Job Search: Communicating Nonpaid Work Experience

If you are re-entering the workforce, making a career change, or seeking employment for the first time, be aware of the entire inventory of your skills. You must be able to clearly communicate them. Therefore, your non-paid work experiences, not just those related to prior paid work positions, matter. Completing an inventory of skills used in non-paid work is wonderful preparation for writing your resume or taking part in a job interview. Thus, you can then communicate those skills to someone who may be interested in hiring you.

---Importance of Non-Paid Work Experiences
Your volunteer efforts are important. You probably received some training for a volunteer position, or at least some mentoring. Basically, volunteering equals working, you just don't get paid for it. Quite frankly, volunteer positions often involve performing tasks that if done elsewhere, a person would probably get paid for them. For many people, volunteer work is actually where some of their best work skills were developed.

---Take A Skills Inventory of Non-Paid Work Experiences
To identify skills you have developed and used in non-paid experiences, complete an inventory. Start out by listing various unpaid "jobs" you have had. Then, beside each job, think about what you did to carry out the job. List those tasks. Next, list the talents or skills you exhibited in performing those tasks.

For example, perhaps you volunteered at the local daycare center managing the children at lunchtime. You no doubt had to be good with children, communicate clearly, and think quickly on your feet. Also, you must have learned to be organized in coordinating the schedule for when the children had lunch, getting them into and seated in the lunchroom on time, and making sure they ate. Then, you got the children out of the lunchroom in time to clean up and get ready for the next group. The skills involved were good communication, problem-solving, and being organized.

Or perhaps you were the president of the Parent Teacher Organization at your child's school. The list of skills such a position requires is many and varied. Some of them are: the ability to work well with people, possession of excellent communication skills, well-organized, effective problem-solving, good planning skills, experienced in fund-raising, and creative in terms of idea generation.

Do not forget to include other tasks you have done to help others or in taking care of your own home. For example, perhaps you have gardened and grown flowers and bushes for years and now want to work at a plant nursery. You have no doubt accumulated a lot of knowledge about plants and how to grow them. If you have sewn your own clothes and your children's clothes for the last 10 years, the experience would certainly be relevant if you are seeking a position as a seamstress.

---How and When to Share Your Skills
You will have more than one opportunity to reveal your skills to a potential employer. The first chance will most likely be in your cover letter when you submit a resume for a position. The second, then, is in your resume. Finally, should you get called for an interview you have the opportunity to verbally elaborate on your prior experiences and skills during your meeting.

---Summary
Don't sell yourself short when you are in the midst of a job search. Recount your non-paid work history to flesh out tasks completed and identify the skills required for each of them. Then, share those skills in your resume, cover letters, and interviews to market yourself. Communicating the skills used in your non-paid work experiences can help you get the job you want.