How to pump up a CV if you have no experience

The main task of a CV is to show qualitatively not only your experience (skills) but also your knowledge, skills, potential, and to some extent personal qualities.

Not the easiest resumes to package are when:

• No work experience.
• No experience in the field you want to move into.
• There was a big break in work (maternity leave, sick leave, rest, just looking for a job, etc.).

In this case, you can seek help in writing a resume from professionals. Especially now, there are a lot of quality and cheap resume writers on the market. But if you want to try your hand at writing a CV, let’s see what you can do.

What to write when you have no work experience

There are various ways to get primary experience (put it exactly as a place of work in your resume), for example:

• Volunteering;
• Internships;
• Helping someone you know in their business;
• Setting up your own project;
• Research as part of training (sociological survey, development, case studies on a topic, etc.).

Alternatively you might be able to find a project you are interested in on specialist resources, or you might be able to get involved in a voluntary project. Many job sites have a choice of internship programmes. There are also internship programmes with many big companies and global brands.

Another unusual but working idea is to choose jobs for the position you are interested in, but with a low income. This usually means that the company needs help but has limited funding. Offer a week/two – for as long as you can offer yourself as a helper for the duration of the search. Do it for free or for minimal compensation for travel and food.

Any experience is experience, don’t forget to point it out

So, the dream: a travel manager in a travel agency.

No work experience, no experience in tourism in this particular format, but:

• Three PADI certifications – received certification as a diving instructor in a world-renowned system. We specify each level in the resume. We write down the names of the courses and the qualifications for each certification. She didn’t put it on her CV as she thought it had nothing to do with the job. However, it’s a real knowledge of the product that agencies sell: diving trips, knowledge of how to sell that you will be accompanied by PADI certified instructors and masters, etc.
• There was an internship as part of the certification. Therefore, we specify it as a place of work, and in the position we write, “diving instructor”, indicate the country where the girl was certified for four years.

Fill in the breaks

You have experience, but need a break – e.g. you have taken parental leave, or you are looking for work for a long time.

Importantly, all of the following don’t have to be done “a lot” at all. It is enough to do it on a point-by-point basis, but periodically, so that the whole break is filled with activities that support the experience:

• Look for – who you can advise on issues where you are an expert or just well versed. Not necessarily for a fee. Your goal is to get real cases, which you can put on your CV in the column “Project Employment “Consultant on…”;
• Register on a special site and do training within your core competence – for example, if you are a payroll accountant, then teach that topic, a specialist in personnel accounting – teach staff record keeping;
• Study. The ‘off-duty’ period should be interrupted by training to convince the employer that your skills are not obsolete.