Why projects can be a great selling point for job and internship opportunities
Getting experience in your field of choice is a necessary step to establish a career and develop necessary transferable skills, but starting to get your foot in the door can be challenging.
You have probably applied to a few positions that required at least one year of experience but keep asking yourself, “Well, if this position is entry level, how do I get experience in my field when I don’t have even a year of experience in the field and all positions keep asking for it?” The answer lies in the manner that you market yourself. It is true that employers want candidates that may have prior exposure in the field, but, if you can showcase your value in terms of transferable skills and highlight the foundational knowledge needed for this position through the application process, your chances of obtaining such opportunities increases.
One way of showcasing your skills and knowledge base is by putting greater value into your academic projects in class. You may not have direct experience in your respected field early on in college. However, academic projects force you as a student to apply theoretical knowledge into everyday work settings without even realizing its true value.
Let’s say for example that you are a marketing major and interested in getting your foot in the door but have not held a position or internship directly into marketing. On the surface, it seems that you don’t have what that organization may be looking for, but, if you look closer, you can uncover other avenues in which you developed and implemented skills and abilities needed for such opportunities.
You may not have anything on your resume that says marketing manager, marketing professional or marketing coordinator, like some other applicants, but, if the job requires creativity and being able to develop marketing pieces to reach a certain audience, maybe some of your class projects or on-campus involvement would come in handy.
Let’s say you are currently taking a marketing course and recently did a project on developing a marketing plan for a mock company. You did not get paid for that experience, but the techniques and approach you used would remain the same if it were for an actual job or internship. At the end of the day, it was an activity that showcased your ability to do the tasks asked for in the job or internship; whether you got paid or not is irrelevant in the grand scheme of telling the employer that you can bring value to his or her organization.
In addition, do not just limit project work to in the classroom. If, for example, you are the marketing chair for your club or organization and are constantly developing graphics to promote events, you should articulate that on your resume. This is why campus involvement and taking on leadership roles can be valuable for your future as it lets you engage in activities that have actual work applicability.
Overall, project work can be a great avenue to explore early in your career and can be a valuable tool to get the attention of the employer and make you a more marketable candidate for internships or jobs.
