7 Ways to Increase Your Work Experience

There are many reasons why you may want to find ways to increase your work experience. You may be going into your first job and want to give your application a boost, moving to a brand new industry, or looking to move up the career ladder. 

If you want to improve your work skills and experience, there are many ways to do so; from getting more from a current job to trying freelancing or taking some courses. 

To help you get started, we’ll cover seven top ways to increase your work experience. We’ll also offer some extra tips for new graduates and those looking to change careers. 

Depending on your current skill level, some of these options can be a great way to supplement your income too! 

What Experience Do You Need?

Before you begin thinking about ways to increase your work experience, you need to know what experience you want to gain. 

An effective way to do this is by preparing a list of skills and expertise you want to gain. These could be skills in areas that interest you or experience you need to move up in your career. Or both! 

After listing things you think of off the top of your head, look at job postings for the type of position you’d like. Make a list of the skills needed, highlighting ones you don’t have or could improve on.

Do remember to always have realistic goals. If you have two years of experience, you’re unlikely to be able to apply for a position requesting five years just because you’ve added to your skills yourself. 

But, increasing your work experience in any way can help you progress and make you stand out as an exceptional candidate.

Before you begin trying to increase your work experience, prepare a list of skills and expertise you want to gain.

7 Top Ways to Increase Your Work Experience

Now that you know what you want to improve on, undertaking some of these seven ways to increase your work experience should result in you meeting your goals. 

Some of these suggestions can even supplement your income and may turn into your next full-time job!

1. Freelancing

If you have a reasonable amount of experience in your desired career area, freelancing is a great way to take on some more projects and increase your skills. 

There is a range of ways to find freelance clients, including:

• Setting yourself up as a business, with website and marketing efforts

• Using freelancing websites that connect freelancers with clients

• Reaching out to your network to see if anyone is looking for a freelancer in your area of expertise 

• Searching on job boards, like Indeed, for freelance positions (while the bulk of job postings on these sites are for full or part-time roles, freelance jobs do get posted)  

Even if you have little work experience, but know you have the skills to complete the projects, you may be able to find jobs, especially via freelancing websites. While your pay may be low, you’ll be able to increase your experience and portfolio, which is the primary goal.

2. Volunteering

Lots of small non-profits need volunteers for professional jobs like marketing, accounting, and planning and management. 

An effective way to find out if anything is available is to list the nonprofits you would like to volunteer for. Then check their website and social media profiles for job openings before calling them.

Some charities may not have even thought about some types of volunteers, such as a volunteer to run their social media accounts. Pitching this role to them could very likely get you the volunteer position, especially as it would be at no cost to them to test it out. 

Even more traditional volunteering, like helping at a pet shelter, can build your basic transferable skills and get you a reference. This path is an optimal choice for those looking to get their first full or part-time position.

3. Reach Out to Your Network

You never know what people in your network need help with. 

People to reach out to could include work contacts but also reach out to friends and family. They or someone in their network may need your help. 

As with asking charities if they need help with anything, you may need to pitch an idea instead of waiting for someone with a position available. 

Depending on your experience and the people you connect with, you could offer your services for free, for a minimal rate, or at your standard hourly rate.

Volunteering is a good way to increase your work experience, even if not in a professional role.

4. Get More Out of Your Current Job

If you’re employed, an easy way to increase your work experience is to see what extra opportunities there are at your current company.

Take your list of skills and experience you want to gain, and then discuss with management if anything in those areas is available. 

Trying to get the most out of your role in this way is a great tip to employ consistently, even if you get the experience you need to move onto your desired position. You always need to be thinking about the next steps and how you can grow in your profession even more. 

Make your list again and as you progress. Then start asking for responsibilities relating to the new skills and experience you want to gain. Begin the process again once you reach the next step on the career ladder.

Without doing this, your career progression will be delayed, and you won’t get the most out of each role.

5. Complete your Own Projects

If you’re not experienced enough to work on “real life” projects, or you don’t want to commit to that, consider undertaking a project of your own in your career area. 

What you choose to do will depend on your profession. Again, look at the job descriptions of positions you’d like. Then see what projects you’d be undertaking in those roles and try them yourself.

These projects could be anything from starting a blog to designing your own website. Even if you have to invest a little to get this done, the payoff can be big. 

Consider combining passions as well. For example, if you’re great at a craft, make products and sell them online, along with doing marketing promotions or other tasks applicable to your dream position. 

This type of extensive project shows a lot of initiative and will be impressive to potential employers, proving you can commit to a project and wear many hats. For example, in the above scenario, you’ll handle production, pricing, e-commerce elements, customer service, etc.  Therefore, growing your skills in a range of areas. 

6. Take Courses

Taking a course is a traditional but effective way to increase your experience. This approach could range from taking a free online class in a discipline to going back to school to get a degree or accreditation in your desired field. 

There are many short courses, both online and in-person, that can teach you a range of skills from coding to bookkeeping or web design. 

Take a look at your list of needed skills and experience to help determine what is best for you. If you’re lacking just one or a few skills, such as knowing how to use Photoshop, a quick course will suffice. 

If you’re missing more skills, an in-depth course or even a degree program could be the path to follow. For example, if a job posting requests a degree in marketing, it will be almost impossible to get an interview without that or some other business diploma. 

If currently employed, your employer may even be prepared to pay for some or all of a course and allow you to take time off to attend it. Be sure to ask before committing to something!

Taking courses is a traditional but effective way to increase your work experience.

7. Get an Internship

You may have completed an internship in your university course, which is helpful and will have built your skills to a level where you can try some of the above options. 

If you have not done an internship, it’s well worth considering. Or, you may even benefit from taking on an additional one. 

While many internship positions are only open to those looking to get course credit, non-higher education internships do exist. These non-credit internships allow those not currently in higher education to elevate their skills.   

If applicable to your career path, an apprenticeship could be a great fit too. 

Internships are also a perfect way to get your foot in the door with a company and get offered a job at the end of the program.

How to Show Experience as a New Graduate

Just because you're a new graduate, who has maybe never had a role in your target industry, doesn't mean you don’t have any experience at all! 

As well as considering some of the above ways to increase your work experience, make sure you undertake the following while completing your degree. Then ensure you mention these experiences in your job applications and interviews.

School Projects

Chances are you completed at least one project during your degree. Mention these on your applications, along with the transferable skills you gained. 

If you did a group project, mention your role in that group and how you have experience with teamwork and even leadership if you took on that role. 

Also, mention the project content itself if it relates to the job you’re applying for. 

For example, mention that you completed yearly accounting for a fictional company or that you set up a website, social media, and email campaigns for a brand. 

Extracurriculars

If you’ve done academic extracurriculars relating to your degree, these will have given you a good level of experience. For example, if you’ve completed case competitions in your field, you can use that to show your problem-solving and critical-thinking abilities.

Gaining a high-level role, such as vice president or president of a club or being the club’s lead in your field (for example, head of marketing for that club), will give your applications a significant boost.

Even taking part in non-academic clubs can prove that you can work in a team and are passionate about something.

Part-Time Work

Any part-time work you have done will have given you transferable skills, at a minimum. When applying for jobs, look at the requirements (skills needed and position responsibilities) and think about how past experiences can translate into that role. 

As you’ll be applying for entry-level positions, the hiring team shouldn’t expect you to have much work experience. Instead, they’ll be looking for candidates that are hard-working and motivated. 

They may also expect you to have basic skills, such as experience with customers, customer service, and administrative tasks. If you’ve worked at a restaurant, shop, or in an office administrative role, for example, you’ll have a lot of these transferable skills already. 

You’ll also have proof that you are reliable, can work in a team, and of course, you should have a great reference to back that up!

New graduates can use projects, part-time work, and extracurriculars to show their skillset and experience.

How to Show Experience When Changing Career Path 

Changing careers is a drastic move. It can be daunting to start with little to no experience, especially if you held a relatively high-level position in your previous profession. 

Just because you’re new to an industry or profession doesn’t mean you have no experience to show. Transferable skills, such as leadership, teamwork, and administrative know-how, can help you succeed in any industry. 

Having tried some of the already mentioned ways to increase your work experience, also keep the following in mind during your journey to a new career.

Leverage Transferable Skills

All employees will come with transferable skills, even if changing industry and profession. 

Mention these and experiences from your past career. Give examples of how these relate and can get transferred to this new role. 

Ultimately, base skills and traits like strong work ethic and motivation can mean you succeed in a new role above someone with previous experience in the profession.

Show Your Passion

If you’re taking the leap of leaving a profession you’re experienced in to start a brand new career, you’re likely highly passionate about that profession. Be sure to show this! 

Mention what personal “experience” you have with the profession and industry. This includes mentioning hobbies and personal activities you undertake relating to the industry topic and profession.  

Be sure to also focus on reasons for moving into the industry, both in your application and interview. Hiring teams love candidates that show they’re passionate and truly enjoy the industry, so play on this as much as you can.

In Conclusion

There’s always a reason to improve your skills, qualifications, and experience. From being new to the job market to wanting to climb the corporate ladder more quickly, adding to your resume is almost always worth it. 

Hopefully, these seven ways to increase your work experience have given you some ideas about how to boost your industry knowledge and skills. 

By undertaking some of the discussed tasks, you will improve yourself as a candidate, learn new things, and maybe even make some extra income!