website to read about them in detail

(iii) Request people to share and give your reference to interested people in your skills. A satisfied client or customer will readily recommend you to others when he acknowledges the quality of your work and trusts you.

If you follow and execute the above-mentioned suggestions for getting work experience, first job tips, and resume ideas with a little creativity, a little more learning, and lots of hard work then you will definitely get your first job and work experience within 1 or 2 months after the completion of the degree. Big companies and interested people will start to contact you with offers of high salaries.

Conclusion: I know the above plans and ideas can be difficult to execute but they are not impossible to bring to action. Taking one step at a time towards your goal is the way to start when you are new.

In the end, I will say only this that don’t cultivate a job seeker mindset but think like a freelance service provider. It is indeed tough to get a job after a degree without experience but if you think like a freelancer or service provider who can solve people’s problems then you will get big offers from the beginning.

I know it is possible that you’re thinking about how to do it? Do I know anything? Do I have prior experience in doing this? Is it a good or bad decision to apply without experience? Should I apply for a job that asks for 1 or 2 years’ experience? Don’t be pessimistic when you see “1-2 years experience preferred” as a requirement for a job posting.

Apply for it anyway and you will realize that several inexperienced people have done the same thing. Interestingly, some of them will even beat the candidates who have more work experience than them, and you should aim to be one of those people.

Do not forget that you will get work experience only when you are willing to experiment with work. No one was or will be born on this earth with an experience certificate. We have to do everything on our own to establish ourselves.

Everyone is ready to help us but first, we have to help ourselves. Experience comes later first comes your desire and passion to do something of worth. The Internet is full of knowledge and resources that will help you in your career, you just need to stay positive and curious about learning and upgrading your skill set.

The topic is very wide; I hope I have explained everything clearly! I know that some points sound difficult to implement and seem too imaginative and bold but give them a try and see the results. It is my strong belief that by following these ideas you can get the work experience that every employer demands before giving you a job.

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