Finding a Job When You Have No Work Experience

Many people, especially new graduates, find themselves in a difficult situation when looking for jobs: you need experience to get experience. It is difficult to start when you’re competing against job seekers with years of experience. However, there are some tips that can help you to get started.

Have the Right Profile/Resume:

Change your LinkedIn profile/resume to highlight your strengths and downplay your limited experience. If you are looking for the right job without experience, having the right profile/resume that shows your capabilities in a positive manner is very important. These can be highlighted in your LinkedIn profile under ‘Summary’ and ‘Specialities’ section. It is also important as pointed out in the post "Let the Recruiters come to you" on the OTEN Group discussion page to include the job title of the job you are looking for in your profile, so when recruiters search LinkedIn (which they often do) you will come up in the results.

Work experience

Consider volunteering or doing work experience in the area you want to get into. You will gain experience doing real work in that area, and you may be able to turn that work experience into a full-time job – either at that organisation or through someone you meet there.

Networking:
Having connections in LinkedIn will give you leverage when looking for a job, see post 2; "Use LinkedIn to Connect" in the discussion tab. Find as many connections on LinkedIn as possible, through people that you already know (do a search) and through LinkedIn Groups where you have something in common such as a professional interest or alumni group such as the OTEN group.

Low paying jobs.
There are several jobs in these categories that might be relatively low paying ones. Low paying jobs can take you to the first step up the ladder, to get needed experience. Entry level jobs can provide you with the initial experience you need, and you can be promoted to a higher position in that company.

How to use LinkedIn Companies to your advantage

LinkedIn Companies: LinkedIn is a fantastic source for learning about companies you're interested in and using this information to find and explore potential companies to work for or do business with. Company Profiles are a powerful research tool that has a company overview, who you know at the company, and unique data from the LinkedIn network.

Click on the “Companies” option on your top navigation bar to take you to the Company Search page. Here, in addition to being able to search for companies you want to research, you can find out which companies are the most viewed, fastest growing, and most connected.

Search results will show how many jobs a company has vacant. You can drill down searching by industry, location (near postcode). You can also limit the search to those companies that have 1st and 2nd degree contacts; this is very powerful as you can immediately see those companies that have jobs in which you have contacts which will exponentially increase your chances of employment.

Once on the company page, you can check out the “company employee insights” to see the different job functions, years experience, educational degree & university attended. If for example you notice that a particular company has a proportionally high percent of employees from a particular college or university, this can be helpful in choosing which company to apply to.

LinkedIn - Let the Recruiters come to you:

Recruiters search LinkedIn all the time for candidates when they have a job to fill.
I have surveyed a group of recruiting agencies about LinkedIn including Command Group and Hayes Recruiting and this is some of the feedback. Nearly all agencies use LinkedIn. Many of the consultants use it, but not all. They may post a job or in many cases they will search LinkedIn by job title, some good advice was that if you are a graduating student that still does not have experience in a particular job you are looking for, include the job title of the job you are looking for in your profile e.g. “java programmer” and when they search LinkedIn you will come up in the results and they may give you a call.

With Mycareer.com.au job search site, you can log in to LinkedIn and when applying for a job, you can use your LinkedIn profile.

Quote: Hayes Recruiting News Story - “Of course, you can also make cyberspace work for you to enhance a potential employer’s perception of you. For example, you can leverage the LinkedIn network or show your passion for your particular specialisation by blogging about latest trends.” http://www.hays.com.au/common/pages/news/newsdesc.aspx?id=481

LinkedIn - How To Get In Touch With 1st, 2nd, And 3rd Degree Contacts?

Connecting with other professionals is an important part of building up your leverage and influence within LinkedIn. Good communication on LinkedIn is about etiquette and respecting those you connect with.

TYPES OF CONTACTS
There are 3 types of contacts, 1st degree, 2nd degree & 3rd degree that you can contact within LinkedIn. 1st degree contacts are those that have agreed to connect with you ,a 2nd degree contact is someone you are connected to through a 1st degree contact and a 3rd degree contact is a 2nd degree contact of your 1st degree contacts.

WHY GET IN TOUCH?
Getting in touch with contacts is important when looking for a job, getting professional advice, promoting yourself/company etc. In particular when looking for a job, a good approach is to identify qualified employers that might be a good match and then contact decision makers within those companies. The more contacts you have the more chance you have of contacting these decision makers. LinkedIn gives you the opportunity to contact 1st, 2nd & 3rd degree contacts.

So what are you waiting for, start connecting today!!

Use LinkedIn to Connect

Connect with people: Use LinkedIn as a way to reconnect with people you've lost track of and to meet new connections. Making connections is what LinkedIn is all about. Joining groups is a great way to do that because you can send a message to other group members or ask to add them to your network. Just click on the members tab when you are in the Group and when you mouse over a member an “invite to connect” and “Send message’ link will appear. Having a common association such as OTEN Alumni will allow you to make valuable connections.
Find groups that are focused on your particular area, industry and you'll not only make connections, you'll be up on what's going on in your industry, current trends and people.
LinkedIn has different categories of groups; Alumni, Corporate, Networking, Non-Profit and Professional. To search groups, click on the groups menu, select your category and put in your keywords.