No Experience? No Problem!

Are you a new graduate with little or no work experience? Sometimes it can be tough to get a job without experience, and how do you get more experience if you can't get a job?

Well, your chances are better than you think. Even if your work experience is a little weak, you've probably got life experience that will help you. After all, it's not really your job history that employers are interested in -- it's your talents, abilities, knowledge, work ethic and attitude. It's likely that you've developed and fine-tuned these traits through your school work, volunteer activities, and interactions with people throughout your entire life.

The key is to identify your best attributes from your life experience and promote these to potential employers in the right way.

Make a detailed list of all your talents, skills, knowledge and personal qualities. Think about all you've done in your life and what you've gained from it. For example, if you earned extra money by babysitting or mowing lawns, you gained experience in promoting your services, obtaining customers, negotiating payment, and accomplishing the required tasks while demonstrating self-motivation, punctuality, responsibility and customer service! If you've participated in a sport, you've shown commitment, discipline and teamwork! And don't forget to list what you've learned in school: computer skills, software applications, math, science, communication, etc.

Once your list is complete, you'll see that you really do have experience and can offer potential employers the talents, abilities, knowledge, work ethic and attitude they need in their ideal candidate! All you have to do is convince them of that. You can do it... you've convinced people of things all your life! Your parents, siblings, friends, teachers -- think of all the times you were able to convince them to see things your way. It's one of your talents, so use it during your job search and you'll be gaining work experience in no time!

Bonnie Lowe is author of the popular Job Interview Success System and free information-packed ezine, "Career-Life Times." Find those and other powerful career-building resources and tips at her website: http://www.best-interview-strategies.com.

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