How to demonstrate relevant work experience when making a CV?

Are you currently looking for a job and always find yourself being asked for "relevant work experience"? It's not always easy to know how to properly address this requirement, especially as a young professional, because very few graduates already have professional experience.

First of all, you shouldn't feel discouraged when you see relevant work experience listed as a requirement. Many companies want even recent graduates to have work experience – but this is often a preference that very few candidates are able to satisfy.

Read our blog post to find out what the term "relevant work experience" really means and how this differs from years of experience, extensive experience and general professional experience. We also give you valuable tips on how you can demonstrate that you have some relevant experience, even as a graduate.

Relevant work experience – what does this even mean?

The term "relevant work experience" has to be examined from two angles. Firstly, in the collective agreement for the civil service (TVöD), it describes a clearly defined requirement for applicants who are applying for certain positions. Secondly, it is used in the job advertisements of many private-sector companies to communicate their expectations with regard to professional experience.

Relevant work experience according to the TVöD

Section 16 of the collective agreement for the civil service stipulates that the recruitment of employees with respect to the various pay grades is based on the existence of "relevant work experience". This requirement is more specifically defined in the TVöD as follows:

The example of the TVöD definition of relevant work experience shows that employers have some leeway in assessing whether or not the requirement is met. This insight also holds true when it comes to the private sector, especially as here there is no fixed definition of what constitutes relevant work experience.

Relevant work experience in the private sector

Anyone actively looking for a job in the private sector is sure to come across the term "relevant work experience" over and over again. Making this a requirement is quite understandable from the company's perspective: companies prefers candidates who already have practical, industry-related expertise, ideally in the area of work in which they are looking to hire someone.

The term "relevant" therefore means that the applicant has completed an extended period of professional activity that is relevant with regard to the job profile. The period of time this entails is not precisely defined and can range from several months to several years of employment, depending on the HR department's expectations.

For you as a young professional, it is important to understand that companies usually also recognise your industry-related student trainee jobs and internships as relevant work experience, provided that these were in a relevant area of activity. This means that if you are applying for a position as a software engineer and, as an engineering student, you learned about the software development process at a company where you completed an internship lasting a number of months, you can certainly claim to have relevant work experience.

Different types of work experience

Companies' HR departments generally use the same terms over and over again to describe their expectations regarding the professional experience they would like their candidates to have. To help you understand what these terms mean, here is a brief introduction to the most important types of work experience:

• Initial work experience: If the company wants their applicants to have "initial work experience", then this means that they are looking for basic general experience of day-to-day company operations. This means that even if you have only undertaken a longer internship or a student trainee job, you have already acquired initial work experience.
• Relevant work experience: Having relevant work experience means that you already have already completed an extended period of work that is relevant to the job profile. Depending on the duration and nature of this work, this could also include subject-related internships or student traineeships.
• Substantial work experience: An applicant is generally considered to possess substantial work experience if they have already worked in a job relating to the job profile for several years. Internships and student traineeships do not count as substantial professional experience. As a general rule, job offers with this requirement are not suitable for young professionals.
• Extensive or multiple years of work experience: If the company asks for extensive experience or many years of experience in a specific field, this usually means having worked for a company for at least three to five years.
• Many years of work experience: As the term suggests – having many years of professional experience is the next step after acquiring multiple years of professional experience. This requirement is usually used in job advertisements for senior or project manager positions.
• General work experience: Similar to initial work experience, in asking applicants to demonstrate general work experience, companies want you to show that you are already familiar with the procedures, working methods and processes typically used within a company.

Don't have any relevant work experience? Just apply anyway!

Has a job advert piqued your interest, but you don't yet have any relevant work experience in that particular field? Don't let yourself be discouraged by this job profile requirement. The company's HR manager is well aware that very few candidates will be able to meet all of their stated requirements. Depending on how much competition there is for a particular position, it's therefore entirely possible to succeed in getting a job with this requirement even without relevant work experience.

Does an internship count as work experience?

Particularly for someone just starting their career, an internship lasting a number of months in a professionally relevant field can be worth its weight in gold. So, if you are applying for a job and have already covered various elements of the advertised job profile during an internship, talk about this internship in your application cover letter and link it to the job description. If "initial work experience" in particular is listed as a requirement in the job profile, you can meet this expectation with an internship.

Relevant work experience as a young professional?

Almost all companies ask for at least some initial experience of the world of work in their job advertisements. This is perfectly understandable. After all, companies want to spend as little time as possible training their employees in basic working methods.

As a young professional, we advise you not to be put off when you encounter the phrase "relevant work experience" in job advertisements. You can also acquire this kind of work experience as a student, through the following activities, for example:

• Internship lasting several months and relating to your studies
• Practical semester as part of a work–study degree programme
• Working for a company as a student trainee
• Industry- or studies-related project work within companies
• Completing a bachelor's or master's thesis within a company

When applying for a job, it is wise to be selective when it comes to writing a CV: only include activities that are actually relevant to the advertised job and job profile.

Are you currently working on your CV but not really getting anywhere? Then check out our blog post How to demonstrate relevant work experience when making a CV? for some useful tips.