The Invisible Mentor

What are your thoughts on having experience? What does it mean to you to have experience? Are there situations where having experience is either a blessing or a curse? How do you define experience?

According to AudioEnglish.net, experience means:

The accumulation of knowledge or skill that results from direct participation in events or activities…

Go or live through

Have firsthand knowledge of states, situations, emotions, or sensations

Having experience is very important, but it isn’t everything. If we use the definition above which centers on the accumulation of knowledge, there will be instances where a certain experience is required, which you do not possess, but you do have the skills required to do the job. In this situation, transferring your skills may be enough.

What to do if you do not have the required experience for a job

Let’s say that there is a job that you would like to have, but you feel like you do not have the experience required to apply.

• Forget about the job title and hone in on the skills that are required
• Take an inventory of your skills
• Conduct a personal SWOT Analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (Refer to the post “When Was the Last Time You Conducted a Personal SWOT Analysis“
• Align your skills with those of the job, how do they match up?
• From the results of the SWOT Analysis, what unique strengths do you possess that would give you an advantage? What opportunities exist that are relevant to the job?
• If you find that you have more than 50 percent of the requirements for the job go for it and apply

Let’s say there is an unrelated field that you would like to transition into, how do you go about making the change?

• Look at the skills that are required for this field, align them with the skills that you have, work on acquiring those skills needed to close the gap. You can close the gap by:
  • Volunteering in the field that you are interested in, to acquire the new skills
  • Getting a mentor or coach who will work with you to acquire those skills
  • Reading books or observing people using those skills

And most importantly, when you are BUILDING your experience, make sure that you are HAVING an experience, because that means you are LIVING.

What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right side) by email or RSS Feed.

Photo Credit: Yahoo via Apture

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