You’ve come to this page because you are a graduate with no work experience.
Well, you’ve come to the right place. Work experience is vital in today’s competitive job market.
In this post, we will share what you need to do to gain some work experience and boost your employability.
#1: Complete a Virtual Experience Program
You may struggle to get a job with no experience. But how do you get experience if you need experience?
Many graduates struggle to overcome this and get their foot on the career ladder.
Forage (formerly InsideSherpa) has partnered with a wide range of graduate employers to offer virtual experience programs.
These programs enable you to learn from top companies and stand out from the crowd.
On Forage, anyone can sign up to complete virtual experiences for FREE!
Here are some examples of courses on the platform:
- JP Morgan Commercial Banking virtual experience
- Grant Thornton Audit virtual experience
- Goldman Sachs Engineering Virtual Experience
- Citi Markets and security services
- BCG Strategy Consulting
- Deloitte Technology Consulting
Once you have completed the experience you’ll be able to include it on your CV. Forage provides guidance on how to include it on your CV.
#2: Do some online courses
Employers are looking for key employability skills. Taking online courses can help you to develop your skills.
Search for online courses online that will help you to develop your skills. There are several places online where you can take online courses such as:
- FutureLearn
- Udacity
- LinkedIn Learning
- Udemy
- Skillshare
- Teachable
#3: Volunteer
As well as giving back to the community, volunteering helps you to gain and develop employability skills which will enhance your applications and get a graduate job.
You can find volunteering opportunities on:
#4: Reflect on your skills
You probably have more experience than you think.
Reflect on your extracurricular activities and write out the skills you developed from them.
You may have:
- played an instrument
- Been part of a sports team
- Joined a society
All of these activities will help you to develop skills. it is a good idea to include these on your graduate CV.
#5: Update your CV
Once you have completed the steps above, the next step is to update your CV. Your CV should be achievement-based. Be sure to highlight your skills.
Read The Student book by Chris Davies to learn how to write an achievement-based CV.
#6: Apply for internships
If you still feel as though you do not have enough work experience to get a graduate role, apply for some entry-level internships.
Doing an internship will help you to gain transferable skills to boost your graduate job applications.
#7: Apply for graduate schemes or jobs
Once you have gained some work experience, update your CV, and begin your job search.
Before starting your job search discover your career path. This will help you to strategically seek out opportunities.
Get a Graduate Coach
Here at Graduate Coach, we help students and graduates to turn their degrees into careers.
We offer one-to-one coaching, interview coaching, online courses, books and more.
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