The Student Room Group

Getting a Part time/Full time job without any experience = Myth lol

Lol So I was talking to my friend in the gym the other day who I hadn't seen for a long time; My university work is a b***h lol.

So I asked him what he had been doing lately and he went on to tell me about how he's been looking for work but nobody is giving young people without any experience even an interview let alone a job. His exact words where - "Getting a job without any experience is a myth mate lol". So I asked him why he hadn't gotten a part time job like myself at a younger age (17), his answer, he didn't need the money, which is a fair and honest in my opinion.

He went on to tell me about how all employers want are people with experience and how the current recruitment system doesn't help those without any experience get in the door etc.

Now my questions to you guys are the following:

Do you feel that young people who have no experience in work simply because they haven't needed a job before don't have a chance against others who have had the experience?

What do you think of the current recruitment process, the whole apply online deal? Is that system used to filter out people without any experience?

Should there be a number designated job roles for people without any experience in retail/leisure/customer service establishments ?

How well can a CV really represent you as a person?

My opinion as a 20 year old man, I feel all establishments who can offer young people work should have a walk in policy that allows people to come to where ever and gain an interview. I feel like a CV doesn't really represent you as much as you can represent yourself. It should be about the person applying for the role and what they can bring to establishment in terms of skills, ideas and how well they can represent the company.

Basically make the playing field even, so everyone who wants the oppotunity can go for it :cool: lol

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Last year, at 16, I applied for pretty much ever shop/restaurant/anything where I might possibly get a job

I only had 3 interviews and was offered only one job, at McDonalds. The only reason I even got these 3 interviews is because I spent most of my holidays working voluntarily in a charity shop.

I would say yes it is difficult to get in without experience but you can do things to make yourself look better until you can find a job.

*I took the job at McDonald's, hated it, and dropped it after 2 months to focus more on AS levels :P*
I got a job with no experience.

BUT It was at a cafe that my family and I had gone to for years so they knew me. PLUS I was only covering for people that were sick/on holiday, so between and including june and august, I only worked for 30 hours at the most!

They haven't asked for me back yet, but they might do this summer.

Try and volunteer somewhere vaguely relevant. Charities are always welcoming volunteers and it's experience and a possible reference. :h:
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by DolallyDucky
Last year, at 16, I applied for pretty much ever shop/restaurant/anything where I might possibly get a job

I only had 3 interviews and was offered only one job, at McDonalds. The only reason I even got these 3 interviews is because I spent most of my holidays working voluntarily in a charity shop.

I would say yes it is difficult to get in without experience but you can do things to make yourself look better until you can find a job.

*I took the job at McDonald's, hated it, and dropped it after 2 months to focus more on AS levels :P*


So what do you think about the whole walk in policy idea I had? Should that be implemented?
Original post by Clare~Bear
I got a job with no experience.

BUT It was at a cafe that my family and I had gone to for years so they knew me. PLUS I was only covering for people that were sick/on holiday, so between and including june and august, I only worked for 30 hours at the most!

They haven't asked for me back yet, but they might do this summer.

Try and volunteer somewhere vaguely relevant. Charities are always welcoming volunteers and it's experience and a possible reference. :h:


But do you think experience should matter in terms of just getting an interview?
Original post by DanielMonopoly
But do you think experience should matter in terms of just getting an interview?


Well yeah, they interview candidates that they think will be good at the job. If you have no experience then it's unlikely you'll be good at it straight away - so they'd have to trian you up.
Reply 6
As someone who owns a business, I'll put my point of view forward. I work with two other people who I already knew prior to starting, but the point is I have experience working with others in a business setting.

In a lot of firms it will be a myth. Why? Well what the government and the media seem to forget is that we are not here for the benefit of young people. We are here for the benefit of our own businesses. The question you have to ask yourself is why would a business take a chance on someone with nothing to show for it over someone with lots of experience? Why should we take the risk? If it goes wrong nobody is going to give us any financial compensation for someone messing up, but the person who messed up will just go elsewhere.

The media like to tout that we all have moral responsibilities to give young people a chance, blah, blah, blah. But as someone who knows other people who also run their own businesses, they couldn't give a rats ass. They are here for themselves. Surviving is hard enough as it is, so they are not going to turn down a qualified person are they?

So with the good will and moral obligations argument out of the window, what can we do?

Well the answer is you have to get experience. Now you can go through the normal voluntary channels and other part-time jobs, that's totally fine. But you're never going to beat someone who has experience at a higher level. That's just a fact of life.

The problem with many graduates who are unemployed is that they have nothing going for them. I read a report about a year ago on the BBC that was talking to employers who concluded that many graduates don't have any basic working skills. And judging by many students who have never had a job, this is going to be true. A degree only means so much. Work experience is everything. And yes, you will have to do unpaid work to get that experience. If firms could pay students during their work experience then that would be great, but the real world doesn't work like that.

So at the moment all young people have is the unpaid experience route or getting in via family connections. What the government has to do is create initiatives to allow students to get work experience. This can either come through subsidising firms to allow young people to work there, and by that I mean they pay their wages. Alternatively, they can offer unpaid work experience for the public good, as in companies that are not private companies because that's just taking advantage.

There's one thing that's certain, though. The jobs market is tough and it will remain tough for years and years to come. Many people in this generation will have awful and unfulfilling working lives over this, and it really is tragic.
It is logically impossible to be unable to get a job without having experience as by definition nobody has any experience before they get a job, and if it were true it would mean that nobody would be employed.
Original post by Clare~Bear
Well yeah, they interview candidates that they think will be good at the job. If you have no experience then it's unlikely you'll be good at it straight away - so they'd have to trian you up.


Not necessarily. For example, I go to a gym and on a daily bases new people sign up and have to go through an induction and the guy that does the inductions really doesn't give people the best advice and he glances over a hell of a lot of important things. Now I know for a fact that I could personally could help a lot of people with their gym needs in terms of work out plans, nutation, effective exercises etc. But simply because I haven't worked at a gym before or haven't had any training I wouldn't be given a chance getting an interview just based on my CV.
Original post by Aspiringlawstudent
It is logically impossible to be unable to get a job without having experience as by definition nobody has any experience before they get a job, and if it were true it would mean that nobody would be employed.


True but for the most part is really hard to gain an interview.

I did work experience at school for 2 weeks in a phone shop, so thats how I got my experience, so when I came out of school and started college I got a job in another phone shop quite quickly :cool:
Original post by Genocidal
As someone who owns a business, I'll put my point of view forward. I work with two other people who I already knew prior to starting, but the point is I have experience working with others in a business setting.

In a lot of firms it will be a myth. Why? Well what the government and the media seem to forget is that we are not here for the benefit of young people. We are here for the benefit of our own businesses. The question you have to ask yourself is why would a business take a chance on someone with nothing to show for it over someone with lots of experience? Why should we take the risk? If it goes wrong nobody is going to give us any financial compensation for someone messing up, but the person who messed up will just go elsewhere.

The media like to tout that we all have moral responsibilities to give young people a chance, blah, blah, blah. But as someone who knows other people who also run their own businesses, they couldn't give a rats ass. They are here for themselves. Surviving is hard enough as it is, so they are not going to turn down a qualified person are they?

So with the good will and moral obligations argument out of the window, what can we do?

Well the answer is you have to get experience. Now you can go through the normal voluntary channels and other part-time jobs, that's totally fine. But you're never going to beat someone who has experience at a higher level. That's just a fact of life.

The problem with many graduates who are unemployed is that they have nothing going for them. I read a report about a year ago on the BBC that was talking to employers who concluded that many graduates don't have any basic working skills. And judging by many students who have never had a job, this is going to be true. A degree only means so much. Work experience is everything. And yes, you will have to do unpaid work to get that experience. If firms could pay students during their work experience then that would be great, but the real world doesn't work like that.

So at the moment all young people have is the unpaid experience route or getting in via family connections. What the government has to do is create initiatives to allow students to get work experience. This can either come through subsidising firms to allow young people to work there, and by that I mean they pay their wages. Alternatively, they can offer unpaid work experience for the public good, as in companies that are not private companies because that's just taking advantage.

There's one thing that's certain, though. The jobs market is tough and it will remain tough for years and years to come. Many people in this generation will have awful and unfulfilling working lives over this, and it really is tragic.


I agree with you on dam near everything.

But my main issue was that people with no experience don't get given an interview.

I might be the best person for a job but because I don't have experience in the field I won't even been given an interview, thats b.s in my opinion.
I'm on a gap year. I've been looking for work since October. I applied to countless positions. I have very good GCSEs and A Levels and next year I'm going to a very good university. But I have no experience. I did work experience at school but it was in a primary school so counts for little with the jobs I applied for. Since October, I was only offered FOUR interviews. The man at the job centre was convinced that I wasn't trying hard enough. I've FINALLY found a job which I'll start next month. And guess what the advert was? 'Students Wanted'. The ONLY job I was able to get was one where they were actively looking for young people.

I applied to so many receptionist, admin and shop jobs and flicked through so many adverts which state 'experience necessary'. Plus, by the end, people didn't want to take me on because I'm going to uni in September. The job I'm starting is only until September. Thank goodness I finally found one because I couldn't take much more of the job centre.
Original post by inadilemma
I'm on a gap year. I've been looking for work since October. I applied to countless positions. I have very good GCSEs and A Levels and next year I'm going to a very good university. But I have no experience. I did work experience at school but it was in a primary school so counts for little with the jobs I applied for. Since October, I was only offered FOUR interviews. The man at the job centre was convinced that I wasn't trying hard enough. I've FINALLY found a job which I'll start next month. And guess what the advert was? 'Students Wanted'. The ONLY job I was able to get was one where they were actively looking for young people.

I applied to so many receptionist, admin and shop jobs and flicked through so many adverts which state 'experience necessary'. Plus, by the end, people didn't want to take me on because I'm going to uni in September. The job I'm starting is only until September. Thank goodness I finally found one because I couldn't take much more of the job centre.


Do you think if you had gained a few more interviews it would have helped?
I got a job as a freelance waiter with close to no paid work*

*scratch that, no paid work at all.

HEAD TO thestudentjob.com!
Get A* grade A levels and the myth becomes a reality - your friend is obviously an under qualified loser
Original post by DanielMonopoly
Do you think if you had gained a few more interviews it would have helped?


Possibly. But even then, seeing as there are less jobs going for fully qualified people now, what with the recession and all, it seems more people are applying for the lower level jobs that I applied to. In my local waitrose, there are graduates working full time. Competition for jobs at the moment is ridiculous.

The shop I'll be working for hires around 10 students every summer because it gets so busy (it's a school uniform shop).
Reply 16
This is the problem with young people who's parents helped them far too much financially. They have no experience and it hinders them. Why should you be guaranteed an interview just because you are young and have no experience? The simple answer is that you have no right to any interview. In most cases it would be a waste of valuable time to an employer. Why? The reason is that it doesn't matter how great your personality is, or how nice a person you are or even how well you believe you can sell yourself - an employer will not hire you instead of someone with ALL the same personal qualities plus a wealth of experience.

I am 21 on Saturday and currently completing a degree. I havn't been out of employment since I was 16 and I started working when I was 13. I have real work experience in sales, promotions, customer service, retail, marketing, administration, reception mangement, client management, project management and database management - and those are just my transferable skills.

I have absolutely no problems when it comes to gaining interviews and receiving job offers - even in this economy. The simple fact of the matter is people without experience, no matter how great they are academically, cannot physically compete against other candidates with experience.

My advice to anyone without experience would be to volunteer, anywhere and to stick it out to gain experience until you find another position - no matter how awful it is (when I started working at 16 I waitressed weddings at a hotel and did 14 hour shifts without breaks and got paid £4.50p/h)

It's easier to get a new job when you are already in employment.
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by DanielMonopoly
I agree with you on dam near everything.

But my main issue was that people with no experience don't get given an interview.

I might be the best person for a job but because I don't have experience in the field I won't even been given an interview, thats b.s in my opinion.


But if someone else has experience in that field and you don't then why do you think you would be better than the person who has already done it before?

I think another problem, which I foolishly forgot in my original post, is that many experienced people lost their jobs during the financial crisis. This means young people without experience are also competing with people with experience. If there's only a few people with experience competing with a job then they will be the ones with interviews.

Yes, there's an off-chance that the person without experience might have been sent by Zeus as an emissary to revolutionise the industry, but the chance is so low that it doesn't really make it worth an interviewers time to attempt it.
This year being 18 and messing up a year of A levels i got a job to pay my keep, no previous experience... I applied to 7, I got offers from all 7... One of the jobs worked out to give me 15k a year with time to study and attend school, my parents didn't allow me. However being a narcissist helps greatly, scientifically proven to be the best at interviews.. When I say 7 offers it was really 8 as the one that offered me 15k was a promo of the first one which they offered me right away so I was offered 2 by the same people...
Original post by inadilemma
I'm on a gap year. I've been looking for work since October. I applied to countless positions. I have very good GCSEs and A Levels and next year I'm going to a very good university. But I have no experience. I did work experience at school but it was in a primary school so counts for little with the jobs I applied for. Since October, I was only offered FOUR interviews. The man at the job centre was convinced that I wasn't trying hard enough. I've FINALLY found a job which I'll start next month. And guess what the advert was? 'Students Wanted'. The ONLY job I was able to get was one where they were actively looking for young people.

I applied to so many receptionist, admin and shop jobs and flicked through so many adverts which state 'experience necessary'. Plus, by the end, people didn't want to take me on because I'm going to uni in September. The job I'm starting is only until September. Thank goodness I finally found one because I couldn't take much more of the job centre.


If you don't mind me asking what job was it and where did you find it?

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