how to get experience:
get a voluntary job.

There's two routes. First is charity work. You can find out about this at your local volunteer bureau, or by wandering into charity organisations and giving them a CV directly. You spend 4 hours a week (or whatever) doing something positive for yourself and those around you. People think you're a Nice Person for doing charity work. You may get to go on courses for useful bits of paper such as First Aid certification, free of charge. You now have a "current employer" who will give you a glowing reference. Your CV now has something on it to show that even though you've been unemployed, you haven't sat on your arse doing nothing, you are a motivated person. Occasionally (it happened to me) the charity will get funding for an actual paid employee and you will be top of the shortlist for that job.

The other route is "work experience" and is harder work, but better if you're being very very specific about what you want to do. You contact local firms within your chosen industry and offer to work for them, for free, for a fixed period of time (eg a month), with the proviso that if you land a job elsewhere you are free to take it (this is necessary for JSA purposes but also in case you *do* land a job elsewhere). Best case scenario, they're impressed and take you on, worst case scenario, you go home with experience and a reference from someone within the industry, CV shows you are motivated, etc.
( Batsgirl, Mon 6 Apr 2009, 18:12, 1 reply)

This is better than what I said.
Only caveat I'd add is; please don't use a group just to do a first aid course, then bugger off. It costs time and money to run these courses, even if run by other volunteers.

Used to hack us off enomously when someone would feign interest, join up, be issued expensive uniform and given a limited place on a first aid course; only for them to quit as soon as they get the piece of paper that represented their Free FAW. We're usually left with an ill-kept set of 2nd hand uniform (if they even bothered to return it), and although strictly speaking the course place wasn't wasted, it could have been *better* used for someone who'd actually go out there and help people on a regular basis (instead of only using it to get a job / pay raise / spruce up their UCAS).

Not suggesting for a moment that anyone here actually would, but conning charities is wrong, people.
(The Incredible Sulk Finally remembered his password on, Mon 6 Apr 2009, 20:05, closed)