Gain Experience

Any role you’ve had that has taught you transferrable and/or technical skills counts as experience. Common forms of experience include jobs, internships, student organization involvement, community service, research, shadowing, job simulations, and class or independent projects, but this is just a sample list. 

When it comes to experience, it’s important to balance quantity with quality. Employers value both the breadth and depth of your experience. So, while there is no perfect number of experiences you should be involved in, you should try a few different things and become more than just minimally involved in a few of your favorites. 

Everyone has to start somewhere! If you don’t have a lot of or any formal experience just yet, now is the perfect time to start. Many students begin with focusing on class projects, job simulations, student organization involvement, and other types of experience that do not require an application process. From there, you can pursue additional experiences that build on the skills you’re learning along the way. 

Not necessarily. When employers write job descriptions, they often include a section called “qualifications” that outlines what an applicant needs in order to get that job. These qualifications sometimes include prior experience but more often include certain skills and qualities. As long as you have most of those skills and qualities, you could be in consideration for the role.