Finding relevant experience
While some applicants may have the desired professional background, it can be challenging to evaluate candidates with diverse experience. However, there are many ways to identify relevant experience by reviewing their resumes. By reviewing past jobs, internships, volunteer experiences and freelance work, you can gain valuable insights into a candidate’s skill set and capabilities. Additionally, if you’re sponsoring a job on Indeed our matching and hiring platform can enhance your search process.
Indeed’s matching technology allows you to gain immediate access to quality candidates who match your job requirements. Whether you choose to invite top picks to apply or utilize personalized invites sent by Indeed, the platform will continue to learn from your preferences and deliver high-quality candidates tailored to your specific job criteria. By combining thorough resume reviews with Indeed’s matching technology, you can effectively identify candidates with relevant experience and make informed hiring decisions.
Past jobs
The most obvious type of relevant experience is when a candidate has worked in a similar professional position as the vacancy you’re trying to fill. Even this obvious parallel has a caveat: how recently the candidate held the position. For instance, if you’re hiring for a tech position and the applicant held the same job title 15 years ago, that may affect the relevance of the applicant’s experience.
Internships
When you see an internship listed on a resume, do you envision the stereotype of a fresh-faced graduate making photocopies and going on office coffee runs? If that’s your impression, think again. Internships may provide the type of know-how you’re looking for in a candidate.
Internships are mutually beneficial agreements between a student or recent graduate and a business: The intern works for free or a reduced salary, and the business provides structured hands-on learning. By the end of the term, the intern will have job experience. In fact, businesses often hire their interns after the training period ends, showing that they believe the internship provided pertinent experience.
As with other types of prior work experience, internships can offer a glimpse into a candidate’s skills and work ethic. You can seek references from the candidate’s internship supervisor just as you would from an applicant’s former employer.
By considering internships as relevant work experience, you can expand your talent pool for entry-level positions.
Volunteer experience
As with interns, many volunteer positions are unpaid. That is one factor that distinguishes volunteers from employees. Nevertheless, job seekers often include volunteer activities on their resumes. This makes sense; a lack of salary doesn’t indicate a lack of qualifying experience. Volunteer experiences may include activities relevant to the jobs you want to fill.
These are some examples of how volunteer experiences could translate well into relevant work experience:
- Suppose a veterinary office is seeking a veterinary technician. A candidate with two years’ experience volunteering at an animal shelter applies. That applicant has familiarity dealing with the most common domestic pets that a veterinarian sees so that volunteer work is relevant experience.
- A restaurant owner is looking for kitchen prep help. An applicant regularly volunteers in the kitchen of a homeless shelter. That applicant will likely have relevant experience in many of the necessary skills for the position.
Don’t write off candidates if they only have volunteer experience related to your vacancies. Unpaid work doesn’t mean unskilled work.
Freelance work/entrepreneurship
Freelance workers are self-employed; they run their own businesses. Freelancers who apply for positions at your company may have prior experience doing the same type of projects you need for the vacancies you’re trying to fill. In fact, companies often hire freelancers for cost and efficiency reasons, so someone with freelance experience may have had clients from organizations like yours.
Beyond directly relevant skills for the job, long-term freelancers likely have soft skills, such as time management and self-discipline. Some freelancers may have experience working with certain clients’ staff members, depending on the types of projects they’ve been commissioned to do.
For instance, an ad agency may want to hire a staff copywriter. A job seeker who has never been formally employed at an ad agency applies. The applicant’s resume indicates a couple of years of experience as a freelance copywriter. That candidate has done the same type of work the ad agency is hiring for, but as a freelancer rather than an employee.
That’s just one relevant experience example in freelancing; many others apply. These are some common types of freelance work:
- Web development
- Graphic design
- Writing
- Computer programming
- Accounting
When freelancers apply for a job, ask to see a portfolio of relevant work. That will help you determine their expertise and relevant experience.
Freelancers can be a solid source of talent because of their relevant experience.
Academic work as relevant experience
You may be surprised to learn that, in some cases, academic work can be considered relevant experience on a resume. Several components of academic work may qualify:
Portfolio projects
In certain academic degree programs, especially creative disciplines (e.g., graphic design or journalism), students must create a portfolio of projects throughout the last year or two of their college careers. That portfolio can help you determine whether the candidate applying for the job vacancy has the relevant experience to produce the type of work you’re hiring for.
Extracurricular activities
College extracurricular activities are another type of academic work that may count as experience.
For example, while in college, one of your job candidates worked behind the scenes of a college radio program, controlling the console and troubleshooting technical difficulties. If you run a station and are hiring a maintenance engineer, you might consider that extracurricular activity and the applicant’s degree as relevant experience.
Another example is a candidate who majored in journalism and may have also served as the editor of the university newspaper. If you’re hiring an editor for your website’s blog, that applicant has relevant experience for that job.
When you notice such extracurricular experiences referenced on an applicant’s resume or cover letter, it’s worthwhile to find out more about them.
Work-study experience
As part of financial aid packages, college students often participate in work-study programs. These positions may count as relevant experience.
For instance, perhaps a student worked in a campus office and completed typical office duties, including using software such as the Microsoft Word Office Suite. If you’re hiring someone for a personal assistant position, that work-study experience is applicable to your vacancy.
Remember: In assessing an applicant’s work history, work-study experience is also work experience.
Tutoring
People often say you don’t really know a subject until you have to teach it. That’s why tutoring experience — paid or not — can be relevant to the job you’re hiring for. Some job candidates might have tutored during their college years or as a volunteer. Either way, if they’ve tutored the subject, their proficiency and experience could be relevant to your job vacancy.
For example, perhaps while in college, a student majoring in accounting worked in the college tutoring center, explaining and demonstrating accounting concepts to other students. That experience reveals proficiency in the concepts you need your employees to understand. In that respect, tutoring counts as applicable experience.
The teaching component of the tutoring experience may also be a good fit for specific types of jobs within your business. For example, a former tutor’s experience may be directly relevant to certain trainer positions in your company.
Tutors also likely have soft skills, such as communication, problem-solving, and patience; these are relevant to many positions.
Extracurricular activities/hobbies
Many resumes include a “hobbies” section — and for good reason. That information can reveal not only more about the candidate’s personality but also a glimpse into transferable skills that suit the job you’re hiring for. This is especially true if the applicant devotes a significant amount of time to the hobby (you might ask about that during an interview). It’s not uncommon for a hobby to turn into a side business, showing that past-times can also have practical applicability. In short, if the applicant has spent a good deal of time on the hobby and the skills involved are relevant to the job you’re hiring for, those activities can count as relevant experience.
For instance, perhaps you own a winery and need to hire someone to oversee wine-tasting events. An applicant who has led a wine club for several years as a hobby may have the experience you need for the position.
Other activities that are not hobbies nor professional experience may still be relevant. For instance, suppose an applicant served on the board of a homeowner’s association or was captain of a curling team. If your vacancy requires leadership experience, those activities could be relevant.
Hobbies and extracurricular activities aren’t professional experience, but they can, nonetheless, be relevant experience.
Final thoughts
When seeking quality candidates for job openings, don’t limit your search by considering only those with past professional experience that match the vacancy. By expanding your definition of relevant experience, you can increase your applicant pool and find candidates that might have otherwise slipped through the cracks of your ATS system or hiring managers.