Applying for jobs in which you have no experience or qualifications?

gg2

Ok so I lost my job in December and I absolutely hate being off.
I know its a slow time of year for recruitment but I have been searching for and applying for jobs daily.

However I am finding that the vast majority of these jobs are, on paper, not for me. I am the type of person that absolutely loves working. I hated college and I now hate being off. I can see myself doing anything and trying anything (of course within reason) and being successful at it.

I find myself reading job specs and thinking - yep I can do that - and feeling genuinely enthusiastic about it then when it comes to experience and qualifications I feel that there is little point in applying.

I literally have not seen 1 full time job in which I am qualified in... I am now considering re training in order to widen the types of job I can apply for, but I don't even know where to begin with that...

Just wondering where everyone stands on this? Go ahead and apply and hope for the best or stick to what you know?

Also anyone involved in recruiting- if you received an application from someone with no experience of qualification would you ignore them right away?

chris85

This depends. If you are going for roles in which the role wouldnt necessarily require a degree then go for it. Something like an administration role for example may not need a degree but the employer may want it as they feel graduates with degrees/masters have skills which are transferrable. Often its not only the technical skills which you learn during a degree but also the researching, report writing, presentation and learning skills associated with it. This is a major reason why employers want graduates. They will most likely train the person up anyway but the degree has shown they can learn well.

If the position will require the technical skills directly obtained from a degree than dont bother. For instance jobs like Engineers, software developers, chemical sciences, etc will all require qualified people for good reason.

SCOOP 64

I just go ahead and apply with no experience what so ever, might get lucky ,might like the sound of the person on the cv,
what have you got to lose.

RATM

As a recruiter I'd say that if you don't have any of the experience that is required on the job spec then you are wasting your time. If you had 50% of it then you might be in with a shot, but at 0% then there is not much hope,sorry.

Job specs are written for a reason- to outline to potential employees what it is the employer is seeking. And then for that employee to self assess their own skills vis a vis the spec, before deciding wheather or not they have what the employer wants and if they want to work for that employer. If you don't have those skills then there is not much point applying. People may say'what have you got to lose' but if you apply for jobs you're not qualified for then I wouldn't even expect to get even an acknowledgement, I'm sorry but you'll be just seen as a time waster who's chancing their arm.

If you do want to get a job that you are untrained or unqualified for then the way to go about it is by talking directly with the hiring manager and convincing them that training you will be worth their while as they'll gain a happy and productive employee who works hard. Sending in CV's with none of the skills required will not cut the mustard- there is no personal contact and that is what you need more than ever when you're not qualified/trained to do a specific job.