How can I work around not having any job experience? (employment, applying)

[Raymond Stereo]

To sum up my current situation, I've only ever worked helping out at my uncle's office (he runs his own little graphic design/advertising company) on and off since I was 19, getting paid "under the table". Apart from that, I've been unemployed while attending college, living with and at the expense of my parents. The financial aid that I've gotten, being a dependent has certainly helped as well. I'll finally begin "paying" them back for their sacrifice and for putting up with me when I graduate (with honor) and earn my A.A degree this Spring, and go on to start towards my Bachelor's in the fall. There are other reasons why I haven't seeked a job up until now, but they're personal so I'd rather not mention them.

While that's fine and dandy, I'm also well aware that, being 23, I'm at a big disadvantage for not having held a job up to this point, both personally and professionally. It's my dirty little secret, and I can't help but feel the flames of criticism crawl up under me whenever I dare mention it (feeling it right now as a matter of fact). Far from just standing here and whining about my predicament, I've taken career planning courses and workshops and plan to attend a career fair here at my college, all a part of my plan to get up to speed and seek employment for this summer, now that I've a lot of free time and the bare minimum (to say the least) of an A.A degree.

It's going to be a humbling experience for sure, and I'm expecting to start at the very bottom whenever I apply, but my worry is the interviews. When employers and recruiters see my sparse resume, or ask me about job history and references, will telling the truth get me deep-sixed on the spot? Or can I mention that I've worked that under the table job and/or going to school all this time?

I always here how about this Catch-22; "no job experience yet no opportunity to gain it because of a lack of", or something like that. Is there anything I can do about that?

Personally, I hope no one, whereever I work at, outside of those who hired me, find out about my (lack of) job history. Very easy to judge someone in that situation.

[malamute]

I think at age 23 with very little work history, you're not so different than a lot of people today - and at least you have some college that shows you were doing something. I think until you get some kind of job - any entry level job doing anything, you're at a disadvantage if competing against someone with a good work history - but it's not like you're 30 and never had a job.

If you're worried about what co-workers might think, just tell them you worked for your uncle -- that should be good enough. Again - I don't think your situation is all that rare.

[swmrbird]

It's good that you know you will be starting at the bottom - most college grads do.

Here's my advice: List working at your Uncle's place as previous employment (I'd leave out the part about being paid under the table, though). If you were in any clubs, honor societies, ect, list those and how you were involved.

There are many ways to write a resume - while chronological and organized by education, employment, ect is very common - you would probably do much better finding an alternative format. Do a little google search. Instead, highlight skills you have, particular classes you took that directly apply to the job you are applying for, ect.

You've got to start somewhere, and someone will understand that. Plus, having a degree helps.

You can prepare for interview questions just like anyone else. If they ask for an example of a time when you faced a tough decision - it won't be about a prior work experience necessarily. Which is fine, it's more about how you answer the questions as opposed to the particular answers themselves.

Don't use not having prior work experience as an excuse not to answer questions or have examples. Do a little planning and you'll be fine.

Don't hide your lack of work experience, but be prepared to explain it and supplement it with valid experiences (i.e you focused on school, or you can even say 'due to personal issues I choose to focus on school and I didn't want to stretch myself thin by working at that time')

Best of luck!

[Raymond Stereo]

Thanks for the advice!

There's a career fair at my college this upcoming Monday, which I'll be attending. Given my lack of job experience, and seeing as I'm majoring and will soon graduate w/ an A.A in Liberal Arts (yet another red flag, though I won't continue on to a B.A/S in Liberal Arts I assure you!), my resume's looking pretty sparse no matter how I slice it. Only subject I've taken anything resembling advanced courses for is English; aside from my program requirements I've taken a lot of filler electives. Jack of all trades, master of nuffin'. Only thing of note I can post is being on the Dean's List and my GPA, along with the few skills I have, and hope for the best as I hand out my resume at the fair. I'm mostly going for the experience of being there, but not really having hopes for much else.

[twinmma]

How about putting Freelance Graphic Design on your resume? (Is that what you did there?) You You could put years then:
Freelance Graphic Design 2005-2007
or whatever the years are.

You don't need to hide the truth but you don't need to say it either. For example when someone says Why Did You Leave Your Last Job most people wouldn't say "B/c My Boss Sucked" they would come up with something like "It just wasn't the right fit for me" or something like that.

Write a cover letter explaining what you have done with your time. SOmething along the lines of "For the last 4 years I have been focusing on my education while obtaining real world experience as working as a freelance graphic designer for a small company." Then go on to point out why you want the job you are applying for and what strenghts you can bring to the table. To me having people skills is much more important than say technical stuff like Excel. (Personal opinion here)

Good luck!

[SouthBound47]

I would recommend an internship with a local politician that you like. They'll give you an internship, it's easy work, they'll generally let you work as little as you want, and give you a recommendation at the end (if you do well). If you volunteer your services with them well you'll network with rich and influential people.

[brightdoglover]

Your work with your uncle is job experience. It's no one's business how you were paid. If you did work, you worked. You could, uh, extend the time you worked there. A little inflation.
What B.A. are you considering?

[Alaskan Mutt]

You are only 23. Employers are not going to expect you to have years of work experience. If you are still working part time for your uncle, then you have 4 years of work experience. In fact depending on what you are doing for your uncle, your work experience could be quite valuable. The only work experience most people have by the time they graduate from college is at fast food joints, retail, or labor type jobs.

If you are finding it hard to get hired on at what you want to do, you might want to consider targeting companies have have a need for your skills and apply for any unskilled entry level job within the company. This could be as an office assistant, mailroom clerk, or even building maint positions. Then once you have shown you are a hard worker, start applying internally for positions in your desired field.

[Raymond Stereo]

I'm seeking to pursue the television/video production field when I go for my Bachelor's. So I'll be majoring in Film, Media Studies, any sort of related major.

I really didn't do much working for my uncle. I had no hands-on experience with what he works in, with good reason because I'm not knowledgeable about graphic design. I simply helped around in his office and did odd jobs (i.e handed out flyers for promotional events), seeing as his company was/is a one-man operation, and he needed a helping hand.

Right now, I am indeed looking for an entry-level job. In anything (hopefully allowing me to maintain as much dignity as possible). It'd be foolish of me to expect anything more. What I'm worried about is being underqualified for even that. As you can see I'm not very confident in myself.

[malamute]

Maybe you could find a company that deals with film, media or any related kind of thing and get some entry level job doing any thing while you work on your major. Look for entertainment venues in your town, get hired in doing something because that will expose you to some of the right kind of people and help you to learn the lingo, how everything fits together.

Your problem is your confidence, and that will reveal itself - but if you can do anything well, then you can do the next higher step well. Probably what you did for your uncle's business you could do for another business but you probably think you have only gotten by with your family's help -- and maybe that was the case but now is the time to change that.

Passing out flyers - that could transfer into some kind of advertisement skill and you can branch out from there. Even if you know your job didn't require much, it required some thing and at age 23, you just need to build and build and build your skill set. At age 23, you're not unique in having little job history or confidence.