No Experience, No Problem…

20 April 2020

No experience, no problem…!!

We’ve all heard it before ‘what experience do you have?’, ‘what can you bring to the team?’ These are hard questions to answer when your new to an industry, let alone the IT sector! There will undoubtedly be new technical skills that will be important to learn before and during an industry switch, but don’t be too afraid. If you’ve had a job already out in the big wide world then you are likely to have acquired some skills that will be transferable and importantly, relevant to your new desired role. Let’s have a look a few…

Communication – this is a big one for me, you see it on almost every job listing ‘Good communication skills required’. Now everyone can say they have good communication, but can you stand out from the crowd and show it? Draw on your experiences either negotiating, mentoring or presenting and be sure to highlight them on your CV.

Teamwork – very few jobs are solo roles, so your likely to have had to work in a team previously. Talk about and your previous roles within a team and any successes you had working as a team. Being a Maverick is often not looked upon as a strong personality trait, as they say…’Never, never leave your wingman!’

Attitude – You will know from your previous roles that the people you enjoy working with the most are generally those that you like and are easy to get on with. No, I’m not saying that you should make the tea and bring in cakes every day, but showing your keen and showing you have a good work ethic is essential. Highlight areas in your past where you have positively interacted with your colleagues and/or clients or have gone above and beyond to make sure a project gets completed or problem solved.

Now, the above attributes won’t guarantee you the position of your dreams, so you should align these by showing that you have already taken steps to learn some technical skills you will need. Emphasising your ability and willingness to listen and learn puts your head above the parapet and will help convince your potential new employer you are well worth their significant investment.

 

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