How to land an online job without relevant experience

by Regina Borsellino, THE MUSE

Even if you don’t have experience that’s directly relevant to the online job you want—or any professional experience at all—it’s still possible for you to snag a great role. Here are a few tips to help you out:

• Get clear on what skills you need for the job you want. Before figuring out how to sell yourself for a given job, it’s always helpful to know what employers hiring for this and similar jobs are looking for. Pull up a few job descriptions for the type of job you want and read through them to identify what skills and experiences employers generally want applicants to have.

• Figure out your transferable skills and highlight them in your job search. Transferable skills are abilities that you’ve used in one situation that can be used in a job that doesn’t seem directly related. So for example, if you coordinated the schedule for a student or parents’ group, that could translate to an executive assistant job where scheduling and planning are regular tasks. Work these skills into your resume, cover letter, and interview question responses so whoever is hiring you understands that you have the skills they’re looking for.

• Take an online class or earn a certificate. If there’s a job you’re interested in but don’t have the skills for, you can always learn those skills. Consider taking an online course or earning a certificate. There are many free or low-cost options that will help you learn marketable skills on sites such as Coursera or LinkedIn Learning, or you might consider taking an online course from an accredited university.

• Apply for an online internship. When you’re looking for in-person work after finishing your education or a certification program, it’s common to look for an internship first, but Inman said this option is often overlooked in the online space. An online internship often has a lower barrier to entry than a permanent role and will help you get on-the-job skills and training to make you a more valuable hire for either the company you interned for or another employer. (You can search for online internships on The Muse!)

• Create an online portfolio (if relevant). For writers, designers, software engineers, social media managers, and anyone else who will be producing creative work for an employer, a strong portfolio is indispensable. Create an online portfolio or personal website that puts all of your best work in one easy place. You can link to it directly on your resume. If you haven’t held a job in the field before, you can still create graphics, articles, programming projects, or whatever else you’d be producing in your job so employers can see your skills and style.

• Show employers that you have what it takes to be a good online employee. When employers are hiring somebody that they’re not going to see in person every day, they want to know that the employee will still complete their work on time and won’t struggle to keep up without being in the office. So be sure to emphasize your independence as well as your communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, organizational, and time management skills throughout the hiring process, and prepare to answer common remote interview questions.