Question:

I just received my B.S. Degree. All of the jobs I have held thus far have been part-time only and have nothing to do with the career areas I want to work in. On my resume, I have five recommendations, four from previous college professors and one from a college student services. Everyone wants experience but I can't get any unless given the chance. How can I get into the career field I want, considering my past part-time work history?

First Answer:

It can be very hard to break into the "real job market" after college. Here are several suggestions:

1. Most people have developed skills from previous jobs and many times those skills can be transferred to another job even in a different field. Take an inventory of all the things you have done on previous jobs. Now look at the skills used to preform those job functions (not the job functions -- but the skills used). Are any of them transferrable to the field you are applying in? The mistake most people make is that they try to sell themselves by the functions of the jobs they have done -- not by the skills it took to do those jobs.
2. Consider take a temporary job through a staffing service in your field while you look for the right "career position." This will give you some practical experience in the field, put you in contact with people who could hire you for a permanent position and also provide a sourcue of income. Six months to one year can provide you with the experience you need to supplement your education.
3. Consider the types of jobs you are applying for. Are they positions that require work experience in the field? Apply for entry level positions (even though the pay will not be as good) you will have a better chance of getting hired and will also be gaining experience that you can put to work for you in the future.

Remember, a job search for a career position can take as long as 6 - 9 months.

-- Linda Wyatt, Career Center Director, Kansas City Kansas Community College.

Second Answer:

Don't sell your part-time experience short! Work experience is still experience, even if you weren't the CEO of the Company, or didn't work at it full-time. I'm assuming that one of the reasons you weren't working full time is that you were also a student. Most employers understand that a part-time job plus a full workload at school as a student, adds up to a full-time job ...and then some!

You didn't say what your chosen field is, or what kind of part-time experience you had, but instead of thinking about your skills in terms of actual job titles, you've held, consider what kinds of functional skills and activities you have performed. Even a job at the local fast-food restaurant offers you a chance to learn sales techniques, customer service, and organizational tactics. Clerical jobs give you similar skills, plus, perhaps, proficiency in the latest computer programs and office equipment. If you had never worked at all, you'd have no idea of what it's like to be a responsible worker, but you since you have been a part-time worker, you already know how to do many of the things required of more responsible, full-time employees.

Emphasize the types of tasks you already have used in your life and work that are related to your chosen field, even if they are on a lower level than what is required in a job description. Consider the skills that you have gained from your other activities and make sure you promote these. Did you work at the college radio station? Organize fraternity parties? Fund-raise for a cause? Work on a special project in a favorite class? All of these things count as experience and they require you to use management, organizational, administrative, and other skills that make a new graduate attractive to employers. You can stretch your experience a bit, but don't stretch too far or you'll be caught in a lie. The idea is to demonstrate that you are a multi-faceted, enthusiastic person who will be a self-starter able to get up to speed faster than the average new graduate. Make sure employers know what you can do for them in positive, active terms.

If you are having trouble getting interviews, the following might also be holding you back:

• your goals are unrealistic
• you are targeting the wrong companies (or the wrong people in them)
• your resume isn't effective
• you are job-hunting sporadically
• you aren't networking properly, or at all
• you are not making a good personal presentation at interviews

Could any or all of these be sabotaging your job hunt? It can be difficult to keep your spirits up when you don't have the job you want, and the phone isn't ringing with offers, but keep your courage and your spirits up! You aren't alone. There are many new graduates who have similar problems, but eventually, they convince an employer that they can and will do the job. You do have skills and experience....it is just a matter of presentation, effort, attitude...and perseverance.

-- Alison Blackman Dunham, life & career expert, columnist, personal public relations consultant, half of THE ADVICE SISTERS®, and the author of the ASK ALISON career advice column.

Third Answer:

If you are entering the field of your degree, you most likely have a good idea of what is required to be successful. You will want to know about the industry as a whole, particular companies that you may be interested in working for, and individuals connected with those companies. There is a wide variety of information available in directories within libraries. On the Internet, you will find company web sites as well as directories and professional organizations to gain information and insights. Informational interviews are another excellent methods of learning about companies and an industry. Informational interviews are not job interviews. In fact, you assure the prospective interviewee that you are not looking for a job. You are looking for information and insights into how to be successful in the field you have chosen.

Armed with industry information begin to write your resume focused on the needs of a particular industry or company and on your skills and accomplishments. Avoid falling into the routine of looking at your past part-time experience as activities/duties. Review your experience by looking at the skills you used to accomplish the duties and responsibilities you successfully fulfilled.

No matter what task you do knowledge and skill(s) are involved. Employers are interested in your skills and knowledge and how you apply those skills and knowledge, and what you accomplished as a result. It is for these attributes they will be paying you. They are less interested in the tasks you did at the places you previously worked.

Consider using the functional format resume in your situation. Those entering the job market or returning after a long absence find this format useful. This resume style allows you to emphasis your strengths,skills, accomplishments and places less focus on the duties and companies for whom you have previously worked.

Writing strong skills/accomplishment phrases requires a time investment. As you prepare each statement answer the questions: "What was the purpose of the goal or activity?" "What happened as a result of your work?"

For example, rather than writing that you "managed office," write that you "managed office operations" or, better yet, "managed sale office operations and staff of twelve to record productivity."

-- Robert C. Resch, Career Center, Triton College.

Fourth Answer:

You've learned a hard lesson -- one that many students are fortunate to learn while still in college -- that employers want experience. For those who didn't get experience in their career field through internships and such while in school, you still have some options:

1. Re-frame your resume in terms of skills. Instead of thinking of your resume as a collection of jobs unrelated to your field, think of it as a collection of skills -- and use your resume to portray your skills to prospective employers as transferable and applicable to the field you want to enter. It's not the part-time nature of your jobs that hurts you; most college students work part-time jobs while in school. It's the fact that they were not in your field. You have to show employers how the skills and experiences gained relate to your chosen field. I don't know what your major was or what you field is, but think in terms of the skills most employers seek these days: teamwork skills, communications skills, interpersonal skills, computer skills, leadership skills and such. A functional format may work for you. By the way, recommendations or even names of references don't belong on your resume. List them on a separate sheet and give them to employers ONLY when they are specifically requested.
2. If you are in a financial position to do so, you can still get the type of experience you probably should have obtained while in school. You can still pursue an internship in your field. Since unpaid internships abound, you may have to find one that pays at least minimally, and you may be able to do so only if you're in the right situation, such as living with your parents. Or you could take an unpaid internship during regular business hours and support yourself with part-time paid work nights and weekends. If you economically must be in a full-time job outside your field, consider finding some volunteer work in your field that you could do after hours just to build an appropriate resume item.
3. Consider conducting informational interviews. A subset of networking, information interviews won't do much toward giving you experience in your field, but they will provide more exposure to the field and more contacts for your network. You may meet an employer while you're informationally interviewing who would be willing to give an unexperienced person a chance. More likely, you'll gain information that will help you develop a strategy for breaking into the field. You'll find out exactly what you need to do to get someone to give you a chance. Find out how to do informational interviews at: http://www.quintcareers.com/informational_interviewing.html

-- Katharine Hansen, former speechwriter and college instructor who provides content for the Web site, Quintessential Careers, edits QuintZine, an electronic newsletter for jobseekers, and prepares job-search correspondence as chief writer for Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters.

Fifth Answer:

This is hard to answer specifically without knowing your major, field of interest, and what that part-time work is, but the principles of packaging yourself are universal.

Your resume has to demonstrate that you have some preparation for the field in which you work. That means identifying the skill sets required in those fields, and highlighting transferable skills from your non-analogous work history.

• Did you demonstrate analytical, reasoning, writing, quantitative, interpersonal skills in the part-time work you did? In your academic work? Show these experiences.
• Assuming your college major is related to the field in which you work, show courses taken and papers written.
• One route to gaining experience is to do temp work in that field, to get your foot in the door.
• Ask a professor if a research project is available in which you can gain some relevant experience.
• Another route is to volunteer in your field of interest, which is easier if your interest is health or social services than if it's physics.
• Consider entering your field of interest in the function in which you did your part-time work. For example, if your interest and major are accounting but your part-time work is in customer service, try for a job in client services in an accounting firm.

And share what you've learned from this negative experience with your friends still in college and younger siblings: choose your part-time work and college internships for their relevance to your future career goal.

Last, take the recommendations off your resume. They suggest you can't sell yourself without someone else's endorsements. Provide your references only when asked for.

-- Carol Anderson, Career Development and Placement Office, Robert J. Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy at New School University in New York City.

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