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Four ways to find a job without a specific degree or experience

Consider getting an online Associate Business Degree to start building your business network and learn the basics of entrepreneurship.

Marketing jobs are all the rage despite the fact that marketing departments are one of the first to be cut in a recession. And I’ve always liked marketing, but I didn’t major it in college, and none of my experience has ever directly related to the topic. But my new job? It’s all about marketing.

Here’s how to transition into a field that you have no specific education or direct experience in:

1. Ignore your last job title. Titles don’t matter. Experience does. “Director” could mean any number of things – managing budgets, event planning, fundraising, etc. But instead, I made it to mean word-of-mouth marketing, building community, and member (read: customer) acquisition and retention when I interviewed for my current job.

Your experience is valuable whatever you do, so you need to learn how to talk about it in a way that matters. Good managers realize it’s not about your title, but what you did. My first boss out of college looked for candidates who had waitressing experience (note: I didn’t, but still got the job), because she believed waiters learned a valuable skill set.

Translate your experience into how it will be meaningful.

2. Network now, while you still have a job. When I announced I was leaving my last job, I received several emails that read, “What’s this all about? I thought you were you going to give me a heads up when your mind started to wander…” Too many people start networking after they’ve started looking for a new position. You should be constantly networking.

More than anything, constantly networking means doing your job well, representing your company with integrity, and letting other people see that. Like when people ask, “How’s the job?” be ready to list two to three key accomplishments – both personal and company-related – like, “It’s great! We’ve acquired two new sponsors, expanded our Board, and are starting the process for building our new product on Monday.”

And it doesn’t matter if you just started your job. After a conference last week, I followed up with the business cards I collected. One email I received back read, “Let me know when you’re ready to job-hop again. I need a good PR person for [company] to manage marketing our own business and brand.”

3. Please, start a blog already. Now that I work for a start-up company, people keep asking me how to get a start-up job. Especially those with no online presence whatsoever. Uh, yeah. The easiest way to prove that you’re serious, knowledgeable and competent in an area that you seemingly have no experience or education in is to write a blog on that topic. Because writing a good blog isn’t actually easy at all, it’s hard.

And if you’re serious about finding a job in engineering instead of accounting, or intellectual property instead of family law, or sports-casting instead of painting, you have to be serious. If you think it’s stupid to start a blog on the topic, then maybe you don’t want it as much as you think you do. I’m just saying. Be honest, and then put the work in.

4. Customize your resume to the company. Don’t insist on putting everything you’ve ever done on your resume. If you’re a real estate agent, don’t describe the job, but instead describe your accomplishments, how you stood out, and why your experience makes you stellar to the position you’re applying for. Writing a great resume preps you for a great interview.

The easiest way to learn how to do this is to review other resumes. Reviewing what other people have done is the quickest way to improvement because you’ll see how much information is irrelevant and how quickly you get bored. Here, you can start by reviewing the resume I wrote to get my current job. It was pretty awesome at the time, but only a couple months later, this version already makes me cringe. You should constantly be updating since you are constantly changing.

Apply the same customization and personalization to your resume that you expect when you get book recommendations from Amazon.

Transition mission.

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By Rebecca Healy

My goal is to help you find meaningful work, enjoy the heck out of it, and earn more money.

34 replies on “Four ways to find a job without a specific degree or experience”

I enjoyed this post a lot! It’s optimistic and empowering, which is great. Most people would advise against people changing fields (especially right now in the recession). I love your attitude!

I think #3 is my favorite. It’s kind of funny how many people STILL don’t understand the value of your online presence…

Great advice! And I love that you’re blogging more often… :)

@ Jamie – I think a lot of people will have to end up changing fields, especially in the recession and that’s why it’s so important to be ready. Thanks for the comment!

@ Nisha – I almost didn’t even include #3 because it seems so obvious to you and I, but it’s obviously not to others…

@ Kiersten – That’s awesome! I’d love to hear how it goes (shoot me an email?). All the best.

OK, I’m with you here Ms. Modite, but I disagree with “please start a blog already.” I honestly don’t think everyone can just start a blog because it’s not for everyone. Many people don’t want to invest the time and energy, haven’t found their true passion and can’t accept criticism. I think everyone in the world should have a “website” (aka yourname.com), but a blog needs additional thought and care. I’ve thought about this a lot and have discussed it with people of all generations. My conclusion is that not everyone should blog because if you don’t do it right, it can hurt your brand.

Customizing your resume is right on target. Most people our age are too lazy though! Networking before you have a job is extremely smart, yet most people (not just our gen) will wait anyways.

Excellent advice. I agree with Dan, but there are other ways – like commenting and participating in conversations on other blogs if you don’t want to start one yourself. Joining an online community – LinkedIn Group or Ning group that you can discuss your industry with other people in the area. There are other ways.

One other suggestion to the no-experience is volunteer work. Sometimes you can get some experience to transition to a new career path by volunteering your time to learn about the new skills that you’d need. It can take a little digging but there are plenty of opportunities to volunteer your time to.

Good advice. Only thing i would challenge – and its nitpicky – is the need to start a blog. I think a blog accomplishes some things that can be accomplished in other ways – basically giving you a publishing niche and helping to network with people. In my field (research/engineering) starting a blog isn’t exactly the way to do it – but getting published in technical and professional journals is. Its essentially the same thing – but not everyone’s medium for info exchange is the Internet. Nitpicky, maybe, but hopefully it opens your eyes to the limitations of blogs.

@ Dan – Interesting thoughts. I think a key phrase is “if you don’t do it right.” There are certainly other avenues to success, but I think one of the most obvious is a blog. If you can’t invest the time and energy in a topic now, why would you want to transition into it for your career? Thanks always for your comments!

@ Rosie – Great other suggestions, especially the volunteer work. That’s what I did in college before I knew about blogging in depth and it worked like a charm. Admittedly, sometimes I forgot that not everyone is a blogging nut ; )

@ Osama – Thanks for the comment! Constantly networking is one of my favorites too.

@ Joe – Certainly, there are other ways and you need to be aware of that, whatever your field. I appreciate the reminder and the comment : )

You are so very right, especially in terms of writing each resume to target the company you are applying to. That is exactly how I went from marketing rep to director of marketing and ecommerce to web designer. It is all about tweaking your experience to the right audience.

Good post. Throughout this post, I was reminded about ways in which I am currently trying to interpret my particular skill set/ experience. It is useful – and not just to get a job in a different field – to understand your strengths and experience in another lexicon than the incredibly specific one used day in and out in my current profession. I believe it helps me talk about what it is that I do to people outside my profession in a way that they more clearly understand.

These are great points! It is so valuable to share your experience transitioning fields, as it provides a great reminder to people who think they can only do certain types of work that change is possible, even necessary in some cases. (I have been working with number of people in industries that are not thriving and NEED to look at those transferable skills if they hope to find work.)

I only advise clients who are strong writers to start a blog. (You don’t want to demonstrate what you are NOT expert at doing!) Otherwise, I agree that participating in communities, especially Twitter, can be helpful for relationship building for any job seeker. I wrote about optimizing Twitter for the job hunt…I think Twitter is a great option for people who can’t or won’t blog for whatever reason:

http://www.keppiecareers.com/2008/11/23/use-twitter-for-your-job-search/

Thanks for a great post!

I think it’s important to realize when you talk about blogging for your career to realize how specific this world is. If you want to work in marketing, PR, social media, tech, then blogging is a good way to go. But it’s still seen with a bit of trepadation in many worlds. So don’t assume if you start a blog on manufacturing or supply chain management that that will get you a job – or a network.

That said, I think blogging is a great way to gain experience and knowledge in a field – just not perhaps a network in every one. And typically, it’s the network that makes the job hop happen. Backed up with great knowledge, of course. :)

So don’t just rely on a blog to get you a job. Too many people pour into this (because it can be a time suck) exclusively, and that is a dangerous thing to do sometimes.

Great post! I agree with some other commenters that starting a blog can be great for promoting yourself, but depending on the field, it might not be necessary, as Tiffany states above.

What often is necessary, though, is tweaking and refining your skill set to reflect where you’d like your career to head. That means heading back to school, taking some training courses, learning through your industry networks, and/or letting your employer foot the bill for school via tuition reimbursement if that’s an option, etc. Depending on the field, going back to school often directly or indirectly affects your marketability and your income potential.

I enjoyed reading this post because it was simple information. Someone reading this wouldn’t feel overwhelmed with the number of steps/changes they may have to take to take that career-transition step.

When I started my blog, I had a career change in mind, but I don’t necessarily blog about the industry I’m interested in.

Also, maybe I harp on this too much – but I always think volunteering is a great way to find a job and connect with people for professional opportunities.

Loved this post, it’s great that you are proof of concept. As I re-read through your post, I am suprized that you did not use the word, “proactive.”

One of the major differences (certainly not the only difference, though) that I’ve observed between successful job hunters and job hunters who have a harder time, is that the successful candidates are constantly doing a lot of the stuff you suggested, way before they have a need for a new job.

@Duchess of Kickball – I love to hear success stories like yours, thanks so much for sharing!

@ Amanda – I couldn’t have phrased it better myself. It’s imperative to understand what you do in a larger picture sens, not only for your future career, but also to feel like you’re doing meaningful work currently. Thanks for commenting!

@ Miriam – Thanks for stopping by! It’s so odd to me to hear that people don’t recommend blogs, because the reasons for not starting a blog seem reasons enough to start one. Not a good writer? Start a blog to become a BETTER writer. I don’t know, maybe I’m just too idealistic though : )

@ Tiffany – Agreed that blogging shouldn’t be your sole focus, but I do think it’s very powerful and although I was bending to the crowd a bit in earlier responses, I do think it’s fitting in the majority of careers. Of course, there will always be exceptions, but this is the world we’re moving into and you want to be on the front-end I think. Thanks for your insightful response!

@ Dawn – I love that you brought up some additional strategies. It’s so important to put all these tools in the box and focus on what makes sense for you. Appreciate the comment : )

@ Raven – I was mentioning earlier that volunteering was my blogging in college. Volunteering got me so many places and there’s a statistic somewhere – and I’d pay the person that finds it for me – that talks about how networking while your volunteering is the most valuable connection made. Thanks for the reminder!

@ Jaclyn – Exactly, proactive is a great word – maybe I should send my posts to you for editing ; ) (only half kidding). My last couple jobs, I was asked to apply or was approached by the company instead of having to search, and it’s so empowering. But it does take a proactive approach.

Ok, dull people shouldn’t blog, but for people who have something to say and a great way of saying it, like Rebecca, it’s been a couple of steps on the ladder.

Here’s an alternative to having your own blog – write a (Google) knol. It allows you to receive attribution without the regular maintenance of a blog. Knol allows for moderated collaboration between an author and its readers. There’s a good knol on the best practices for writing a knol at http://knol.google.com/k/knol-help/best-practices-writing-good-knols/uPUoECxfx/sd8yvy# . It provides guidelines which can help you create useful, popular and positively rated knols.
The Google Knol has been making good progress according to Matt Cutts and his recent post – http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/google-knol/ . Note especially his views on last paragraph of this post as he makes a differentiation between a blog and a knol.

I have to disagree with those who have said you shouldn’t blog. Blogging, whether it is to position yourself as an expert in your field, to share your grandmother’s recipes or just ramble on about your day, blogging is great! Personally, I have 3 blogs and 2 I plan to start later this year. By blogging and looking at other blogs and researching, I’ve learned so much that I never learned in school.

Also, I am so happy that you have posted this, today of all days. because I got laid off this morning, But it is a huge blessing since i was so miserable. My former position had nothing to do with creativity and I quickly realized that I was slowly dying in my cube each day. I’m heading to the Unemployment line tomorrow, submitting my acceptance of the severance by the end of the week. What’s funny to me is that, I was totally shocked, but I’ve kind of been preparing for this. I spent nearly 12 hours on Saturday updating my blogs, adding connections on LinkedIn, locating new and interesting features on Twitter and so much more that I think will help me in my job search because I have a degree in PR, but no real world PR experience, but I hope to break into the industry, especially now that social media, blogging, etc is so important and I’ve been keeping up to date with that. All of that was written to simply say, I am much more confident in my future prospects because of my blogging and subsequent networking.

Great post!

Great concept. Just a question: If you are an accountant and you’re looking for a job in engineering, how is a blog going to compensate for the lack of education in engineering in searching for a job?

An accountant may be good with numbers, but I sure wouldn’t want him attempting to ramp up his knowledge on the job, which an engineering grad would have had in his second year of college. He may do wonders in the budgeting of a project, but I sure as heck don’t want him doing the design of an ultra high pressure hydralic system.

“The easiest way to prove that you’re serious, knowledgeable and competent in an area that you seemingly have no experience or education in is to write a blog on that topic.”

VERY bad move, especially on technical subjects. If you have no experience or education in a technical area and you’re blogging in an attempt to prove you’re serious, knowledgable and competent, you will get savaged, insulted, and pretty much torn apart by those who ARE knowledgeable and competent, and then labeled as a fraud, charlatan, liar, and noob who has no clue. Then the word gets spread around that about your blog by these same people.

Don’t believe me? Check out slashdot.org.

Very interesting that there would be so much resistance to blogging – dare I say risk aversion?

Writing and publishing is a way to shine a light onto the way you think, how you relate, and how you problem solve – regardless of your level of expertise. That alone is worth gold. It lets a potential employer spend time getting to know you beyond the formal or informal interviews.

The blog on the topic is the start, not the end of it all. It’s part of the integrated homework to get there. That was an extreme example, Rebecca :)

Regarding point #3, I had a grad student tell me that blogs are essentially “crap.” They’re useless and absolutely NOT credible and recruiters couldn’t care less about whether or not you had one.

Care to share your thoughts with me on this one Rebecca? (I know where I stand).

Definitely not the first piece I’ve read about effective resume writing, but yours struck something in me Rebecca. I now have a resume that I really like which hasn’t been the case for awhile. It feels good, thanks!

[…] Alexandra Levit has just published the book, New Job, New You: A Guide to Reinventing Yourself in a Bright New Career, which is a great resource if you’re looking for a job or trying to find more happiness in your career. And it got me thinking, one of the myths I see over and over is that job-seekers or those looking to switch careers don’t think they have the skills or experience they need. […]

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