Does work experience make you more employable? (2023)

Does work experience increase employability?

Work experience is invaluable in helping you develop your employability skills and make you ready for the world of work. It will improve your interpersonal skills and give you confidence in dealing with your co-workers and meeting strangers.

Whatever job you try, you'll learn more about yourself and working life. You'll also gain skills in the process. It may even lead to more suitable experience with the same company. It could be good preparation for another opportunity that's closer to what you want to do.

However, there are so many more benefits of work experience for students, such as: Helping you decide the right career path. Enabling you to put theory-based learning into practice. Helping you to build relationships with the right people.

Work experience will give you the skills required to do the job you are interested in, adds experience to your CV and shows your potential employers that you can work in a professional environment like theirs.

Apart from making you stand out to prospective employers, work experience has many other benefits. You can gain valuable insights about the type of organisation you want to work with and get a feel for the career sector you want to work in.

Employers increasingly expect job applicants to have relevant experience as well as good qualifications. From around Year 10 onwards young people should take any opportunity they can to start to build up a portfolio of work experience.

Employability skills. Insight into the work place. Increases your knowledge of your chosen industry.

The most valuable contribution of experience comes from the self-awareness it gives you. The advantage of having worked on an actual job lets you learn about your strengths and weaknesses, areas of improvement and gives you an insight about where your passion lies.

Work experience should give you: an understanding of the work environment and what employers expect of their workers. an opportunity to explore possible career options. increased self-understanding, maturity, independence and self-confidence.

Better Chance of Getting a Job

The more work experience you have, the better your chances are of getting a job. Since you have a vast amount of skills and experience, recruiters will see you as an asset to their company. They know you'll be able to perform your tasks and help your colleagues.

Why experience is more important than qualifications?

qualifications. Many candidates have both experience and qualifications, and both contribute to their ability to perform their job well. Qualifications show that you have the knowledge necessary for your profession, whereas experience proves that you've practiced working in your field.

It Teaches You Core Skills

There are some skills that are universal to any job role. Communication, problem-solving, timekeeping, confidence, and teamwork all apply across the board, no matter the industry or type of role you're looking for.

People with experience have an idea of the basic protocols of corporate communication and reporting. Many times, they can understand the perspectives across domains and managerial structures more clearly than the less experienced candidates. This makes their teams more productive and responsible with the projects.

Harvard Business School's study found that 37% of employers rank experience as the most important qualification in an applicant, not educational attainment.

Mature workers make excellent mentors and role models, which makes training other employees easier and less costly. They have the knowledge and ability to guide, advise, and train junior and new colleagues on best practices; and to help them to develop, to know their value, and to recognize their potential.

There are some that don't require any work experience at all, but around two years of it should be enough to help you climb the ladder. The average work experience according to statistical data is around three to five years of work experience.

Another thing to consider might be the length of experience – too short a work experience can only do so much while 1-2 years are a good period to be considered.

The common advice is to keep the work experience in a resume between 10 to 15 years. Doing so will give your hiring manager a general outline of your start, your growth, and where you find yourself now.

A well-written work experience section is a crucial element on your resume because it shows that you have the necessary qualifications to be an asset to your potential employer. It also provides substantial information in a limited space.

How many years of work experience is equivalent to a bachelor's degree?

Determining bachelor's degree equivalency

A bachelor's degree is roughly equivalent to four to eight years of work experience in a related field. A master's degree is roughly equivalent to 10 or more years of work experience in a related field.

Not only will you save time when you hire for potential instead of experience, but you'll also save money. Recruiting can get expensive, fast. The longer your job ad stays up while you're searching for an employee with a certain amount of experience, the more money you're going to spend.

When you hire for experience you're hiring someone's past, which might be all they can give you. When you hire someone's skills, you are hiring their future, which is really what they are looking to give you.

Professionalism & Strong Work Ethic

There is one characteristic every employer wants their employees to present: professionalism and a strong work ethic. No matter what job you find yourself in after graduation, your employer will expect you to have strong, professional social skills and a great work ethic.

That means featuring the most important and relevant information first and removing irrelevant or outdated information, such as jobs you held 15+ years ago. Be sure to include your name and contact information at the top, a resume summary, your work experience, skills and education.