Addressing your inexperience in an interview

Much like this DVD cover, interviews can be scary (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As young professionals, we’re all too aware that we lack work experience. So what happens when our lack of experience is brought up during an interview? How can we address our inexperience while still affirming that we’re right for the job?

Luckily, it’s Campus to Career to the rescue with a post on ways to respond when your interviewer questions your experience level:

Golden Responses to “You Don’t Have Much Experience” (campus-to-career.com)

While having to defend your inexperience is certainly frustrating, it helps to note the positives in these circumstances — namely, that you managed to get an interview in the first place.

If your lack of experience was such a huge obstacle to a company hiring you, they could’ve rejected you as soon as they read your application. So if they brought you in for an interview, you must’ve had some quality that made them want to take the time to get to know you better.

I would never be so rude as to say, “Well, if I’m so inexperienced, then why’d you call me in for an interview?” But I’d realize that I have attributes that make the company be willing to at least consider me as their employee. And I’d be sure to highlight those attributes when addressing my lack of experience.

Lastly, I’ll leave you with some great words in Campus to Career’s article:

Being young on the job market can only hold you back if you let it.  If you can calm interviewers’ fears and impress them with professional rebuttals, then you have a chance.

Advertisements