How to Make Your Experience Relevant to Your Job
You’ve spotted your dream job with a great company; however, after seeing the job description, you don’t know whether you’re qualified. You’ve never had direct experience with event planning, data visualization, processing sales—or whatever they’re asking you to do. Don’t be discouraged. If you include relevant experiences in your job application and show your growth potential, you’ll increase your chances of landing that dream job of yours.
Understand the Job Listing
To start, you’ll need to determine the core responsibilities of the role to which you’re applying. Understanding those responsibilities and the skills required to accomplish them will help you settle on the skills and experiences you should highlight in your job application.
Forget the Titles
Once you understand the job, it’s time to brainstorm experiences connected, related, or relevant to the position.
Suppose you want to apply for a role in customer service, but you had no formal role in customer service—no problem! Think about the basics of what customer service is about: helping people with their needs, communication, and working under pressure. Then, think of past work or volunteer experience in which you had similar responsibilities or employed similar skills.
By thinking beyond the job titles, you’ll find a constellation of experiences to highlight on your job application.
Connect the Dots
Now, grab a pen and paper. Write down the experiences you want to highlight in your job application and list the responsibilities and required skills for each of those experiences. Compare that to the job listing and look for any similarities.
Once you can see them for yourself, you’ll need to make it clear for recruiters. Here’s how you might put it into words:
- While I never had formal experience in customer service, I worked as a tutor for three years. In that role, I developed exceptional communication skills working with a diverse group of students each week. I believe my strong communications skills will help me excel at building customer relations at your company.
- As a former administrative assistant, I handled incoming calls, prepared correspondences, and scheduled meetings. I succeeded in this role due to my strong organizational and time management skills. These are skills that will help me become a highly-competent event planner for your organization.
The Bottom Line
If you don’t think you’re qualified for the role, think again; you’re likely better than you think. And your experience can attest to that with the right words and some creative thinking.