Your Resume: What Qualifies as Work Experience?

Getting that first job is often the toughest. No one wants to hire you without experience. But how do you get experience, when no one wants to hire you? You're caught. The next best thing you can do is to acquire some related experience. This can be accomplished through volunteer work. In addition to volunteer work that you can include on a resume, you can also include references to living experiences. You have a lot of living experiences that could qualify as work experience. Learn how to pad your resume with qualified work experience, when you thought you had none.

Work Experience: Volunteer Work Counts

Volunteer work experience is work experience. Nothing says you have to be paid in order for skills to be learned. Here's what you can do. Volunteer for an unpaid position to accumulate at least 3 month's work experience. You could work for a lesser amount of time, but 3 months is what many agencies like you to commit to. It provides enough time for you to build skills. Plus, and it gives an agency time enough to warrant the training and to count on your service.

Hospitals are great places to volunteer. You'd be surprised how many different jobs there are at a hospital that can be done by a volunteer. Hospitals have staff to train you, and flexible schedules during daytime and evening hours accommodate most needs. You can volunteer as little as a few hours per week or full-time. Volunteer work grows your skill level and gives you a valuable work reference.

Work Experience: Include Living Experiences

Include some actual living experiences on your resume. Here are some to consider. Babysitting is childcare experience. Lawn-mowing is lawn-care experience. Taking the neighbor's dog for walks is a pet-care experience. When the neighbors are on vacation, keeping a watchful eye on their house is house-sitting experience. Fundraising at the fireworks stand or the bake sale is sales experience. Running chores and getting groceries for a shut-in is personal care experience. Helping to build a deck is construction experience. See how many job-related experiences you already have? Name them on a resume.

Work Experience: Be Proactive

Don't waste time getting depressed over the fact that no one wants to hire an inexperienced employee. Instead, get some experience by volunteering. Furthermore, improve your resume to include all the experiences you've had that do speak of job-related skills. In today's marketplace, you have to be proactive. Move ahead of the next inexperienced person by gaining volunteer experience. What's more, include life experiences on your resume. Let the potential employer decide what qualifies as work experience.