Supporting statement with no experience: find evidence

You can write a supporting statement with no paid work experience by matching the job's criteria to things you have done in study, volunteering, clubs or responsibilities at home. Name each setting honestly and describe your own actions. Check essential qualifications and required experience before drafting, because an example of a general skill cannot stand in for a requirement you do not meet.

Work out what "no experience" means for this vacancy

Read the person specification beside the application form. Mark the lines that ask for a skill, those that require experience in a particular setting, and any qualifications. If you are unsure what a requirement includes, ask the recruitment contact before treating it as met.

You may have no employment history while still having examples of communication, teamwork or reliability. Careers Wales' personal statement guidance invites examples from school, college, education, work experience, hobbies and volunteering. Its advice is to focus on the skills needed for the job.

Read a requirement precisely. A group assignment can help you describe teamwork; it cannot prove that you hold a certificate. If a vacancy asks for experience of a particular task, explain the experience you actually have and leave the employer to assess it. Avoid turning "helped a relative" into a paid job title.

For school support applications, the teaching assistant guide for applicants with no experience considers specific school requirements. This page is a planning method for first applications across sectors.

Find an example before writing a claim

Start with a rough evidence list. Write the setting, what you were responsible for, what you did and what happened. Keep a small incident if you can describe it accurately. A claim such as "excellent communication" gives you little to work with unless you can recall who needed information and how you explained it.

These are prompts to search your own experience, not employer-approved substitutes for qualifications or required work experience.

Criterion type	Possible non-work setting	Action to recall	Gap to keep visible
Teamwork	A college project or sports club	How you divided tasks or helped resolve a disagreement	Whether the vacancy requires a particular workplace setting
Reliability	Regular volunteering or club attendance	How you prepared and met your commitment	Any requirement for paid employment experience
Communication	Study, volunteering or responsibilities at home	How you explained information and checked understanding	Any specialist knowledge the task requires
Organisation	A student event or household responsibility	What you planned and how you handled a change	Any named qualification or software requirement

Careers Wales asks about your own contribution to a team, regular attendance and situations where you planned something that worked out well. Use those questions to recover details. Home responsibilities belong in this table as possible evidence to consider; the source does not promise that an employer will accept them for a specific criterion.

Use the employer's instructions to decide what goes where

Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust's application leaflet, published in May 2017 and checked on 9 November 2026, advises applicants to include voluntary work and activities such as team sports, mentoring or clubs. It also asks for details of gaps where the applicant has been doing something else, including caring for someone.

That is a named employer's older guidance. Follow the current vacancy's instructions on employment history, supporting information and length. Put dates and the description of an unpaid activity in the relevant history field, then use the statement to explain how an action relates to a criterion. Do not fill a blank employer field with an invented organisation.

Plan one criterion in detail

This annotation is a planning exercise. The criterion is an illustrative prompt, not a quotation from a vacancy. Use the wording from your own person specification when you draft.

Criterion: "Ability to work as part of a team."

• When and where: name the real course, club or voluntary setting and when you took part.
• What you did: describe your contribution to a shared task, including a decision or problem you handled yourself.
• What happened: record an outcome you observed and explain how you know it happened.

Keep the result proportionate. If your group completed its presentation, say what your contribution helped it complete. Do not invent a score, praise or a leadership role. If the outcome was mixed, record what you changed after feedback.

Before you submit

Check every essential criterion against the draft. Distinguish qualifications already held from courses you have started or hope to take. Remove unsupported claims, identify unpaid settings and keep private details about relatives or other people out of your examples.

Careers Wales advises following the form's instructions and keeping within its word limit. The general writing guide covers the full drafting process. You can check your draft against the person specification to find criteria that still need evidence.