How to Get a Job With a College Degree, But No Experience

Overview

• Highlighting transferable skills on your resume
• Personalizing your cover letter
• Lining up quality references
• Leveraging your personal network
• How to find a job with no experience

It’s a common problem many college graduates face: you have a degree but no real work experience. This can be frustrating when you’re job hunting, as every job ad, even for entry-level positions, seems to demand years of experience. How are you ever supposed to get a gig? Don’t worry, it is possible.

Read on for tips on how to get a job with no experience, or when you’ve got the credentials but haven’t yet entered the working world.

You may not have job experience, but you probably have many other positive attributes to bring to the table. The key to success as a job seeker is playing up those characteristics. Below are tips to help you promote yourself.

Before diving into the job market and sending out applications, invest some time and effort into creating a stellar resume. What can you possibly include on a resume when you don’t have a relevant professional past? You might be surprised at what’s worth including.

Start with your educational credentials. Your degree has given you skills and knowledge meant to have real-world application. Be specific. Don’t just say you graduated with a bachelor’s degree. What did you major and minor in? Did you have a high grade point average (GPA)? Did you make the honors list or otherwise receive any academic accolades?

Next, consider professional experience. You may have done some jobs that appear, at first blush, irrelevant to your current application. For example, let’s say you’ve just graduated college with a bachelor’s degree in education. You’ve never worked as a teacher, but you supplemented your studies by tutoring students. Don’t brush off your side gig — it’s definitely relevant and worth mentioning!

Finally, use your resume to highlight other experiences and transferable skills you have that are relevant to the job in question. Let’s say you’re applying for a job at a public health clinic, for instance. You might highlight previous volunteer work in the health care sphere, for example, or flag that you speak Spanish — a vital language for many people in the United States.

The point is that your resume can demonstrate your value as a job applicant in many ways. It doesn’t just come down to your career experience, or lack thereof.

When you apply to jobs, write a distinct cover letter for each job description. Of course, you can use a basic template that covers your essential details, like education. However, consider including one paragraph in your cover letter tailored specifically to the job at hand. The questions below can help inspire you if you're unsure what to write.

Ask yourself the following:

• Why is this position exciting to me? What caught my eye in the job posting?
• What makes this company an attractive employer to me? Why do I think I’d fit in with their company culture?
• Are there projects or initiatives this company has completed in the past that resonated with me or that I found particularly compelling?
• What unique attributes do I have that make me a good fit for this role and/or company?

Answering these questions can make your cover letter more personal, allowing you to better stand out to recruiters and hiring managers.

Above, we mentioned including former jobs on your resume even if they aren’t necessarily relevant to the field you’re currently hoping to enter. Former jobs, even if they’re casual side gigs, can also be worth highlighting because they provide you with professional references. Ideally, you will have people beyond friends or family who can vouch for you.

Across the board, employers value a few critical traits like reliability, punctuality, honesty, teamwork, good time management, and a pleasant attitude. Let’s say you worked as a server while studying. Your boss can attest to the fact that you demonstrated these attributes and have a great work ethic. While these characteristics may not be specific to the job you’re pursuing now that you have your degree, they are still significant.

If you’ve never had a job of any kind, don’t stress. You can ask for a reference from former teachers, sports coaches, or guidance counselors — to name a few possibilities.

You now have a general idea of leveraging your resume, cover letter, and references to snag a job, even without real-world experience. However, there’s still the question of how to actually find your dream job. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Don’t stop reading yet! We’re not saying you have to run out and do another unpaid internship. Rest assured, there are many internship, apprenticeship, and traineeship programs that actually pay you to learn on the job. These entry-level jobs are a great way to get to know people in your field, as internship bosses and co-workers may connect you with future jobs.

What’s more, these kinds of paid programs are often meant to funnel skilled workers directly into the company, so the odds are good that you’ll have a “real” job waiting for you when you complete your initial gig. This benefits both the intern and the company.

Let’s say you complete a traineeship with an engineering firm, for example. It takes two years and doesn't pay much, but you get trained on the job. You have a higher-paying gig lined up when you finish your traineeship, and your training will have been paid for. Meanwhile, the engineering company has a trained individual that they can easily bring on board — you. Getting a job can be this easy if you know how to leverage the opportunities available.

As mentioned, an internship is a great way to expand your professional network. Personal and professional connections can help you find a first job without experience. You might ask friends, family members, former work contacts, teachers, and others if they have any leads regarding relevant jobs for which you can apply. Having a personal connection often gives your application a boost. Also, take a look at your professional social media network, like LinkedIn.

Another great tactic is to leverage your network to seek informational interviews. A contact may not have an actual job for you, but they may still be able to connect you to a person in a relevant role, company, or field.

Let’s say your dream gig is retail manager, for example, and your sister’s friend happens to hold this position. Talking to them about their experiences in the field will be an immensely valuable educational experience. Make a good impression, and they may even get back to you later if they know of a fitting entry-level position in their professional network.

Who says you have to rely on other people to provide you with relevant job experience? Create your own. You might pursue your chosen career path by setting up a side project, volunteering, or even founding your own business. This is a great way to get your hands dirty, make connections, and demonstrate initiative.

If you’ve been dreaming of joining a graphic design company, for example, but can’t seem to get a foot in the door, why not start your own freelance design company? You can use for-hire job sites to find work. This allows you to get experience, make money, and expand your portfolio, improving your chances of getting a job later.

Getting a first job when you don’t have experience may require you to think outside the box. You can use online job search engines to find a wealth of positions that may not perfectly fit your requirements but can still serve as a stepping stone to your dream job. For instance, you might settle for a part-time job to start instead of working full-time.

Let’s say you’ve always wanted to work as an editor at a fashion magazine in New York City, but you can’t seem to land an entry-level editorial assistant role. You might use an online job search engine to find less competitive gigs beyond NYC — or find a magazine job that isn’t in fashion but can still give you firsthand experience of what a magazine job entails.

Hopefully, the above guide has made it clear that you don’t need to have experience to get your first job. Use our tips to guide your job search and remain patient. Finding a fitting role takes time, no matter what stage of your career you’re in. Keep going, and don’t give up!

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