Experience essential...
Discussion
This is probably a stupid topic but it is bugging me.
I am wanting a career change (career start to be more precise) as the role I am in at the moment is horrendous.
While trying to work out what is best for me next, I notice around 80-90% of adverts state something like 'Experience in this field essential' or 'ONLY applicants with experience in a similar role will be considered'.
Now, unless I am missing something, that means we are all stuck in the jobs we do now? Because I can't get experience at X job if they only employ people with experience in that type of role? See what I mean?
My posts make no sense recently and I sincerely apologise for that...
I am wanting a career change (career start to be more precise) as the role I am in at the moment is horrendous.
While trying to work out what is best for me next, I notice around 80-90% of adverts state something like 'Experience in this field essential' or 'ONLY applicants with experience in a similar role will be considered'.
Now, unless I am missing something, that means we are all stuck in the jobs we do now? Because I can't get experience at X job if they only employ people with experience in that type of role? See what I mean?
My posts make no sense recently and I sincerely apologise for that...
Your choice is to either "finesse" your CV, by perhaps making something that was only a very minor part of your job into a massive part of it, or outright lie and hope you don't get caught.
The way the job market is at the moment, employers can have very high standards and still get plenty of applicants.
The way the job market is at the moment, employers can have very high standards and still get plenty of applicants.
Doesn't hurt to try anyway, just make the effort to get your CV perfect and accept you'll have to seriously impress - and of course be better than the experienced guy in the interview stage, in the event you get there.
For all your CV will often end up decorating their bin as soon as it arrives, there's still sensible people out there who appreciate there's experienced people who'll be crap, and inexperienced ones who'll be great and worth the initial time invested in learning the ropes etc.
Of course, if you're just not qualified or it's an industry where experience is essential, you'll be peeing into the wind, but usually it doesn't hurt to try - even if applications for advertised roles are more numerous than they've ever been.
For all your CV will often end up decorating their bin as soon as it arrives, there's still sensible people out there who appreciate there's experienced people who'll be crap, and inexperienced ones who'll be great and worth the initial time invested in learning the ropes etc.
Of course, if you're just not qualified or it's an industry where experience is essential, you'll be peeing into the wind, but usually it doesn't hurt to try - even if applications for advertised roles are more numerous than they've ever been.
Not quite.
You have to get inside the thinking of the organisation who drafted the requirement. As an employer, particularly if I'm small and have little or no redundancy in capacity, you want someone who can contribute from day 1. This they interpret as 'experience of...essential'. The trick is doing your homework on both the role and the organisation and ensuring that your cover letter and CV highlight your competencies as close as possible to the stated requirement and what you have learnt about the organisation. Just because they state experience essential, does not mean they will only hire that individual. Firstly there may be no applicants who meet their exact spec so they can look further down the field, or they take a risk on someone who is close to the spec because they're a better cultural fit than the guy with the specs but who comes across as not likely to fit the organisation. You also have HR departments writing specs with little or no link to the department hiring the individual, so mistakes on specs do occur.
In summary, don't read too much in to job/person specs; if you're in the ball park, a well crafted CV and cover letter can make a heap of a difference. Good luck!
You have to get inside the thinking of the organisation who drafted the requirement. As an employer, particularly if I'm small and have little or no redundancy in capacity, you want someone who can contribute from day 1. This they interpret as 'experience of...essential'. The trick is doing your homework on both the role and the organisation and ensuring that your cover letter and CV highlight your competencies as close as possible to the stated requirement and what you have learnt about the organisation. Just because they state experience essential, does not mean they will only hire that individual. Firstly there may be no applicants who meet their exact spec so they can look further down the field, or they take a risk on someone who is close to the spec because they're a better cultural fit than the guy with the specs but who comes across as not likely to fit the organisation. You also have HR departments writing specs with little or no link to the department hiring the individual, so mistakes on specs do occur.
In summary, don't read too much in to job/person specs; if you're in the ball park, a well crafted CV and cover letter can make a heap of a difference. Good luck!
stackmonkey said:
I'm finding the same. It wouldn't be so bad, but some of these positions are assistant/trainee positions asking for experience in that field.. go figure..
I applied for one exactly like this. Specifically stated Trainee on the application, so thought as a career changer I might have a shot at it. Within 2 hours, I had an email from the recruitment company saying thanks but no thanks.What you've got to do is pick up on what relevant experience you do have.
If you're currently a brain surgeon and you want to build bridges then you're going to struggle, but if you're say, working in customer service and you want to get into a sales job, then it's a bit easier.
If you have no experience at all but a burning desire to do something then you need to be speaking to the people who are doing it and looking for a way in. Enthusiasm and motivation go a long way even in a competitive labour market. If you have the leisure try and get a few days experience in what you want to do without pay, to demonstrate an aptitude.
If you're really not sure what you want to do then it will make it that much harder, but still worth asking if you see something that appeals to you.
Agencies are generally not very good for this unless you have some quite advanced skill set to begin with (I'm a headhunter myself) because I just can't go and present a CV to a client and say "this guy wants to have a crack at corporate banking, but he has no relevant experience." It's not what they pay us for. However some high street agencies have a wide variety of clients and might be able to source temp work in a few different places to give you a few ideas.
If you're currently a brain surgeon and you want to build bridges then you're going to struggle, but if you're say, working in customer service and you want to get into a sales job, then it's a bit easier.
If you have no experience at all but a burning desire to do something then you need to be speaking to the people who are doing it and looking for a way in. Enthusiasm and motivation go a long way even in a competitive labour market. If you have the leisure try and get a few days experience in what you want to do without pay, to demonstrate an aptitude.
If you're really not sure what you want to do then it will make it that much harder, but still worth asking if you see something that appeals to you.
Agencies are generally not very good for this unless you have some quite advanced skill set to begin with (I'm a headhunter myself) because I just can't go and present a CV to a client and say "this guy wants to have a crack at corporate banking, but he has no relevant experience." It's not what they pay us for. However some high street agencies have a wide variety of clients and might be able to source temp work in a few different places to give you a few ideas.
This problem is getting worse now we're living in times when employers can offer s
t money, demand the earth and theres still people applying. Plenty of people with the experience they want will have lost their jobs elsewhere, so the experienced people are out there.
The problem is nobody can gain any experience when no employer is willing to give it. It is literally impossible to get experience in a job you haven't done. A few years ago I tried to get a job driving a van, pretty basic occupation but every firm demanded previous experience in a multi-drop role. How do you get multi-drop experience without doing multi-drop work? Surely the experienced people mustve been inexperienced at some point in their lives? Surely somebody gave them the chance when they had no experience.
I've met plenty of people experienced in their jobs who dont do them very well, when I worked for the Job Centre i encountered people who'd worked there for 20 years and still didnt know how to file things properly or what benefits certain people were eligable for. Experience doesnt necessarily guarantee a more productive employee. Its annoying when they demand it for what is pretty basic work, plenty of companies think their advertised job is harder than it actually is. When you boil plenty of them down to their bare components you find the job is answering a phone and typing stuff, its not hard. A 14 year old can do that, yet they think their basic job is mega complicated and only a master can do it, which says more about the expertise level of the manager than anything else. As someone else mentioned theres even trainee jobs which require experience, how the fk does that work?
No wonder young people cant get a job when employers only want 45 year old average experienced Steve. Everybody is inexperienced at some point, employers need to realise this. If they dont wise up then eventually all their experienced people will be too old or dead and they'll turn to an inexperienced workforce they neglected for generations, groups of people in their 40s who have never had a job and when that day comes that group of people would be within their rights to tell employers to shove it up their arse.
Rant over.
t money, demand the earth and theres still people applying. Plenty of people with the experience they want will have lost their jobs elsewhere, so the experienced people are out there.The problem is nobody can gain any experience when no employer is willing to give it. It is literally impossible to get experience in a job you haven't done. A few years ago I tried to get a job driving a van, pretty basic occupation but every firm demanded previous experience in a multi-drop role. How do you get multi-drop experience without doing multi-drop work? Surely the experienced people mustve been inexperienced at some point in their lives? Surely somebody gave them the chance when they had no experience.
I've met plenty of people experienced in their jobs who dont do them very well, when I worked for the Job Centre i encountered people who'd worked there for 20 years and still didnt know how to file things properly or what benefits certain people were eligable for. Experience doesnt necessarily guarantee a more productive employee. Its annoying when they demand it for what is pretty basic work, plenty of companies think their advertised job is harder than it actually is. When you boil plenty of them down to their bare components you find the job is answering a phone and typing stuff, its not hard. A 14 year old can do that, yet they think their basic job is mega complicated and only a master can do it, which says more about the expertise level of the manager than anything else. As someone else mentioned theres even trainee jobs which require experience, how the f
k does that work?No wonder young people cant get a job when employers only want 45 year old average experienced Steve. Everybody is inexperienced at some point, employers need to realise this. If they dont wise up then eventually all their experienced people will be too old or dead and they'll turn to an inexperienced workforce they neglected for generations, groups of people in their 40s who have never had a job and when that day comes that group of people would be within their rights to tell employers to shove it up their arse.
Rant over.
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