If you have just graduated from university you are likely looking to begin your career right away. But without any experience, it can be difficult to get yourself on the career ladder. So how do you get a graduate job without any experience? In this article, we will take a look at some top tips for improving your employability and better showcasing the skills and experiences you have.
Reflect on Your Time at University
You have more experience than you may think. You will have gained valuable transferable skills during your time at university. Taking part in societies, sports, maintaining part-time jobs, and even your course work are relevant experiences to your desired employers. It just has to do with how you frame it.
Take some time to reflect on your university experience, list what activities you took part in, and you’ll find you have more skills than you previously thought.
Work Experience Schemes
Of course, some universities offer more obviously relevant experiences, such as work shadowing and year placements. Work shadowing schemes allow students to shadow members of staff in different departments or local businesses for a short period (usually a day and up to a week). These are helpful exposure to the daily inner workings of offices, departments, and organizations.
Your university may have hosted Insight Events- these are usually a day or two of intensive work exposure into specific industries. Organised by companies or career organisations, these allow for networking, presentations, and hands-on activities – all of which are valuable skills to develop.
Beyond these, your university may have a career services department that can help you arrange Internships or Year Placements – some of which you can begin as a recent graduate.
University Societies and Extracurricular Activities
Did you participate in any university societies, or hold a leadership position in one? What university-hosted extracurricular activities did you take part in?
It’s a difficult task balancing society activities with your own academics. Doing so requires time management and organisational skills which are relevant to any employer. They also require important soft skills like empathy and communication that you should make note of. These soft skills are crucial to company culture and social fit – qualities employers will be looking out for. Knowing how to frame participation in extracurricular activities as developing both hard and soft skills is the trick to getting a graduate job straight out of university without previous work experience.
Sports
As with above, being an active athlete during your university career is a juggling act. Think of the teamwork required for all team sports. Many are themselves an intricate performance of strategy and execution – think of manoeuvres in football and judgement calls made on the field. Sports require determination, drive and enthusiasm and these qualities would make any CV shine.
Maintaining a Part-Time Job
Did you maintain a job while studying? This not only shows future employers that you are familiar with how companies run, but it also shows that you were a dedicated student and made the time to succeed at work as well.
Course-Related Experience
If nothing else, the coursework you completed as part of your degree is relevant experience for employers. University courses are, in part, designed to help students develop the skills useful for the workplace. Beyond theoretical knowledge, your course work involved research, writing and presenting (be it in front of the class or in a well-formatted paper). These seemingly mundane tasks show skills you’ll need in most graduate jobs.
The key takeaway here is to not dismiss any previous experiences just because you don’t feel they are relevant or traditionally work-related. Recruiters will understand that for their graduate and entry-level positions, candidates may not have a lot of experience that is directly related to the role. However, they will be interested in what skills you have gained and developed from the experiences you do have. And more importantly, they will be interested in how you present that to them. Your unique combination of experiences is what makes you stand out from the crowd.
Volunteering and Current Activities
How are you spending your time now? Besides diligently looking for work, how do you spend your free time? Are you part of any regular sports teams? Do you volunteer at any organisations? What hobbies, clubs, or group activities do you regularly take part in?
The regular commitments we make in our private lives can be mined for skills relevant to your job search. As you did in the university reflection, think about what skills you demonstrate in your day-to-day life that can be framed for an employer.
Conduct a Skills Audit
Now that you’ve reflected on your university experience and any personal commitments you maintain, it is time to conduct a skills audit. Now you get specific.
No matter what types of graduate jobs you apply for, all graduate recruiters will look for the following 6 skills:
- Communication
- Teamwork
- Organisation and planning
- Problem-solving
- Professionalism
- Proof of initiative
For each of the skills listed above, draw upon the experiences you gained at university to demonstrate that you have that skill. Played football? Then you have teamwork and time management skills. Member of a debating society? Then you can surely demonstrate communication, organisation, problem-solving, and proof of initiative skills. Took part in no extracurriculars at all and just focused on schoolwork? Great. Personal study, writing, and thesis preparation show clear communication, organisation, and professionalism.
This exercise will be helpful when it comes to filling out job applications and preparing for interviews. Be forensic. And always back up skills with examples.
After conducting your audit, identify what your career typology is.
All graduate jobs can be categorised into three groups:
- Communicators: Roles where you forge strong relationships with either external or internal clients. Examples: Advertising account people, Salespeople, Hospitality employees
- Knowledge architects: Roles where you’ll interpret data and deliver insights from that data. Examples: Planners (of all types), Finance, Consultancy, Logistics, Marketing
- Specialists: Specialist roles focussing on a core expertise. For example: Engineer, Scientist, Doctor, Coder
Knowing your typology lets you shortlist jobs to apply to by scanning their descriptions for clear indicators of what kind of person the company is looking for and saving those suited to your interests and skills.
The key takeaway is that employers will be looking for evidence that graduates are able to solve problems, communicate, work as a team, organise themselves, act professionally and bring initiative. Even if you do not have any formal work experience, you will be able to demonstrate that you have those six key skills.
Improve Your CV
The next step is to update your CV. Your CV must convince the employer that you should be given the job that you are applying for. Think of it as a sales pitch. But by this point, it won’t be a case of writing a CV with no experience. You have defined clear examples of skills needed for the role. Now it’s just presenting them.
Here’s what to include:
A Personal Statement
This is the first section the interviewer will see. It needs to grab attention. Do so by using two short sentences. Tell them who you are, what you are looking for, and what you can offer them. Be confident.
Key Skills and Achievements
It can be helpful to include a summary of your most important skills and achievements. These are the qualities you want the recruiter to see first and pay the most attention to. Use powerful action verbs to describe each achievement you have completed in relation to any role you’ve held. Follow up with impressive results or outcomes so your achievements can be measured. An example could be ‘Successfully transformed’ or ‘Inspired fellow classmates’.
Academic Achievements
In this section, you’ll include your degree, your grade and any academic awards. Many graduates omit more personal details, but achievements such as volunteering, organising events for societies or clubs, marketing for the student union or any other university-related experience can be included. Just make sure the point relates to a certain skill or quality you want to highlight.
Non-Academic Achievements
Here add any employment experience you have. This can be placements, part-time jobs, or summer employment. Highlight the skills and achievements you gained and contributed while in the role. Whatever you include should directly relate to what qualities the role you are applying for advertises.
As your career develops your work history will eventually move above your academic section. Remember to keep your CV updated and change its style as you become more experienced.
Networking
With your updated CV ready, you can start getting your name out there. First of all, make sure that your social media profiles are all updated and fully optimised, especially your LinkedIn profile. Be sure to have a clear, professional headshot.
Keep an eye out for networking events hosted by the companies you are interested in. These could include any upcoming graduate career fairs. Attending career fairs will give you the opportunity to meet graduate recruiters in person. Be sure to dress smart and be able to confidently articulate who you are and what you are looking for.
Applications and Interviews
Knowing what roles you are looking for and armed with updated social profiles and CVs, you can now start sending out your applications. It’s not a bad idea to keep a spreadsheet containing a list of the companies and positions for which you’ve applied, and any feedback you get from them after an interview.
The applications process for graduate jobs generally involve:
- Submitting an online form, along with your CV
- Completing online tests, i.e. psychometric tests
- A telephone or video interview
- An assessment or group task
- A face to face interview
This whole process can be daunting. Keep in mind, as you discovered previously, you have experience. Your employers will be interested in the experiences you’ve gained during your time at university, and all you have to do now is present it confidently. Knowing how to interview and mastering it are two very different things, and it is a skill people develop over years. And unfortunately, it is one of those things that requires practice to perfect.
And it’s usually best to practice with others. At Graduate Coach, we have been helping students and graduates prepare for interviews for over a decade. We offer one-to-one interview coaching as well as an online interview course.
Get Help from a Graduate Coach
Chances are you think you have less experience than you actually do. In this brief overview, we wanted to outline how you can approach understanding what experiences many university graduates have and how to frame them as transferable skills. But there’s more work that can be done. If you are still unsure or struggling with how to promote yourself with no formal work experience, get in touch! We offer a range of services, from free, accredited online courses to ad hoc interview prep and fully personalised one-to-one coaching programs. All of these are designed to help students, graduates and career changers turn their degrees into meaningful careers. And we know a thing about it: every graduate we’ve taken on has landed a job.
We’re here to help.
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