Most college students run into the same age old dilemma when trying to find a job; "needs work experience." Which is all fine and dandy except for the fact that for most of us this will either be our first job or the first time we've had a job in that particular field. So how do you get works experience when you have none?

My number one tip for gaining work experience is volunteer! You can put non-paying jobs on your resumé. Not every job you've have can or will be making you the bigs bucks. And a few non-paid, volunteer based jobs will help you out a lot more than you think. For example, if you're looking to go into the medical field, shadow a nurse or doctor for the summer. That experience will looks great. It shows that you really are dedicated to your career.

Instead of getting some easy job at your local diner, you actually took the time to find someone who can help you, and you chose to do work for free. (Also a lot of companies nowadays are trying to get more involved with community services, so they look good to customers, and if you're already involved with community service this might give you an extra leg up.

This next way to get job experience might not be everyone's favorite but it will certainly do the trick; start from the bottom. Every boss has started as someone's assistant. Maybe even the assistant's assistant! Although it's no one's favorite, someone has to do the dirty work. Once you're apart of the company you can always work you're way up. Or maybe starting from the bottom means working at a not as nice company that doesn't require previous work experience, so that you can get some experience to take to your dream company.

And a little word of advice if you want to work you're way up: be nice to everyone! People always remember how you treated them. And even if you think someone is not important you may be entirely wrong, and could be ruining your shot at a promotion by not being polite... My mom talked to whom she thought was just an assistant for nearly ten minutes when she went for an interview before she found out it would be her potential boss. So thank goodness she was friendly to her!

And my last final word of advice is internships. I know that now-a-days everyone is getting internships and you might have been told that it no longer looks as impressive if everyone's got one, but please don't listen to those people! (They're probably only saying that because they couldn't get one... Just saying.) Sure, lots of people get internships, but the truth is lots of other people don't.

Your future employer might be really impressed with the company you managed to get an internship with. Or the company you interned with could really love you and want to hire you. And if they only thing you get out of it is some work experience and some really great stories to talk about during future interviews, then I'd say it was definitely worth it. The work you're doing during the internship will also help you figure out if this is really the kind of work you want to be doing. So forget people who tell you differently, go find your dream internship!

What ever job you may want, it's not as far out of reach as you think! Follow any or all of these helpful tips and you'll be right on your way to your dream job in no time.