Module 150 - No Experience Dilemma

Finding job and career of your dreams and overcome the 'no experience' obstacle and many of us face

How many times have you hears a recruiter telling you or someone that you know that you were not selected for a job or that your resume did not meet minimum job requirements, in other words that you did not have necessary experience that potential employer was seeking? I know I have heard that statement or something very similar a few times myself. However, the question that I kept on asking was – “How do I obtain required experience for a career in question if all I keep on hearing is “you do not have necessary experience in this line of work?” And, nobody was willing to help me by pointing me in the right direction and help me to understand what I can do in order to gain such experience and where.

So, the only way I know to start in something new, something I’ve never done before is to start somewhere, position myself somewhere where I can begin learning and in-turn building the experience that was so necessary before I could be considered as a strong candidate for the job and line of work I was seeking. That start was far away from where I ultimately wanted to be professionally, however, that’s what I saw as a solution to the “no experience” roadblock I continued to face for some time.  Therefore, starting my journey towards the career I wished for was at the very beginning – getting an entry level job in a filed that I felt was the closest to where I wanted to ultimately get to. I was never afraid of doing a lot of work and putting in 100% of effort I everything that I was assigned or asked to do, on top of my standard job requirements. Any projects? Sign me up. Have I done the things that I had to do in each project I volunteered myself for? Absolutely not, but what I knew was that I can begin to work on a project and learn about specifics and things that I didn’t know in the process from books, online materials and, of course, from people around me – my peers and leadership team. What happened was that I’ve learned a lot in the process, I’ve learned to do things that I’ve never done before, all by starting somewhere and doing my 100% in everything I was doing, while volunteering for any available opportunity where I could, learn a new skill or enhance an existing one. With time I began moving along the experience acquisition journey, getting closer to where I wanted to end up as for my career goals, while learning a log in the process.

During my professional journey, I’ve worked in many different lines of work, in many different industries, learning a new skill or skills from each experience, and adding more and more experience checkmarks to my professional resume. After few years, yes, years, I could say with strong degree of confidence and with my professional experience backing up me up, that I not only had received necessary job experience for the job(s) and career I was seeking, I had also acquired few additional professional skills that did and will continue to help me to stand out among tough competition.

So, the moral of this story is – it’s possible to reach your career goal in the industry that you wish to work in by starting somewhere, starting at the very beginning in the entry level role/position within the industry you hope to work in one day, and begin investing into your personal and professional growth and development, working hard in everything you do, asking for extra projects to work on and learning new skills in the process. Help is there, all you need to do is ask. Ask your peers, ask your boss, or member of the training and leadership groups. Be hungry for knowledge and information, and don’t hesitate to ask questions when you find yourself stuck. Problem-solving often can be the best teacher when learning something new. Most importantly, do not get discouraged if it takes you a long time or longer than you had expected to find and receive your dream job. It may take few days, few months, or even few years before you get there. Keep working hard, keep seeking opportunities to learn new skills and strengthen your existing set of skills that you may already have. You may not see a clear and obvious path to your goal(s), that’s ok, keep going and have unwavering confidence  that you can and will get there by believing in yourself and what you can do, and eventually that path towards your dream job and career will begin to align to your expectations with clear path visible in front of you.​