Writing a Resume With No Experience

Writing your first resume is a major step in any new professional’s career. This is your opportunity to showcase why you are an excellent candidate and how you have prepared yourself to succeed in your first job.

When you are entering the job market for the first time and creating a resume with no work experience, you want to focus on other experiences that helped you develop a professional skill set, share your greatest strengths and highlight your education.

Here are some tips and examples to help you develop a powerful and compelling resume.

Related: How To Make a Resume for Your First Job

What Experience Are You Required To Include On A Resume For The First Job?

Once you have been working as a professional for a few years, your “Work Experience” section might fill the majority of your resume. Until then, it is important you share how you are building skills relevant to the job you are applying for and emphasise experiences that demonstrate your work ethic.

Here are a few examples of experiences you may want to include on your first resume.

• Extracurricular activities such as clubs and sports

• Internships or apprenticeships

• Volunteer work

Be sure to highlight skills you have developed in each role, especially those included in the job posting. This is also where you list any achievements you are proud of such as improvements you made over time or specific goals you have reached.

For example, if you were applying for a customer service position, you might compose your experience like this:

7th Standard Math Tuition Teacher 2018–Present

• Scheduled and managed classes with 2 to 3 students 3 days a week

• Took lessons as per the syllabus at school and ensured that students understood concepts

• Conducted periodic revisions and tests to identify individual weaknesses and provided further instruction in those areas

• Communicated with parents to understand each child’s level of learning and ability to grasp so that they could design classes and gave parents regular updates on their children’s progress.

• Scaled up my tuition classes by putting up posters in the neighbourhood apartments

How To Highlight Skills On A Resume With No Work Experience?

The goal of a first job resume is to demonstrate your value as an employee and show employers why hiring you would benefit their company. The first thing you are required to do is carefully review the job description and note any specific skills you have or requirements you can fulfil.

Keep in mind employers are looking for a combination of soft skills and hard skills. Soft skills are abilities you can apply to almost any position such as team leadership, verbal communication or self-management. Hard skills are typically things you learn through specialised education or on-the-job training like proficiency in industry-related software or fluency in a foreign language.

When hiring for entry-level jobs, most employers value soft skills over hard skills because soft skills are harder to teach. It is acceptable if you have not yet cultivated all the hard skills you need for a position. By sharing that you are capable of building new skills and learning new processes, employers see your value as a potential new employee.

By revising your resume for each job you apply for, you ensure the employer can see how your strengths align with their needs.

Here is an example of a few soft and hard skills you might include when applying for a job as an administrative assistant:

• Time management

• Organisational skills

• Problem-solving

• Customer service

• Active listening

• Microsoft Excel

• Email management

Related: 10 Tips To Improve Your Writing Skills

How To Include Education On A Resume With No Experience?

When you are creating your first resume, it is important to highlight your education. This shows employers you are able to overcome challenges, stick to your commitments and learn new things. You can also take this opportunity to share coursework you have completed that are relevant to the job.

For example, if you are applying to an entry-level sales role, here is how you might highlight your high school experience:

St. Joseph’s High School, Mumbai
Graduation Date: June 2016
Grade/rank: A+
Relevant coursework: Introduction to Consumer and Business Mathematics
Clubs: Young Entrepreneurs Association

And here is how you might highlight your college experience for the same role:

Mumbai University
Major: BA in Business Administration
Expected Graduation Date: May 2020
Grade/rank: A/First Class
Relevant coursework: Customer Discovery & Development, Introduction to Interpersonal
Communication
Clubs: Entrepreneurs Club and Elocution Club

Other Things To Consider When Creating Your First Resume

• Proofread carefully.
  Demonstrate your attention to detail by thoroughly reviewing your resume for typos, grammatical errors and inconsistencies. Consider asking a friend or mentor to look over the document before you submit it to an employer. Each time you update your resume, make sure to give it another review.

• Be confident.
  Employers want to know you are proud of your achievements and confident in your skills. Make sure this comes through in your resume by highlighting all your best and most relevant strengths and accomplishments.

• Keep it concise.
  Recruiters often have several applications to review and may spend less than a minute reading your resume. Your resume is required to be powerful but brief. It is required to be easy for the recruiter to quickly understand. Be sure to view Indeed’s list of resume examples for inspiration.

Writing your first resume is an exciting moment as a new professional. It is an opportunity to show employers how you have prepared yourself for the workforce and why hiring you might add value to their organisation. By crafting a compelling resume today, you might be able to build on it as you grow your skills and experience over your career history.

Related:

• How To Write a Resume for Internship (With Template and Example)

• Resume Objective Writing Guide (With Examples)