Government Jobs No Experience: How to Land One Without a Degree or Background

When people think of government jobs, permanent positions with the federal, state, or local government that offer stability, benefits, and structured pay scales. Also known as public sector jobs, these roles are often seen as locked behind years of experience or advanced degrees. But that’s not true. Thousands of government jobs no experience openings are posted every year—positions where you don’t need a college diploma, prior work history, or even a professional license to apply.

These aren’t entry-level clerks you’d find in a small office. They include roles like IT support specialist, a position where the U.S. federal government hires people with only a CompTIA A+ certification and no degree, data entry operator, a role often filled by candidates who learned typing and basic software through free online courses, and medical coder, a job that only requires a short certification and passes a background check. Many of these roles are part of federal programs like USAJobs’ Pathways Program, which explicitly targets people with little to no experience.

You don’t need to wait until you’ve worked five years somewhere else. The government actively recruits from high school graduates, veterans, and people switching careers. What matters is knowing where to look and how to fill out the application right. Most applicants get rejected not because they lack experience, but because they write resumes like they’re applying for a corporate job—focusing on titles and companies instead of skills and tasks. Government applications ask for specific keywords tied to job duties. If you’ve ever organized files, helped someone with paperwork, or used Excel to track something, you’ve already done work that matches dozens of openings.

There’s also a big gap between what people think they need and what’s actually required. You don’t need a degree for 40% of federal jobs. You don’t need to know how to write a cover letter in fancy language. You just need to show you can follow instructions, show up on time, and learn quickly. That’s why certifications like Google’s IT Support Certificate or the AAPC’s Certified Professional Coder (CPC) are so powerful—they’re cheap, fast, and recognized across agencies.

And it’s not just the federal level. State agencies hire for roles like park ranger assistant, library aide, and community outreach worker. Local governments need people for waste collection coordination, permit processing, and emergency response dispatch. These jobs pay better than retail or food service, offer health insurance from day one, and have clear promotion paths. You can start as a clerk and move into management without ever going back to school.

What you’ll find in the posts below are real examples of people who landed these roles. You’ll see which certifications actually get noticed, which government portals to use (and which ones to ignore), and how to turn your volunteer work or even your time managing a household budget into job-ready experience. No fluff. No vague advice. Just what works.