How to Get Hired Without Experience: 8 Practical Tips
Getting your first job feels impossible when every posting says "2+ years experience required". But here's the truth: on average, 51.3% of 'entry-level jobs' require prior working experience, which means the other half don't. Employers are placing more focus on skills, attitude, and adaptability rather than just past experience. You can absolutely get hired without a traditional work history. You just need to know how to position yourself.
1. Translate Your Experience (You Have More Than You Think)
You're convinced you have nothing to put on a CV. You're wrong. While you won't have direct work experience, you would have developed a range of transferable skills from school, university, extra-curricular activities, clubs, and hobbies.
Looked after younger siblings? That's responsibility and time management under pressure. Organised a school event? That's project planning and coordination. Played a team sport? That's teamwork and resilience. The skill names matter more than you'd think.
Transferable skills, such as dependability, leadership, problem-solving, data analysis, and time management, are valuable across many industries and can significantly improve job performance and productivity. When you're writing your CV, don't list the activity - name the skill.
2. Volunteer or Do a Traineeship
This is the clearest shortcut to relevant experience. Including volunteer experience on a CV is extremely important for people with limited work experience. For those who have recently graduated from university or have a gap in their employment, volunteer experience shows that they have real-world experience and continue to enhance and improve their skills even when they're taking time off from work.
GOV.UK's National Careers Service lists volunteering alongside paid jobs and work placements as experience to include on a CV. Even a few months of volunteer work - at a charity, food bank, community project, or non-profit - beats no experience at all. In most cases you won't need a particular set of skills to volunteer, other than a hard-working attitude and a commitment to a company or charity's aims.
In 2026, entry-level training in the UK now mainly falls into four categories: Apprenticeships – structured programmes combining work and study over 1–4 years · Trainee roles – entry-level jobs with on-the-job training set by employers · Internships – short-term work experience, often for students or graduates · Skills bootcamps – short, intensive training courses for specific skills.
3. Look at Apprenticeships
If you're 16–24 (or older in some cases), an apprenticeship is a paid job where you gain hands-on work experience while studying towards a recognised qualification. Apprentices typically work 80% of the time and spend 20% in structured learning. Apprentices are employees from day one and receive a salary.
Intermediate (L2): £18,000-£22,000 (entry-level role) Advanced (L3): £22,000-£28,000 (junior specialist) available depending on the level and employer. 1,460 results found for Level 2 apprenticeships on the official Find an Apprenticeship service. Check out Find an Apprenticeship or search on Step Into Jobs to see what's available in your area.
4. Write a Cover Letter That Shows You Get It
67% of UK recruiters still consider a tailored cover letter important or essential, especially if you're applying for professional roles. Your cover letter is where you explain why you're different from the hundreds of other applicants with the same blank CV.
The ideal length is half a page to three quarters of a page, around 250 to 400 words, in three or four short paragraphs. Anything longer rarely gets read in full. Keep it short, but show that you've researched the company and understood the role. A 2026 survey showed that 56% of hiring managers view candidates with cover letters as more passionate about the role. More importantly, 61% rely on cover letters to assess crucial soft skills like teamwork and problem-solving - things a CV alone just can't demonstrate.
Don't repeat your CV. Instead, pick one or two things you can do well and show concrete examples. Instead of saying you're a "great team player," describe a time you collaborated with a difficult team to deliver a project ahead of schedule.
5. Target Roles That Genuinely Don't Require Experience
The careers where prior experience was mentioned the most in entry-level listings were social workers (63.6%), paralegals (61.6%), and junior web developers (61.5%). The entry-level jobs most likely to not ask for prior experience were construction workers (29.8%), biomedical engineers (36.7%) and event planners (39.9%).
Remote customer service positions represent the largest category of entry-level work-from-home jobs, with many companies employing hundreds of home-based advisors handling customer queries via phone, email, or live chat. Major employers including Amazon, Apple, BT, Virgin Media, and numerous other retail, technology, and service companies recruit customer service advisors willing to work from home with comprehensive paid training provided.
Search by sector, not just by job title. Some fields - hospitality, retail, logistics, customer service, basic IT support - hire constantly and are genuinely open to people with no background. Stop applying to roles that demand 2+ years when you can apply to roles that genuinely want someone fresh.
6. Master the "Tell Me About Yourself" Answer
In the interview, you'll definitely get this question. Your goal is to translate your School Projects, Part-time Jobs, Volunteering, or Sports into professional skills.
You're not selling years of work. You're selling potential. The interviewers are interested in evaluating a couple of basic skills that you possess, regardless of whether you have professional work experience. These skills include clear communication, time management, and problem-solving. Prepare a two-minute answer that names these skills and gives a quick example of when you've shown them.
Before your interview, you can research the company and the potential position to familiarize yourself with the job. You can review the posting for the job to find out what kind of employee the company is looking for. You can write down some talking points for ways that you meet the job posting's expectations in an ideal candidate.
7. Tailor Your Application Every Single Time
When including transferable skills on your CV, choose ones that are required for or beneficial to the role. You can review the job description for key skills listed there. If the job ad mentions "attention to detail," make sure you've talked about a time you caught errors or improved something. If they want "teamwork," describe a group project.
A hiring manager can tell when you've copy-pasted the same application to fifty employers. A 10-minute customisation - changing your personal statement, swapping in relevant examples - makes a visible difference.
8. Build Something or Show Evidence of Learning
This is optional but increasingly valuable. The job market rewards clarity more than perfection. You do not need internships to show skill. You need proof. If you're applying for a marketing role, create a simple portfolio project. If it's data or tech, build something small and share it. If it's creative, show your work.
You don't need a portfolio for every job, but for competitive sectors - tech, creative, marketing - it separates you from other no-experience candidates.
The reality is this: not every entry-level job actually wants experienced people. Many employers prefer to train someone with the right attitude and soft skills rather than break someone of bad habits. It's a common belief that you need experience to get a job, but many employers are actively hiring people without it, especially for entry-level roles.
Stop waiting for experience to appear. Start showing employers you're worth hiring right now. With 15,954 entry-level roles live on Step Into Jobs right now, there's something for you. Apply strategically, tailor your applications, and let your potential do the work.