After Taking Courses, How do I Gain Experience?
The most popular question in the digital space.
If we had a dollar for every time someone asked us this question, we’d be gazillionaires by now😅.
But it’s a real concern.
Many people are theoretically sound due to taking the right courses. However, applying that skill to build experience is challenging.
Today’s newsletter will provide tips (plus our founder’s blueprint) on how to gain experience after taking courses.
So, gear up!
Why Experience is Important
Many entry-level jobs today require some basic experience, making it harder to find positions without any.
To avoid this, people go to Google searching for jobs that require no experience.
However, roles with experience expectations still dominate.
This newsletter will show you how to gain the experience needed to stand out.
How to Gain Experience After Taking Courses
Start by volunteering.
For gaining experience, volunteering works 99% of the time. It is the act of working- contributing your time, skills, and energy- for an organization without pay.
Because it’s free labor, most organizations are usually open to having you onboard and that way, you gain experience.
💡If you’re going for a paid role, check our previous newsletter on how to price your services.
Start in a similar role.
Sometimes, your desired role may not work out as planned.
But do not despair.
If, for instance, you desire to work as a cybersecurity professional but can’t find open roles. You can apply to work as an assistant for a cybersecurity professional and grow from there.
As an assistant, you’d work with your employer on cybersecurity tasks and build experience that way.
Build in public.
This simply means openly sharing your journey of career development and personal growth with your audience.
We shared content tips for building in public here.
Research different things related to your preferred role and share them on social media. By doing this, you’ll be learning and gaining practical knowledge.
Contribute to communities.
Hackathons, bounties, and community workshops provide excellent opportunities to test your skills. Many communities offer these events today.
Identify a community in your preferred industry and participate actively.
Create your own projects.
Be free to develop personal projects to showcase your skills.
Want a role as a website developer? Create dummy sites.
Want a role as a content creator? Start a blog.
Want to become a data analyst? Get pseudo-data and test your skills.
This is our preferred go-to approach at Creaitz.
We like to say: If nobody would take a chance on you, take a chance on yourself.
How to Pitch Yourself
To get you started on your journey, we've shared our founder's pitching blueprint.
Pitching yourself is essentially selling yourself to others.
It's about effectively communicating your skills, experience, and value in a way that makes you stand out.
There are two ways our founder recommends that you do this:
Cold Outreaches.
This means contacting individuals or organizations that you don't have a pre-existing relationship with and pitching yourself for a role.
When doing cold outreaches, follow these steps:
Craft your offer.
Identify target companies that align with your career goals and craft personalized messages.
Introduce yourself, briefly explain the company's work, and highlight why you're a good fit.
Clearly state your offer and how you can contribute to their team.
Finally, suggest a follow-up action, such as a meeting or a phone call.
Prompt Example:
Hi [Client’s Name],
I’m [Your Name], and I’m just starting my career as a [Preferred Role]. I’m impressed by what [Client’s Company/Brand] is doing, especially [mention a specific project or aspect you admire].
I’d love to offer my skills as a volunteer to help out with [specific area or project] and gain some hands-on experience.
Would you be available for a brief conversation within the next 24 hours to discuss how I might be able to assist and add value to your team?
Please let me know a convenient time for you or how you would prefer to proceed.
Thanks so much!
Best,
[Your Name]
💡This 5-minute video from Niti Sarran, a 19-year-old with a net worth of over $100,000, also offers valuable insights on how to send cold emails.
Public building
This is a straightforward approach.
It involves creating content, such as a blog post or video, about your target organization.
Acknowledging their positive aspects and suggesting areas for improvement.
Then offer unique solutions that align with your skills and the company's goals.
This Stephane’s post for Luma Calendar is a good example.
If you enjoyed reading this, feel free to share it with others by clicking the button below.
Community Updates
We had a Telegram voice chat on Thursday, the 5th of September, discussing how to build a CyberSecurity career as a beginner.
Catch the recording here.
Next, there are a few exciting things to look forward to next week at Creaitz🚀⚡️:
A 3-day boot camp on blockchain technology, graphics design, content writing and video editing.
Announcement of our first semi-in-person event happening Oct 3rd to 4th this year.
Stay tuned!
Finally- ICYMI, our previous X account (@creaitzng) got suspended🥲.
Kindly follow us on the new one(@creaitzhub).
And please join our community if you are yet to do so.
Community Spotlight
Ruth volunteered at the BizMerchant event in Port Harcourt.
Divine entered a competition to write a business plan proposal with Access Bank.
Dami participated in a contest and wrote a thread about Vaultka.
Seun shot her first dialogue film.
Job Opportunities(You Can Refer Friends)
✅ We are giving jobs to 1000 marketing and growth talents!😃
To benefit:
Visit Hirefoster
Sign up with your Gmail account.
Complete your profile and upload your resume.
Then drop your Gmail in the jobs channel on Telegram so we can prioritize you for future roles.
If you encounter any difficulty, you can ask in the Creaitz community.
Feel free to share with friends 🩵.
✅ We are hiring!- And you can refer friends.
We need a local business developer for a growing mobile application in Port Harcourt.
We need Web3 animators.
We need an experienced full-stack developer.
If this interests you, kindly reply to this mail with a well-detailed resume/portfolio. To find more jobs, visit the jobs channel on Telegram.
Fun Corner
Where do all our deleted files go? 🤔
Leave us a message if you know the answer.