The term ‘lack of experience’ can be so discouraging sometimes.  Especially when you feel you are qualified, especially when you are only ONE YEAR under what is asked, and especially when all you want to do is earn the “BIG BUCKS”.

Everyone who joined our chat yesterday sent a resounding:

Suck it up. Get another internship, volunteer, find something else to help pay the bills, and keep building your portfolio.

Okay, we had a few other things said, and some very good tips on how to make the most out of your experience.  We also had a unanimous YES when asked – “Have you ever applied to a job where you had well under the amount of experience asked for?”.  So, go ahead and keep applying to the jobs you feel you qualify for but attack the job search in a smart way, knowing that you will need to eventually get some quality experience.

To read yesterday’s chat in its entirety, you can view the transcript here – http://bit.ly/t9gPQR.

Here are four takeaways from yesterday’s #millennialchat:

1. Experience is valuable, which make higher quality experience even more valuable.
   The consensus yesterday was to make your internship experience the best you can.  Internships are a great way to gain experience while in school, a good time to learn what exactly you want to do after graduation, but don’t just clock in and clock out.  If you create a quality path with your supervisor, you can explain to a potential employer why that 3 months of experience actually equals an entire year of work!
   

   flickr photo by Spec-ta-cles

2. Brainstorm ways to promote ‘newness’ to your advantage.
   A few examples from the crew of #millennialchat.ters – My newness shows my willingness to learn;  Along with my willingness to learn me being new lets me bring a fresh perspective to your organization;  My newness shows my ability to adapt and continue on past experiences, bringing new ideas to the table.
3. Ask ‘how’ not ‘why’?
   There is a lot of talk about #millennials being entitled, and this came up yesterday.  We determined that because of #millennials’ newness and willingness to learn, we ask why a lot!  But best practice may be to ask your supervisor – “How do we do this here?“  This starts the conversation as you asking your leader for advice, and then you can ask = “Have you ever tried X?“
4. Just keep on truckin’
   In many cases in the generations before us, you came out of college and had a clear career path to take to the top.  Not so much so anymore.  At the end of yesterday’s chat, we asked “Is experience overvalued?” and we came to the conclusion that it is NOT.  However, with less direct career paths, #millennials need to gain experience any way we can and determine the best paths to take in order to move up.

If you want to read a good article from the New York Times talking
about volunteering and your resume, click here.
A good article about a Baby Boomer that has our back can be found here.
And, if you want to have a little fun and join the conversation on who the best #millennial era musician is, go to our FB page!

Have a great week! See you on Tuesday – 3:30pm EST!