Ask the Experts:
Finding a Short-term Job With No Work Experience

Question:

I'm going to be a second year pre-business student starting this fall. I want to get a job that lasts from August to mid-September only. I have no job experience. Where should I apply for a job first

First Answer:

Your requirement may be unrealistic; few employers want to take on an employee, train you, put you on the payroll, for six weeks.

So look for a professor who might need brief research assistance or office support in that time frame, or a relative or friend with a family business that might do you a favor of providing a short work experience. Also look for temporary positions in the want ads. Another suggestion would be temporary office work through an agency, so long as your computer skills are sharp. That would at least put a brief stint of experience on your résumé and expose you to a business environment.

If you are interested in gaining experience, but don't need to get paid, you may be able to volunteer your services to an organization you'd like to work for. The more different types of businesses and organizational cultures you encounter in summer employment and internships during your studies, the better equipped you will be to make a good decision when you graduate.

What you don't want to do is accept a job, even flipping hamburgers, that you pretend you are going to keep, and then quit in mid-September. The wired-up, networked society that we live in has few secrets, and such an act could haunt you on future job searches. Besides, how could you sleep at night?

-- 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.

Second Answer:

I would like to suggest that before you go and apply for a job, that you first determine what you have that distinguishes you and what it is that you can offer an employer so that that person is interested in establishing a dialog with you about having you work for them. You also need to decide if the money is the goal or the experience or a little of both. Once you have that, then you can begin to identify what types of opportunities meet your criteria for a job other than that it be from mid-August to Sept. Good luck.

You can use this strategic approach whenever you are in the job market, not just for a short term situation.

-- Debra Feldman, founder of JobWhiz, creator of the JOBWHIZQUIZ, and specialist in cyber savvy strategic job search consultations.

Third Answer:

Your ship may have already sailed. On our campus summer job searches start in April not August.

The first thought is to try a fast food location near home. This industry is seemingly on a constant search for talent. While you are covering this group of openings, keep you eyes peeled for a hiring sign posted in a merchant's window.

Often your college career center will have postings for short-term jobs or if you are attending an out-of-town college check the community college in your city. Jobs posting boards are often available in the student or college center or ask at the career center.

You might try your local food market. Many of the large chain food stores have a bulletin posting boards in their entryway. Short-term jobs are often on the board in the food store where I shop.

Consider looking at the unemployment office nearest you as they too have job posting boards.

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

Fourth Answer:

It may be unrealistic to expect an employer to hire you from August to mid-September. Employers aren't there to cater to your windows of opportunity but rather to find people who will help them run their businesses over the long term -- or at least over a more traditional summer-job period, such as June-September. Of course, you could always withhold the fact that you expect to leave in mid-September, but that wouldn't be ethical, would it? And you likely wouldn't get a good reference from an employer who was left high and dry.

Since you have no experience and are working toward a business major, a better plan might be to see if you can arrange a mini-internship in your field or do some volunteer work that will help you sharpen skills that are transferable and applicable to what you want to do in your career. Unless you absolutely MUST make money during this period, it would be wiser to use this small window for gaining experience that you can list on your resume. See if your own university career office or the career office in a college in your hometown can help you come up with a short-term internship. The best thing you can do for yourself at this point is to gain experience that you can apply after college. Of course, if you should happen to find a paid internship, it's a win-win for everyone, but don't count on uncovering a paid gig, especially given the lack of advance planning.

-- 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.

Get the best new job by completing your education at an on-line or a traditional, campus school.

Career Videos

Featured Employers