No Experience? No Problem

Written by Shelby Oyer

Many students are looking for a summer internship or full-time, post-graduation job and are suddenly stricken with the panic that they don't have any valuable experience to put on their resume. 

While you may feel you don't have any work experience, that doesn't mean you don't have valuable, transferable skills. 

Lea McLeod, blogger for The Savvy Intern, has handled this issue of "no experience" many times and has tips for you to build a "value inventory" for your resume*.

First of all, let's discuss what some of these valuable skills are. In one of her previous articles, Lea points out 7 college skills that matter on a resume:

1. Communication skills
2. Software skills
3. Writing skills
4. Time Management 
5. Networking 
6. Leadership skills
7. Integrity 

(To see a more thorough description of these skills, check out her article here.)

Now we'll look at how to determine and show that you have these skills. 

Start by making three columns on a sheet of paper, Excel spreadsheet, or wherever you want. In the first column, write down any work or major projects. This includes things like volunteer work, internships, athletics, club participation, etc.

In the second column, list the skills required to perform those tasks. This would be things like showed up on time, dealt with customers, led meetings, accomplished team goals, etc.

Finally, in the third column, list the soft skills learned and used to complete these tasks. For example, showing up on time represents initiative, responsibility, and self-managing. 

When you take the time to really dissect the work you've done, you'll find that you possess more skills than you even thought possible and will have a killer resume in no time.

*Check out Lea's full article on value inventory here.