What is Relevant Work Experience? Employment

If you have been searching for a new job, you’ve probably been asked for relevant experience. However, sometimes it can be difficult to define this. We often also come across people who believe that they have no relevant experience at all. Most of the time, this just isn’t true and we’re here to help you realise the hidden gems in your CV.

Identify Transferable Skills

We’re often approached by people who have seen a job but believe that they don’t have enough relevant experience. Most of the time, these people have taken one look at the industry they’re applying for, another look at their previous industries and write themselves off. However, you can’t do this. Just because you haven’t worked in that exact industry or role before, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have any relevant experience. Take a look at the job description and pay more attention to the skills that they are looking for in a person. For example, if they are looking for someone with good leadership skills, you could use your previous experience to show how this applies to you.

They could also ask for relevant experience working in a team. Whilst you may not have worked in a team in their industry before, there is plenty of transferable evidence that can be taken from your previous jobs or even personal life.

Don’t Underestimate Your Education

Often, candidates tend to see the words relevant experience, look at their employer history and then move on if it’s not a perfect match. However, by doing this, they could be missing something that could be vital in securing the job. If you have taken any qualifications in further or higher education, these can be used to demonstrate a wide range of skills. For example, a course that spans over a few years or that’s been done in conjunction with a job can show determination, drive and reliability.

Particularly at university, you may have also been a part of some projects in a team, club or other extra curricular activity. Just because these are voluntary, it doesn’t mean that they can’t be included. If you believe that there are transferable skills, please use them.

Finding Relevant Work Experience

If it is that you’re still struggling for relevant transferable skills, you may be interested in looking for some work experience. For more tips and tricks, our How to Get Work Experience guide is perfect to get you started. If you’re going to set out to get more experience, you should first focus on identifying what you would like to try. Looking at your desired role’s job description can often help you to decide which experience to pursue. Once you have decided which industry/employers you feel can deliver you the necessary experience, focus on getting your CV and Cover Letter in good condition. Our knowledge hub can help you with this.

Once you’re happy with your CV and Cover Letter, you can start to reach out to organisations. This can be done in person, through emails, or by calling them. However, we would advise that you’re realistic in who you contact. This doesn’t mean that you can’t contact your dream organisations. What we mean by this is that you should do some research to see whether they offer work experience placements. If they do, it may even be a scheme with it’s own application process. Some companies will also explicitly say that they are not accepting work experience applications. By looking into this, you could save yourself a lot of time that would have been otherwise wasted.

Employment Advice in Stafford and South Staffordshire with BBO

Here at BBO, we are a lottery funded organisation committed to providing employment advice and welfare support to people across Stafford and South Staffordshire. The coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll on a lot of people and left many unemployed and we want to help. If you’re struggling to find employment, please contact us. If you would rather see us in person, you could also come and visit us in person at one of our drop-in sessions.

For more advice, you can search through our knowledge hub to find out more. If you have a question that you would like to see answered, you can also send question requests on our knowledge hub.