“How do I find a job after high school when I have no experience?”

You may feel like you have no experience, but your transferable skills can help when you apply for a job. Consider the skills you already have, such as leadership skills from team sports or presentation skills you learned in class. These are the same skills many employers are looking for.

When looking for a job with no experience, seek out employers who are willing to train. Customer service, hospitality, and manual labour jobs often take on inexperienced workers.

You can also develop your skills before you apply for a job. Consider some of the following ways to add experience to your resumé:

• Volunteer in a related field
• Include projects you’ve worked on and the outcome
• Mention relevant interests and skills
• List classes from school that showcase your abilities
• Job shadow someone to see what skills you’ll need
• Apprentice with a qualified employer
• Develop a portfolio

After you write your resumé, you will need to apply for jobs. Applying in person to smaller businesses is a best practice since they may not have staff and software to support online applications. However, larger companies typically prefer online applications. Make sure your resumé is submitted in the format they prefer.

Not only will you gain experience, but you’ll show future employers that you’re willing to work hard to get the job.

Developing a portfolio is not just for artists and creatives. If you want to showcase your skills but do not have a formal reference, a portfolio can help. If you want to work at a programming job, developing a portfolio of projects and things you have learned is a great way to show your skills. Even for manual labour, photos of before-and-after of landscaping you helped your parents with can be in a portfolio. It’s a great way to stand out from other applicants when you have no job experience.

What would you like to know?

An alis staff member will review your question and respond via email. If it’s something that can help others look for work, explore careers, or succeed on the job, a version of your question and answer may even be added to the site.