Internship with no prior work experience?

chrisw
Tue, 19 Feb 2013 09:30:02 +0000

It sounds like you are just starting to think about working for the first time, and that’s a good thing - everyone has to start somewhere! The biggest thing to remember is that each job you get should build upon the last job you had.

Here is my path:
Age 14: camp counselor → Age 15: camp counselor who got paid 40 cents an hour more → Age 16: lifeguard at aforementioned camp → Age 17: assistant manager at a swim club
Age 16: Food runner at country club → Age 17: Busser at restaurant → Age 18: Server at low-end restaurant → Ages 19-22: Server at high-end restaurant

I had some additional experience in retail, research, and student-group leadership before applying to full time, career-like jobs, but I never would have been able to get the good stuff on my resume without working my way up, and that would have made applying to jobs several orders of magnitude more difficult!

To answer your question, you will not be ruled out if you don’t have any experience in anything, but in a competitive market, your peers will likely (depending on the industry and the type of internship you apply to) fare better than you if they have work experience and you do not.