When looking for a job, you can once see such a point as “relevant experience.” And sometimes you do not know what to include there. So, in our article, we will figure out what it signifies for us as job-seekers and employers.
Under the term “relevant experience,” the history of your past works is meant. Primarily, it refers to the jobs related to the position you want to get. For employers, this is one of the most significant things they pay attention to.
You can get some relevant experience in positions similar to those you’re applying for, but it’s unnecessary. You can also get this experience while working on other jobs, through volunteering, or anything else. For example, if you have been a barman, you know what this job involves and how it all works.
So, when you read the vacancy description, you will see information about the things that the candidate must know how to do. And if you look them through and think that you can do this, it means that you have relevant experience. And you need to convince the employer of it. Below, we’ll discuss how to do it.
Now let’s see what relevant experience implies. First of all, it means the previous jobs. And here, paid jobs are considered the most precious type of relevant experience. Also, contract work can be regarded as relevant experience. It has great value, especially if it’s related to the job you want to get. Besides the relevant experience, we can include various fellowships. Here, it does not matter whether you’ve got money for it or not – what really matters are the skills and experience the fellowship has given you. The other experience that can also be regarded as relevant is your thesis and tutoring. As for the thesis, we understand massive projects and other extensive course works far from the regular university experience. These works demonstrate how deeply you’re into the subject, plus your readiness to apply this knowledge and skills. Besides relevant experience, it aims to show how developed your communicative and patience skills are when it comes to tutoring.
When the HR managers make up a job ad, they include anything they want the candidates to do. They also do it even when they know they will not get all of it. We want to say that even if you say that you can do everything the employer wants you to do, you can still submit a job application. It’s especially suitable when there’s one thing that you cannot indicate – how much relevant experience you have now.
If you see that you’re the perfect candidate for the position, you should show yourself the way to make the potential employer notice you. There are several ways to do it:
- Carefully read the vacancy description and underline the required skills.
- Underline the most relevant skills in your summary.
- Make up your summary the way it can easily match the vacancy description.
- Make a transmittal letter so convincing that the employer will not have any doubts about hiring you.
- Get ready for the job interview
There’s one more thing we need to discuss – the relevant experience length. Often, the employers ask you to tell them how many years of experience you have. Here, you should not focus only on years – here, the skills and knowledge are very important. When speaking about your years of experience, you should be reasonable. If the position requires five years of experience, for example, but you have only one, we recommend not applying for such a position. Instead, look for those where fewer years of experience are required.
If you do not have work experience or you change your professional career, things are not over.
In case you change your career, you should think about the skills you’ve gained from the previous jobs and carefully think about how they can help you in the new job.
For those who have just finished school or college, we recommend remembering the projects or classes and thinking about the skills they have developed there. But we should warn you – be careful about mentioning the relevant skills because it can play against you in the end.
