Talking about your working experience (or the lack of it) is another area of questions you cannot avoid while trying to get a job. Be it on a job application, in an interview, or both, you will have to elaborate on your previous experience, and what it means for the job you are trying to get at the moment. I will analyze in detail what you should focus on, what to point out from your previous experiences, how to deal with lack of relevant experience and no experience whatsoever, and more. Before that, let’s start with a picture.
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The Basics
- Most common interview questions belonging to this area: Tell us more about your previous working experience. How do your skills and experience match requirements for this job?
- Less common questions: Describe your experience with working in multicultural environment/small team/fast-paced environment. What’s your experience with MS Excel/MS Word/similar projects? What did you like the most and the least about your last job? What do you consider your greatest takeaway from your last job?
- Out of 10 random jobs, in how many cases will this area be tested during the hiring process: 10/10. There’s no way you can avoid this one, even when you actually apply for your very first job.
- Difficulty: 3/5. Talking about your previous working experience (or lack of it) isn’t as easy as it seems. Sure, you do not have to invent anything here, but the way you talk about your past jobs and former colleagues tells a lot about your habits and attitudes. What’s more, follow up questions are quite common. Hiring managers may ask you to elaborate on this or that job or task or project. Why you did this and not that, what results you have achieved, and so on. As you can imagine, that’s when things get more complicated.
- Main goals of the hiring managers with questions belonging to this area: Understanding in general your attitude to work and your working habits, assessing relevancy of your previous experience and potential training needs.
- Your main goals with answers to questions belonging to this area: Convincing them of your readiness to handle the job. When you lack relevant experience, the goal is to convince them that you have the right attitude, and are ready to put in an extra effort to learn the ins and outs of your new job as quickly as possible. Showing positive attitude to your previous jobs and colleagues (more on this later on).
6 sample answers
* Make sure to read also the “advanced info” below the sample answers, to understand what attitudes you actually show with this or that answer, the most common mistakes you should avoid making, etc.
Sample answer no. 1: Applying for a job in a call center, with a bit of previous experience in retail:
I’ve worked in a retail store before for one year, spending my days advising customers, trying to deliver a great customer service. I know that a job in a call center is different, but at the end of the day it is also about communication with people, trying to understand their needs and wishes, and finding the right words to motivate them to take a desired action. I honestly believe that my job in a clothing store has prepared me for this position, and feel confident that I will handle the job, and achieve good results.
- Quick thing to notice about this answer: Try to find parallels between the jobs you’ve had so far, and the job you are applying for right now. There are always some, your goal is to help the hiring managers to see them clearly. Also notice how the applicant pointed out trying to “deliver a great customer service“. Speaking about previous experience, they used the opportunity to show the right attitude to their work with customers.
Sample answer no.2: Woman applying for a job of a receptionist, with no previous experience:
My previous experience isn’t relevant to this job, because I have no previous working experience. But I honestly believe that you do not have to be the smartest girl in the city to become a great receptionist… I will certainly have to learn to work with the software you use at the front desk, and also learn how to adhere to the code of conduct you have in place for your staff members. But this is not some specialty knowledge, and shadowing my colleagues at work, and questioning them about the job, I am sure I can learn to handle my duties in a short time. What’s more, I believe to have what it takes to be a great receptionist–excellent communication and organizational skills, and desire to go above and beyond for the guests. In my opinion, everything is much easier with this attitude.
- Quick thing to notice about this answer: When experience is missing, the key is to show two things. First, confidence to handle the job (“I believe to have what it takes to be a great receptionist…”), and second, right attitude to work (“…desire to go above and beyond for the guests”). At the same time, it is good to be realistic, not simply saying that you’ll excel in the job from day one (“I will certainly have to learn to work with the software you use at the front desk…”).
Sample answer no.3: Fresh grad applying for an entry level corporate job:
The only job I had so far was one with a fast food restaurant during my studies. I worked as a cashier and helped with basic food preparation. Still, job is a job, you need to arrive on time each day, stay vigilant during the shift, and take care of your duties, but obviously it hasn’t prepared me much for this role with your company… But I’ve heard great things about your corporation and the training program you have in place. I believe that I have the intelligence and abilities to learn how to do the job well, and will become a valuable member of your team, though I lack relevant experience. But perhaps sometimes motivation and drive can beat experience.
- Quick thing to notice about this answer: Big corporations always have training programs in place for new hires. And each HR person likes words of praise. When you lack experience, praise their training program and focus on your attitude to learning and working. At the end of the day, entry level jobs are called “entry level” for a reason.
Sample answer no.4: Manager with experience applying for a job in his field:
I’ve lead XYZ project in my last job, and took care of ABC duties, as a part of my managerial role. Reading your job description and researching about your company, I got an impression that my skills and experience match the requirements for this job–please correct me if I am wrong. I dealt with all challenges such projects propose, including tight deadlines, adapting to changes on the go, and a constant need to re-evaluate the milestones and hire new employees. I didn’t do badly in my last job, and honestly believe that my experience is highly relevant for this position, and will help me greatly.
- Quick thing to notice about this answer: When you claim your experience is relevant, make sure to explain why you think so (“I dealt with all challenges such projects propose, including…”). Do not expect the hiring managers to simply figure it out on their own.
Sample answer no. 5: Man applying for a job in a new field, while trying to change their career:
As you can see on my resume, I’ve had completely different jobs before. My experience isn’t relevant, but that’s exactly the reason why I am here. I experienced a burnout, and I need a career change. I know that I will have to learn a lot of things to do a great job in your company, namely A, B, C… But I am ready to put in the extra effort, and I am already studying a lot, and attending evening courses on A and B. Starting from scratch is never easy, but I am confident I will handle the job, and hope that you will give me a chance to prove my motivation and abilities.
- Quick thing to notice about this answer: When applying for a job outside of your field (for example when changing your career), it is important to acknowledge the new skills you’ll have to learn, and to show the hiring managers that you are already working on the these skills. It is also crucial to explain why you are changing your career (“I experienced a burnout…”), and applying for a job that doesn’t seem relevant to your previous experience.
Sample answer no. 6, a philosophical one:
In my opinion, everything relates to everything. It may look like my experience isn’t relevant, but I believe that regardless of the place of work, we experience the same tricky situations everywhere: conflicts with colleagues, trying to meet a tight deadline, overcoming some challenges, struggling to meet the monthly goals. Just like I experienced these situations in my previous jobs, I will experience them in your company. Only the circumstances will be different. What’s more, I know that your company has excellent processes in place for everything, and employees should work according to them. So in my view it makes no difference whether my achievements and operational experience to date have prepared me for this role. What matters is a willingness to learn and to follow your way of doing things, to adhere to the processes. I can assure you that I am willing to do so, and motivated to learn any skills necessary for me to excel in my new role.
- Quick thing to notice about this answer: Everything relates to everything, and as long as you manage to convince the hiring managers that what you did before (which can be also nothing, speaking of professional working experience) is relevant for the job you are tying to get with them, they will be satisfied with your answer. When doing this right, lack of experience is never a show stopper in the interviews.
Advanced information
Mistakes people make while talking about their previous experience
- Showing lack of confidence. If you do not believe that you can handle the job well (or learn to do it well), we won’t believe it either. While it is great showing some humility, and you can certainly point out skills to work on in order to excel in your new job, it is pivotal to show confidence in your abilities. And this is true even when you have no relevant working experience whatsoever.
- Thinking that the hiring managers will figure it out on their own. It is a mistake overestimating the skills of your interviewers. Maybe you have had similar jobs with similar duties, and for you the relevance of your previous experience is obvious. But we live in a world with zillions of strange job titles, many of them rather unrealistic (the name of the job having nothing to do with the actual working duties). Unless you explain clearly what you did before and how it is all relevant for the new job, you’re making a mistake.
- Letting your negativity shine through while talking about your working experience. When you’ve already had some jobs, and now apply for a new one, it certainly means that something did not work well in the previous ones. And that’s all right, because perfect jobs or places of work do not exist. But you should focus here only on what you did, and how it prepared you for the new job. Talking about how stressful the last job has been, or how incompetent your managers were, or how badly they paid you, is of no importance for the hiring managers, and will only cost you your chances in the interview.
Few points from the perspective of the hiring managers/interviewers
- We will almost always do the background check, and call your references. It makes no sense trying to make something up here, for example mentioning a job that you did not really have, just to sound more relevant. If we consider proceeding with you to the final rounds of interviews, we will always check your references. In today’s world, it isn’t difficult finding out whether you really had this or that job before. Instead of trying to impress us with things that did never happen, focus on showing how your previous experience is actually relevant to our job offer, even when it doesn’t seem so.
- Your attitude matters for us more than your experience, always. One can always learn new skills and abilities. But once a person lacks motivation or humility, or enjoys starting conflicts with colleagues and taking advantage of others, it won’t be a good employee, regardless of what they did in the past, and how relevant their experience seems. Keep this on your mind. Even when you have super relevant experience, you still have to convince us about your motivation and right attitude to work. And when you lack relevant experience, you can still win a job contract simply by showing that you are a great person to have on a team, with the way you treat your duties and your colleagues.
- Do not expect us to study your job application in great depth before the interview. When we invited you for an interview, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we consider your experience relevant, or that we had time to study your application in detail, or that we remember what exactly was written there. We may easily have ten interviews on the same day, and it is impossible to remember everything. Keep this on your mind when thinking that we should already know this or that about your experience, and you do not have to say it again…
7 keywords to remember when answering questions belonging to this area
- Confidence, attitude matters more than experience, everything relates to everything but you have to show us the relevancy, lack of experience is never a showstopper, praise training programs for new hires in big corporations, no shame of burnout and similar issues, willingness to learn.
So that’s it! You’ve just covered area no. 3 out of 25 areas that cover 99% of questions you may ever get in the interviews. Just 22 areas left! Check the next one: Motivation, or go back to homepage for the full list of 25 areas and pick one you want to learn about and practice right now.
