Why it’s Important to Share Your Experiences
When you meet someone and introduce yourself, the first question is usually "what do you do?" When you're between jobs, getting ready to graduate or out of the workforce, this can be a difficult question to answer. If you're meeting someone because of a job search, that makes your answer even more critical. Consider sharing your experiences and building on what you know, not what you do.
During a career pivot, highlighting your new skills can feel stressful. What do you talk about in your elevator pitch if you're entering a new field? What goes on your resume? If you feel like all you do is go to class, maybe you need an internship. But the time that takes means less time in class or with your family. You're probably already getting real-world skills, just not formally. Experiential learning is learning by doing and encompasses more than just an internship. Here are some experiential learning opportunities you can highlight on your resume and with employers.
Experience in the Classroom
Utilizing classroom experience is a tried and true method of highlighting your new skills in your new field. Formatting these experiences as a job on the resume is your best course of action. Class projects on timely topics in the new area are one example of how to show an employer you understand the theory of the field and the actual application of that theory.
Did you create a business plan in your management class? Note the steps you followed to complete your business plan. What skills did you use? Planning, delegation and time management are all soft skills that employers seek.
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When creating bullet points for a resume or practicing interview questions, highlight the task, action and result of the project. Did you take the data and turn it into pivot tables that allowed you to make predictions about an outcome for your class assignment? What prediction did you make? Did you complete mock tax preparations for a "client” in the classroom? Highlight these experiences!
Student and Professional Organizations
Many organizations have student opportunities and membership levels. With a membership, you have access to pieces of training, job boards and conferences that are related to your new career field. These trainings and conferences are perfect for adding to your resume and highlight in your elevator pitch. Flex your new skills.
Don't forget to join the Student Veterans of America chapter. Connect with other student veterans both at the local and national levels. SVA provides a network for professional experience, resources and connections with other veterans navigating higher education. On the national level, SVA advocates for improvements and access to higher education for veterans.
Strategic Volunteering
If you can't commit to 20 hours a week for 12 weeks of an internship, what about just a few hours a week of volunteer work? Nonprofits often have part-time volunteer opportunities that may work with your schedule.
Are you interested in a marketing career? How about creating social media flyers for an organization?
Do you organize events at your children's school?
Manage the money and registration for a 5K Race that you love?
Don't forget the volunteer work you are already doing, and include this on your resume and elevator pitch.
Microinternships
Finally, don't discount the power of a microinternship. These project-based internships provide you with the experience you seek within your tight schedule. Often completed remotely, these gig-like internships open the doors to new networks and tangible work experiences. Opportunities through Parker Dewey are available to any student.
Luckily, employers don't seem to mind where you gain your experiences. Paid or unpaid, they want to see the skills you have and not where you acquired those skills.
Learn more about the challenges facing transitioning veterans and how VVC can support them.