Applying for your first job post-uni can be a daunting task. Not only are you thrust into the world of work after years of educational comfort, but you may find you are lacking in actual work experience for the career of your dreams. However, there are ways around a lack of experience in order to boost career prospects. Here are eight, easy to implement tips to help with job applications.

Be Realistic

Getting an entry level job with little to no experience is just about feasible – any higher up the career ladder and you’re just wasting everyone’s time. Pick something realistic and apply for that honestly, rather than aiming too high and filling your application with a bunch of waffle.

Get Some Experience

Having even a minimal amount of experience will help you stand out from the just-finished-uni crowd. Look into a week or two of an internship, or volunteer for a few days. Having even something small to talk about is miles better than having nothing at all.

Know Your Qualities

If you can’t say you’ve done something similar before, at least know the other things you’ve done which could boost your employability. Skills developed in other areas of life can be applicable to a job if you market them correctly.

Make Links

If you’ve only ever worked in a bar, demonstrate how this has built work ethic, organizational skills and communication. Any small and seemingly irrelevant thing can be twisted to seem useful and at least vaguely connected to your career path.

Focus On Soft Skills

Soft skills are the types of qualities that are more difficult to conclusively prove, like social skills, character traits, personality and emotional intelligence. And if you’re lacking on “hard skills” connected to the job application, it can be really useful to focus on these to demonstrate your appropriateness to the position.

Be (Reasonably) Confident

Don’t be sheepish or overly apologetic about your lack of experience – but do be honest. Be straight up and say you don’t have direct experience, and follow with the other reasons why you are a good fit for the job. Don’t skirt around the truth, rather redirect attention onto your good qualities and away from your lack of experience.

Do Your Research

If you’re lacking in experience, it’s even more important that you know a lot about the position, the company and the industry you’re applying for. Come armed with facts and questions, and demonstrate your work ethic by going above and beyond for the interview.

Demonstrate Fast Learning

A lack of experience is only a real issue if you have an issue with learning new skills. So by bringing to the fore of your application times you’ve learned new skills very quickly and worked efficiently, you can boost confidence in your interviewer that you’re worth taking a chance on.

Annie Walton Doyle writes for Inspiring Interns, which specialises in sourcing candidates for internships. To browse our graduate jobs London listings, visit our website.