It’s not easy to have something to highlight on your CV when you don’t have significant professional experience. For young people looking for an internship and first job, here are tips to get over this problem.
1. Mention small work experiences
You don’t have at least 6 months of experience? Do you only have small jobs to highlight? Despite everything, you have experience! You have coached a sports team, you have been a scout. And you have carried out or participated in a school project. Now, it will be all about taking advantage of these and taking a look at what they brought you in terms of maturity, for example.
2. Highlight your hobbies and passions
Any leisure, any passion, or any professional association can be mentioned on a CV. But it is still necessary to know how to do it well. Likewise, not all hobbies are good to mention. Also, put yourself in the employer’s shoes. For example, your sports practice will be of great interest to the manager of a sports shop or the manufacturer of sports equipment. Your taste for DIY and manual work can hit the mark with a construction or craft employer. Your fluency in a language and the travels you have taken will be useful to mention if you are looking for employment internationally or in a large group. In short, select the hobbies that will be useful to you depending on the company you are applying for and the position you are looking for.
3. Fill in the “Experience” section of your CV differently
First, select only the experiences that will be of interest to the recruiter. If you have none, put in this section your experiences outside of work: projects carried out in the school, organization, sports, personal, etc. Those who will have mobilized particular skills and/or qualities that may be useful in the professional context. So, rather than calling this section “Professional experiences”, simply name it “Experiences”.
4. Highlight your training
Failing to judge your few experiences, the recruiter will focus on your diplomas and your training courses. You can therefore put them first on your CV if it turns out to be relevant. That is to say, if you have diplomas, titles, qualifications, or certifications to highlight. If this was not the case, mention your qualities first, or your experiences other than professional ones. Obviously associating them with the skills they have enabled you to mobilize.
5. Highlight other skills
If you do not have experience in the sector in which you are applying, or if you have only had summer jobs (factory, catering, summer camps, etc.). It is important to identify the skills and qualities that you mobilized during these because they could be important in your future job. For example meeting deadlines, working in a team, respecting constraints or strict specifications, supervising children, organizing the day, etc. All of these skills that you can highlight in the CV, or during the interview.
6. Mention “soft skills”
As opposed to “hard skills”, measurable technical skills, soft skills are human qualities and interpersonal skills. Soft Skills are generally not highly valued during the application but play an essential role in the choice of a candidate. these types of skills are for example the sense of relationship, adaptability, listening, creativity, empathy, and stress management. They can be highlighted by being associated with non-work experiences (sport, other leisure activities, volunteering, school projects). Either on the CV, in the cover letter, or during the job interview.
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