"Do you have any relevant work experience?"
For students who haven't completed an internship, that question can feel like a wall. The instinct is to say no, or to scramble through a mental list of part-time jobs, campus activities, and class projects wondering whether any of it counts.
It counts. All of it, potentially. But not automatically.
According to the 2026 State of Higher Ed Report, only 19.4% of undergraduates have completed an internship. The other 80.6% are navigating the job market with a mix of academic, co-curricular, and work experiences that go largely undescribed in professional language. The gap isn't always the experience itself. It's the translation.
Why Experience Doesn't Speak for Itself
Employers aren't looking at your resume to understand your life. They're looking for evidence that you can do specific things: think critically, communicate clearly, manage competing priorities, and work effectively under real conditions.
An internship is one of the most legible ways to demonstrate those things because it happens in a workplace context that employers recognize. But it's not the only way.
The problem is that most students describe their non-internship experiences in terms of what they did, not what they demonstrated. "Worked the front desk at the campus rec center" tells an employer about a job function. "Managed concurrent member check-ins during peak hours, resolved scheduling conflicts under time pressure, and maintained service quality with a two-person team" tells an employer about a competency.
Amy Everson, Senior Director of University Recognition and Institutional Events at the American Public University System, addressed this in the State of Higher Ed webinar, explaining how students need to be able to understand what every experience brings to the table. And you need to understand what each of your existing experiences demonstrates so you can describe it in terms employers recognize.
The Competency Framework: What Employers Are Actually Measuring
To translate your experience, you need to know what language employers are looking for. According to the State of Higher Ed Report, the top qualities recruiters prioritize in candidates are critical thinking, work ethic, communication, and teamwork.
Here's how common non-internship experiences map to those competencies:
- Part-time or service jobs: Work ethic (showing up consistently, meeting performance standards under real conditions), customer communication, managing competing demands
- Research assistant roles: Critical thinking (analyzing data, testing hypotheses, interpreting findings), academic communication, project management within defined constraints
- Leadership program participation: Goal-setting, peer accountability, professional communication, personal development under mentorship
- Campus organization leadership: Event coordination, stakeholder management, team facilitation, conflict resolution
- Class projects with external partners or real deliverables: Problem-solving in ambiguous conditions, professional communication, project management
- Volunteer or community service roles: Cross-functional collaboration, initiative, mission-aligned work
None of these require an internship label to be relevant. They do require deliberate framing.
How to Audit Your Existing Experience
Start with these questions for each experience you've had: What problem did I solve, what decision did I make, and what happened as a result?
That three-part structure (problem, action, outcome) is the building block of professional language. It's also the structure that makes any experience legible to a hiring manager.
Walk through your part-time jobs, campus activities, research roles, volunteer work, and class projects. For each one, try to answer:
- What challenge or constraint was I working within?
- What did I specifically do (not just what was my role)?
- What changed or improved because of what I did?
Write those answers down. Don't worry yet about whether they sound impressive. You're building the raw material that your professional narrative will be built from.
What to Do If Your Experience Is Genuinely Thin
Sometimes the honest answer is that you don't have enough to work with yet. That's a solvable problem, and the earlier you solve it, the better.
Kevin Prentiss, Head of Product and Technology at the NSLS, touched on this in the State of Higher Ed webinar, asking, "What is the smallest thing that you could do that is in that direction?" The goal isn't a perfect resume. It's momentum in the right direction. What can you do today to develop experience?
If you're light on experience, here are the fastest ways to build it:
- Structured leadership programs: Programs like the NSLS are specifically designed to develop and document the professional competencies employers look for. They're accessible regardless of financial situation and build a record of goal-setting, professional communication, and peer collaboration that translates directly in interviews.
- Research or independent study: Approaching a faculty member about a semester research project gives you structured problem-solving experience with a credible institutional context.
- Project-based volunteer work: A defined project for a nonprofit or community organization (one that produces a tangible output) builds the same competencies as many internships.
- Micro-projects in your field: A data analysis, a design mock-up, a written policy brief, a piece of code submitted to an open-source project; this is self-directed work that produces something real, demonstrating initiative and capability without requiring a formal placement.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can campus jobs actually count as professional experience?
Yes, when framed correctly. A campus job that involved customer service, team coordination, problem-solving under pressure, or managing resources is professional experience. The label "campus job" undersells it; the description of what you did and what it required is what matters.
How do I describe a leadership program like the NSLS to an employer?
Frame it as a structured competency-development program with documented goals and measurable outcomes. Specific language: "Completed a structured leadership development program, including goal-setting workshops, success coaching, and professional communication modules." Then connect those skills to the role you're applying for.
What if I don't have any experiences that seem relevant to the job I want?
That's a signal about what to pursue next, not a closed door on what you've done. Identify the competencies the job requires, look at your experience list through that lens, and pursue targeted micro-experiences to fill the gaps before your next application cycle.
Is there a way to make research experience sound more relevant for non-research jobs?
Yes. Focus on the underlying competencies: "Conducted independent analysis of X, synthesized findings from multiple sources, and presented conclusions to a faculty supervisor" communicates analytical thinking, self-direction, and professional communication, all transferable to non-research contexts.
The difference between a strong candidate and a weak one isn't always the experience they've had. It's the precision with which they describe what they learned and what they can do.
Audit your experiences. Learn the language. And if you need to build more, start this week.
For more on career readiness, employer expectations, and what the data shows about what actually prepares graduates for work, read the 2026 State of Higher Ed Report.
