Lack of references
November 25, 2015 10:42 AM   Subscribe

What to do if I don't have a lot of work exp/references during the job search?

Hello,

I'm in a better place now than before when I asked prior questions but I still haven't been able to find steady work. I've mostly survived doing odd jobs or relied on my savings for the last 6-7 months. I've tried a lot of different approaches from college job boards to job search engines from retail to call centers. Yes, I did contact temp agencies but haven't heard from them again.

However, I can't seem to think of what to write for prior work experience (1 job) or work references that are non-family members. I did work at a family business but I find it difficult to quantify my actual experience. Here's my resume.

Some background info is I'm 23 years old with some college exp and in NYC. I can't leave the area or return to college because lack of funds (even with Fin Aid). Thanks.
posted by chrono_rabbit to Work & Money (7 answers total)
 
Volunteer. Join a club. Basically, a reference is someone who's not related to you who can say something nice about you. Former employers are best, but if you don't have any, you need someone else. A person who can say "yeah, chrono_rabbit takes the initiative in organizing get-togethers for our club" works OK, because it shows work-related skills. A college professor who can speak to your work is also pretty good when you're young. When I was in high school, I would occasionally do odd jobs at my mom's office, and so I used my mom's boss as a reference. For the first few years after graduating college, my references were the chapter president of my fraternity, my faculty advisor, my boss at my summer job, and my mom's boss.
posted by kevinbelt at 10:55 AM on November 25, 2015


Don't worry too much about references. Use family members with different last names, and leave it at that, specifically those who can speak to working with you. Most of the time references aren't called, mostly they just confirm your work history.

I like your resume, I'd just flip-flop it, starting with skills at the top and ending with your college experience.

You should be able to get an entry level gig just as it is. I'd recommend a large company with a good training program, only because that always worked for me.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 10:57 AM on November 25, 2015


I edit students' resumes for part of my job. You shouldn't put "Bachelors of Science" on your resume unless you have actually obtained the degree; many people would consider that fraudulent. Here's what you can do, however:

Baruch College, City University of New York 2012-2015
Coursework in Computer Information Systems

Also, take out the comma after Frequently.

Finally, my best piece of advice is to rethink each professional experience not in terms of what you did all day, but in terms of the skills you used to do it and the benefit you brought to the organization. In your graphic design work, you:
  • Met the customer's logo design needs by listening to their requests, providing multiple options and communicating frequently over the course of the project
  • Managed a monthly email promotion and advised client on design choices, including newsletters, flyers and coupons
You get the picture. Spell out the skills you demonstrated in each job, so that the potential employer can pick out the skills that will be transferable to the job that s/he is looking to hire for.
posted by Liesl at 11:20 AM on November 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


Wait, why don't your technical skills include HTML and Python?
posted by yarntheory at 11:21 AM on November 25, 2015


Response by poster: Liesl: Thanks for your feedback. I've edited it now to reflect this change.

yarntheory: I don't really have much experience with it other than sometimes I read coding tutorials in my freetime.
posted by chrono_rabbit at 11:25 AM on November 25, 2015


I do a lot of hiring, and frequently of young folk trying to break into the profession. I assume that someone your age is not going to have a lot of experience and references, so I am fine with people like college professors, advisors, organizations you volunteered at -- basically all of the things kevinbelt said. I'm just confirming that it does not take you out of the market. I'm especially impressed by people who had to really fight their way through college and don't have lists of mommy and daddy's country club connections that will be references. Since you have some time, volunteer.
posted by archimago at 12:18 PM on November 25, 2015


Unethical, but reportedly quite effective: CareerExcuse.com
posted by Jacqueline at 9:54 PM on November 25, 2015


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