My 2 Cents: How To Gain Credibility & Get Noticed By Employers When You Have Little To No Experience

So ‘My 2 Cents’ is a content series I plan to try to see if people get any value from it and this is the first post in the series.

What you can expect from this is when I check my RSS reader for the latest goings on in the marketing world (and some cross over with entrepreneurship, business, career etc), I want to start pulling out interesting articles and giving you my own take on the story based on my own experience.

Sometimes I might stick to the original article closely when providing this, but other times I might start on the topic and go in a different direction. It all depends on the topic and my experience or opinion in/on the topic really.

So here is the original article I came across this morning:

“How to gain credibility when you have little experience” – https://hbr.org/2017/10/how-to-gain-credibility-when-you-have-little-experience

Below is my 2 cents on this topic:

Firstly you need to make sure your expectations are in check

If you are fresh out of school, college or university then don’t expect or think you deserve a mid – higher level role with a nice big salary.

The same level as someone who has actually been DOING the work day in day out for years, PROVING their value consistently over time and learning the skills required that can only be learned from ‘doing’ rather than reading and studying.

You have to earn it so expect to start low and have to work hard and execute consistently for years.

Do what the rest won’t… Swap Game Of Thrones for research & self education

With that out the way and assuming your expectations are in check, I totally understand how hard it can be to get that first foot on the ladder when everyone seems to be looking for experience.

How can you get experience if nobody will give you a fucking ‘at-bat’ right and there are tons of other people applying for the same role so how do you stand out?

I get it, so what can you do to stand out? You’ve just spent years studying so your research skills are on point. You have the internet 24/7 in your hand so go research!

Most people won’t do the above step and I promise you if you spend an hour a day self educating in your chosen topic area, ideally coupled with having a go at executing on what you are learning, you will learn more practical knowledge and skills than you ever thought possible.

The important point though is because hardly anyone else is doing this, you will stand out. You will stand out on your resume, you will stand out in your communications in how you talk about the topic and the level of conversation you can hold, in your passion, your confidence and in your commitment to go above and beyond by sacrificing your own time to get better and improve.

I promise you that this will get people’s attention and doors will start opening for you.

Communicate existing complementary skills in a way that benefits them

Maybe you have done a marketing degree and are trying to break into the industry but of course you have no marketing experience. But maybe for the last few years you have become quite good at Photoshop or photography or video production in your spare time as a hobby to help your own personal social media.

Know your audience and communicate the value you can bring. So communicate how you can use these skills to hit the ground running with ad creative or product photography or how you could improve a lagging social media account etc.

Loads of posts tell you to volunteer (usually written by people who have never done this). The reality is it still requires an investment from the company.

Although in theory this is great, the reality is it likely costs the employer time so don’t be too disheartened if you get knocked back a lot when you start reaching out.

They will have to get you settled in and on-boarded and give you at least a basic level of training which if they are really busy, might not be realistic, no matter how much they might want to take you up on your offer.

To help increase the chances of success with this, if you are struggling to make it happen, you might want to think about a small way you can help them and solve a problem for them.

So staying with the example Photoshop skills above, you could approach digital marketing agencies and instead of saying you want to volunteer as a full time employee for a while, maybe pitch that you want to help with their banner and social creative for free in exchange for a couple days per week in the office to help you learn and work with an experienced team.

Get out there and meet people in the industry outside the work setting

Meetups and other related events can be a great way to meet the right people who can open doors for you or at least help you develop. Heck just the fact that you attend them helps you to stand out on your resume.

Assuming you don’t live in the back end of nowhere, there’s likely some sort of groups on your topic who meet up regularly. Get out there and get meeting people.

So that’s my 2 cents on this article based on my own experience and what would stand out for me if you were applying for a role.

Get out there and graft, do what most won’t, do it consistently and doors will open.