Welcome, Guest: Register On Nairaland / LOGIN! / Trending / Recent / New
Stats: 3,151,379 members, 7,812,108 topics. Date: Monday, 29 April 2024 at 08:25 AM

4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience - Jobs/Vacancies - Nairaland

Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Jobs/Vacancies / 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience (15115 Views)

Never Put These 5 Things On Your CV When Applying For A Job In Nigeria / I Mistakenly Sent An Unupdated CV When Applying For A Job (Advice Needed) / Differences Between A CV And A Resume (2) (3) (4)

(1) (Reply) (Go Down)

4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by PatrickOkunima(m): 6:44am On Aug 10, 2018
Don’t let a lack of work experience put you off applying for a role where otherwise you meet most of the requirements. Instead, make the most of your other qualities: your skills, attitude, potential and enthusiasm.

1. Identify what qualifies you for the role

It isn’t only paid experience that counts. Voluntary or community involvement, work placements, coursework, personal projects and extracurricular activities can all be highlighted to show your suitability. Think from the employer’s perspective – decide on the most interesting factors, where you have used relevant skills, and then make these prominent on your CV.

For instance, this graduate CV highlights education and training, including achievements and endorsements, while this CV demonstrates how to emphasise project work above less relevant work experience. Breaking down each project into target, result and learned competencies shows relevant skills and achievements in context.

2. Make yourself irresistible to an employer

One of the hardest things to do convincingly on a CV is to convey desirable personality traits. Just writing that you are enthusiastic or motivated without giving supporting details isn’t enough. Instead, demonstrate through examples.

Starting something from scratch and overcoming hurdles can show resourcefulness and determination. You can use examples like this to illustrate other characteristics such as an ability to get on with others, or organizational and communication skills.

Holding down a job to help family finances or pay your way through college can reveal humility and a strong work ethic: “Consistent work record: held variety of part-time roles since the age of 16 to contribute to educational costs.” Learning about a role or sector through online communities, upskilling through tutorials or conducting your own projects all show enthusiasm – it could fit into the education, training or skills section of your CV.

Graduate employers like applicants who can demonstrate these personality traits, as well as attributes such as numeracy and commercial awareness, which you could show through retail, marketing or sales work.

Quantify achievements where possible (how much money saved, percentage of time reduced, etc) and mention instances where you were promoted, rehired, or given greater responsibility.

3. Speak the same language

This is especially the case for career changers, but all applicants should aim to use language that an employer would expect to see from an ideal candidate. Include keywords throughout your CV, in job titles, skills, and in how you describe your work experience. In this example, the course modules (international finance, risk management, etc) are keywords in their own right, and are included in the skills section, titled “specialised knowledge”.

4. Experiment with layout

You don’t need to always use a strict chronological work history format or have the same section order. Put the most important information first – relevant project work can come before less relevant employment, while voluntary projects bridging your move into a new career could come before current, paid work.

You can be flexible with layout and include additional sections for work that is less relevant, or earlier in your career. You can also put your education before your work experience, or extract relevant course work and place that prominently.

Don’t be tempted to flesh out a CV with long, rambling paragraphs and irrelevant details to compensate for a lack of work experience. Instead, write leanly and concisely, and focus on making it easy for your reader to find key information.

Consider putting a summary of stand-out points at the beginning of your CV. Put your name and contact details at the top of the page, then use the job title itself as a heading. Under this, summarize key details such as years’ experience in a particular skill, project experience or summer placements at that company, or a short branding statement highlighting your strengths and attributes. A couple of lines in note or bullet-point format (rather than entire sentences) can work well. Include a brief cover letter explaining your reasons for applying, and interest in the company.

PLEASE READ MORE>>> https://patrickokunima.com/2016/06/21/writing-a-cv-without-work-experience/

10 Likes

Re: 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by PatrickOkunima(m): 12:51pm On Aug 10, 2018
Let me know if the post was helpful.
Re: 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by naijaguy123456(m): 1:32pm On Aug 10, 2018
Nice

8 Likes

Re: 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by 3millionia: 1:33pm On Aug 10, 2018
grin
Re: 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by tstx(m): 1:33pm On Aug 10, 2018
Cool



see my sugnature
Re: 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by Franzinni: 1:33pm On Aug 10, 2018
Number 5 and most importantly



Pack it full of lies... Nobody cares to verify nowadays I know people working in big coys with BS CVs and are doing better than those with better "experience " don't take my word for it too.... Stick to the previous 4
Re: 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by Nobody: 1:34pm On Aug 10, 2018
I buy all your amazon gift card with receipt and iTunes cards of any denominations
Re: 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by nabegibeg: 1:34pm On Aug 10, 2018
Re: 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by chezzy13(f): 1:34pm On Aug 10, 2018
How I step into my birthday.
0044161621 gtb, I need some love too cheesy

Re: 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by nabegibeg: 1:34pm On Aug 10, 2018
PatrickOkunima:
Let me know if the post was helpful.

It was a complete waste

1 Like

Re: 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by exporters101: 1:35pm On Aug 10, 2018
The way your CV is presented matters a lot to your interviewers.
Re: 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by exporters101: 1:35pm On Aug 10, 2018
PatrickOkunima:
Let me know if the post was helpful.
It was helpful
Re: 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by fk001(m): 1:38pm On Aug 10, 2018
PatrickOkunima:
Was the post helpful?


I don't want to hurt your feelings.




Yea the post will be helpful especially to the undergraduates.
Re: 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by Alaadin(m): 1:40pm On Aug 10, 2018
PatrickOkunima:
Was the post helpful?

Yea it was thank you.
Re: 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by exporters101: 1:42pm On Aug 10, 2018
chezzy13:
How I step into my birthday.
0044161621 gtb, I need some love too cheesy
Scam!!!!!! Don't fall for this new scam on NL

2 Likes

Re: 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by olafunny(m): 1:42pm On Aug 10, 2018
chezzy13:
How I step into my birthday.
0044161621 gtb, I need some love too cheesy
slay queens turn birthday to alms day grin

Happy birthday though, don't expect anything else from us

3 Likes

Re: 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by spartan117(m): 1:43pm On Aug 10, 2018
Never say you don't have any work experience, if you don't, just ignore it and focus on your strengths as the op highlighted.
Re: 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by 9jaADMIN(m): 1:45pm On Aug 10, 2018

Re: 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by BiafranBushBoy: 1:51pm On Aug 10, 2018
chezzy13:
How I step into my birthday.
0044161621 gtb, I need some love too cheesy

Your mates are making waves out there

Hustling real bad...

and you are here being a corporate beggar.

#Shameful

1 Like

Re: 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by flex04(m): 1:53pm On Aug 10, 2018
Re: 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by qanda: 2:46pm On Aug 10, 2018
Ok
Re: 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by emmyN(m): 4:04pm On Aug 10, 2018
It was helpful. Thank you
Re: 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by Nehyooh(m): 4:59pm On Aug 10, 2018
Thanks !
Re: 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by Justin1: 6:01pm On Aug 10, 2018
Nice @op
Re: 4 Tips To Help You Write A CV When You’ve Got No Work Experience by usibengate(m): 7:09pm On Aug 10, 2018
Nice one

(1) (Reply)

A Job In A Multinational Company Or A Masters Degree In France / Stanbic IBTC Bank Graduate Trainee Programme 2014 / 10 Reasons Why You Are Still Looking For A Job

(Go Up)

Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health
religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket

Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)

Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 26
Disclaimer: Every Nairaland member is solely responsible for anything that he/she posts or uploads on Nairaland.