Are you at the start of your career and looking to gain some professional experience before applying for a job?

It’s a competitive world out there when it comes to jobs and opportunities! To give yourself a leg up, it’s important to gain experience in fields you’re interested in and build a strong resume.

Professional experience helps connect what you’ve learnt in the classroom with ‘real world’ workplace experience.

It’s an opportunity to build your employability, your skills, establish professional connections and decide the right career for you.

Additionally, you need to be able to demonstrate relevant previous experience or the suitability of your skills to most positions.

When you enter the job market as someone looking for your first job, your school results, a strong reference from a teacher and a good attitude in an interview is a start. But if you’re looking to transition into an industry more aligned with your future career aspirations, you'll need to develop your resume and gain some valuable experience.

Benefit of gaining professional workplace experience

  • Expand your knowledge and professional skills, put theory into practice in a professional setting.

  • Develop your resume to increase your employability.

  • Develop transferable skills like teamwork, problem solving, and communication.

  • Establish a network of professional contacts.

Relevant experience can mean a range of things. When we think about working, we can think about needing two main types of skills:

  • Hard skills - raw technical and industry skills and knowledge that may have come from study or professional affiliation.

  • Soft skills - personal attributes and experience you may have gained from several places.

For example, studying accounting at high school or at university will give you the hard skills needed to work in accounting.

At the same time, you may have also become good at time management or had to work in a team. These are soft skills and are applicable across all industries! Good school reports and references from teachers can also demonstrate your soft skills and your suitability for further employment.

Professional experience can be:

  • Unpaid (volunteering, placement, and internships) or paid.

  • Short or long-term.

  • In person, online, or hybrid.

Depending on what type of experience you want, it can also be at different kinds of workplaces – like not-for-profits, social enterprises, government and businesses.

Internships

Internships or placements are a great way to gain relevant industry experience because often you’ll have a direct liaison at your workplace that is available to guide you and who you can turn to for advice.

It also means you’ve made a relevant industry connection that you can list on your resume as a reference for your next job application!

Volunteering

Shows dedication to your local community and builds transferable skills like problem solving or working with others.

Allows you to build professional networks and mentors and develop both hard and soft skills.

You can find volunteering opportunities in several places such as through school careers counsellors, friends, or by searching on Google!

It’s a good idea to pick volunteering opportunities that interest you. For example, if you’re passionate about animal welfare you may want to volunteer at your local animal rescue. Or, if you play sport, you could volunteer for your sporting club.

Mentorship

A mentor is someone more established in their career, who shares their own knowledge and skills with you to help with your development.

They may be able to look over a job application for you, help you learn a new skill or support you in reaching out to organisations for opportunities.

Potential mentors may be a university tutor or lecturer, an existing professional connection or even someone met through specific mentoring websites.

Student clubs

Don’t discount the student experience! If you’ve ever taken on a leadership role while at school or university, it’s likely you’ve developed some key, transferrable soft skills that would be relevant to many industries.

Experiences like running events, recruitment, running a committee or working within school and university systems are all things that may set you apart.

On your resume, list the student club, how long you were involved, and the details of any core activities you did. Include your most impressive stats (such as if you increased membership by 25% or sold 30% more tickets for an event) to impress an employer.

Committing to work, particularly if unpaid, can be a huge time and financial commitment. It’s important to think about how you will manage this with other commitments like other work, family, study and visa conditions.  

If you’re enrolled in university or TAFE, you can speak to your careers counsellor or placement coordinator – they will likely have industry connections. Also, you can look on your institution’s website or careers hub for listed opportunities.

If you want to self-source your experience, here’s some places to start:

  • Organisation or company websites
  • Call or email - You can call an organisation to let them know you're interested and try to organise a meeting with a manager to have an informal chat about why you want experience.
  • Job search portals – sites like Ethical Jobs, SEEK, Job Search, and Career One.
  • LinkedIn – this is a professional networking site. You can search for various companies and current opportunities. It also has great advice on how to set up your profile.
  • Community notice board
  • Personal and professional networks – reach out to friends, family or professionals to see if they know anyone working in your field of interest. They may be able to help you set up a meeting to expand your network.
  • Current employer – if you’re already volunteering, interning or working, there may be opportunities to gain different experiences at your organisation. You can ask your employer if they have any opportunities and how to best approach this.1
  • Subscribe to newsletters – these often include current employment opportunities and job vacancies.

Research the field you are interested in and make a list of key organisations in that field.

Once you have found an organisation you’re interested in working with, deep dive into; who they are, what their mission is, what they do, who they work with, and their current projects.

Doing this research will show you whether you are aligned with the organisation’s values or not and therefore whether they will be the right fit for your interests and professional development.

Before getting your resume together and applying, it’s a great idea to contact the organisation to introduce yourself and learn more about the role. You can usually find these details listed within the job opportunity.

This is a chance to give the org a quick ‘taster’ on you who are, why you’re interested, and why you might be the right fit. It’s also an opportunity for you to see if it’s the right fit for you.

To help the organisation remember who you are when they look at your resume, communicate clearly and ask questions about the job that aren’t already included in the job advertisement.

Remember, if you find your dream job, but don’t yet have the skills or experience, it’s still worth reaching out to the organisation to establish a connection – confidence is key! You may also already have transferable skills that you can demonstrate.

Transferable skills include things like:

  • Leadership
  • Communication
  • Critical thinking
  • Research

Check out our resource on how to write your resume and cover letter linked in our further reading list below. 

Interviews are an important opportunity for the interviewer to get to know who you are, how you communicate, and your skills and experience.

Interviews can be scary for everyone, no matter how many times you do them.

Here are a few tips to get you well prepared.

  • Access needs – Let the interviewer know about any access needs you have. Access needs may include; having an interpreter present, using a mobility device, needing a service animal, if you require breaks.
  • Research the organisation– research the organisation’s mission, values, and current projects. This helps you tailor your answers and demonstrate your interest in the org. If you can, also research your interviewer – LinkedIn is great for this!
  • Review the job description – make sure you understand the responsibilities, skills and qualifications required. This will help you prepare answers that align with expectations and show you are suitable for the job. Think about how you can draw on your relevant skills and experience.
  • Practice your answers – use the selection criteria and common interview questions to create a list of questions you might be asked. Then, have a go at answering by writing them down or practicing aloud with a friend.
  • Use the STAR method – practice answering scenario questions using the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) method. It’s important to prepare short descriptions of situations that showcase YOUR favourable behaviours, actions or outcomes. Check out LinkedIn’s guide on the STAR method.
  • Dress appropriately – make sure you dress appropriately for the interview, taking into account the organisations culture or dress code. When in doubt, dress professionally.
  • Arrive early – plan to arrive 15 minutes before the interview to make sure you have enough time and can calm your nerves.
  • Bring your resume – it’s always useful to have a copy of your resume in front of you to refer to or provide the interviewer. This shows you are well prepared and organised. You can also take in notes, just let the interviewer know you will be referring to them throughout the interview.
  • Follow up – Once you’ve finished the interview, thank the interviewer and send a follow-up email reiterating your interest in the job. This shows you’re interested in the position.

During the interview, it’s also important to:

  • Listen carefully – to make sure you understand questions before answering. It’s always ok to take a moment, write the question down, or ask for clarification.
  • Be authentic and show enthusiasm – It’s important to be yourself. The interviewer wants to know who you are and what you are passionate about, so let your personality shine through.
  • Showcase your accomplishments – it can be nerve racking talking about yourself, but don’t be afraid to highlight your successes and achievements.
  • Prepare questions yourself - Having questions to ask the interviewer is a great way to show you are interested and engaged in the interview, Think about what you want to know about the workplace as you need to know it's the right fit for you. Questions could include ‘what are the professional development/training opportunities’, ‘how many people are in the team’?, ‘what's the culture like?’

Woohoo... you’ve got the job! (Well-done).

Before you start, it’s important you know your legal rights and obligations. These can depend on the type of work you are undertaking – i.e. vocational, unpaid student placement, paid and international students. Check out our resource on your rights as a young person below, it has a section on workplace rights as well as a section for volunteers.

You can find out more information about your right and responsibilities at the Fair Work Ombudsman.

  1. Enhancv. (n.d). Cover Letter VS. Resume –What's The Difference? https://enhancv.com/blog/difference-between-cover-letter-and-resume/

  2. Indeed. (3 February 2023). 10 Tips for Gaining Experience To Advance Your Career. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/gaining-experience

  3. Indeed. (26 May 2023). How To Make a Resume. https://au.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/how-to-make-a-resume

  4. Seek. (14 November 2023). What is a resume? The essentials you need to know. https://www.seek.com.au/career-advice/article/what-is-a-resume

  5. Volunteering Victoria. (2023). Benefits of Volunteering. https://www.volunteeringvictoria.org.au/volunteer-benefits-and-stories/

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