I was speaking with a young lady the other day who shared with me her dream was to be a Web Designer. She explained that she answered ads that promised $60,000+ salaries if she got her degree in Web Design. After getting the training, she went on interviews and was told 'She Was Not Qualified' for the job. After a number of unproductive interviews, she had to get a job and went into Insurance Sales. She has not gone back to her original dream.
How about you? Do you ever get caught in that 'Catch-22'? You have the Education, but not the Experience? When you write your resume that section under 'WORK HISTORY' looks as empty as a beach at 6am?
Well, we can fix that. There is a way for you to follow your dream and get the necessary experience you need in any work environment.
Below are several ways for you to get the experience you need but it will take some initiative on your part. For simplicity, I'll stick with the web designer who needs experience but you can use the same strategy with many careers.
- Contact your church and let the pastor, priest, rabbi you wish to assist on thier web and marketing promotions. Most churches are awful on on-line activities and they will most likely jump at the help.
- You and your friends can create a cause or sell something online. Buy a domain and create your own website. You can go to GoDaddy.com for example and purchase a domain.
- Contact your local United Way. They work with many of your local non-profits. Here is the National URL and find out your local group.
- Did you know that all associations belong to an association? That's right. It's called the (you guessed it) the American Association of Associations Executives. Here is the National URL but every state has a listing of all non-profit organizations. http://www.asaecenter.org/. Let them know you can Intern and assist them with their web site and online promotions.
- Contact a local interactive media company or marketing company and let them know you wish to INTERN with them for credit. Explain you wish to do this on a free-lance basis or for college credit. Many have thinned down they need to use contractors or interns to get by.
So if you hear 'Not Qualified' again it is really in your hands to change that. Don't pray for someone to hire you to give you that experience. You have the knowledge and power to go help someone that needs your skills and in return you will get the experience you need.
Be careful you don't get taken advantage of though.