How to Make a Resume for Your First Job

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Excited about applying for your first job, but nervous about your lack of work experience? Don’t worry. Writing a great resume is easier than you think.

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Our Expert:

Chloe Chioy

No matter your background, we’ll show you how to properly highlight your skills and related experience and give you some great examples to model your resume after.

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Resume examples for your first job

The easiest way to learn how to make a good resume for your first job is by looking at some resume samples written by other first-time job seekers.

Below are two student resume examples to give you some ideas of how to fill your resume even if you don’t have work experience:

High school student resume example

A high school student’s resume might emphasize academic achievements, extracurricular activities, or volunteer work, like this example does:

Download This First Job Resume Sample

College student resume example

Whether you’re currently in college or a recent graduate, this resume example for a college student will show you how to effectively highlight your skills and achievements:

Download This First Job Resume Sample

How to write a resume for your first job

Follow these steps to write a standout resume, even if you don’t have formal work experience yet.

1. Format your resume properly

Getting your resume format right is important for making a good first impression on potential employers. A well-organized, professional-looking resume can set you apart from other candidates, even if you’re applying for your first job.

Here are some key points to remember when formatting your resume:

And here’s what to avoid:

2. Fill in your header

Your resume header lets employers easily find your name and essential contact details so they can reach you if they’re interested in interviewing you.

Here’s what you should put in your header:

And are some things to leave out:

3. Begin with a clear resume objective

Starting your resume with a tailored resume objective helps you introduce yourself briefly to hiring managers by telling them your career goals and why you’re a great fit for the position.

In 2–4 sentences, your resume objective should state the role you’re applying for and highlight your:

• skills
• experience
• education or training
• achievements
• career goals

Keep in mind, the relevant experience can be something you accomplished at school or elsewhere in your life — as long as it relates in some way to the job.

Here’s an example of a high school student’s resume objective for their first job:

4. Use a well-organized resume template

Writing your first resume is much easier when you use a clean and well-organized resume template designed to feature your skills and accomplishments in a way that’s easy for hiring managers to scan.

To make the best possible first impression, find a template you like that’s both eye catching and professional.

 

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To speed up the resume writing process, use one of our templates designed for candidates applying for their first job:

Use this template

Timeless

Use this template

Supreme

Use this template

Classic

5. Emphasize your education and coursework

When writing a resume for your first job, your education section will likely be one of the most substantial parts of your resume.

If you don’t have any relevant internship or volunteer experience, you should consider moving your education section to the top of your resume, under your header.

Here are some achievements you can highlight from school:

• Academic accomplishments
• Special projects
• Certifications
• Coursework
• Publications
• Awards and honors
• GPA (if it’s 3.5 or higher)

You should also list a few classes you’ve taken if they relate to the job you’re applying for.

By putting relevant coursework on your resume, you show that you have educational experience in your target field.

If some of your coursework is highly relevant to the job you’re applying for, or you have no volunteer or internship experience, you can add a Relevant Coursework section that’s formatted like a work experience section, like this:

6. Include relevant experience

Internships, volunteer work, and extracurricular activities are great additions to your first resume. Just make sure the experiences you choose to highlight are relevant to the job you want.

Internships

Including an internship on your resume is great because it:

• shows you can work in a professional environment
• represents practical experience in your chosen career
• allows you to easily highlight major projects or assignments

Make sure you list the company name and location, your title, the duration (starting and ending month and year), and a few bullet points about what you accomplished during your internship.

Volunteer Work

You can also add volunteer work to your resume. Volunteering shows you’ve gained some valuable practical experience and gives you extra talking points during an interview.

Even if your volunteer experience isn’t related to the position, many of the skills you develop are transferable to other careers, such as communication, organization, and time management.

Extracurricular Activities

Additionally, consider adding extracurricular activities to your resume, like sports or clubs. Extracurricular activities give employers an impression of who you are and how you spend your time.

Highlighting extracurriculars is most appropriate if you’re writing a teen resume or an entry-level resume, as they are likely to be some of the only experiences you have.

Extracurricular activities can help you showcase even more of your top skills. For instance, if you held a leadership position in any clubs or sports, you could add leadership skills to your skills section.

7. Highlight your transferable skills

When writing a resume for your first job, think about skills you picked up from classes, projects, clubs, and sports. These include both hard skills (technical abilities) and soft skills (interpersonal abilities).

In your skills section, list 6-8 of your strongest hard skills that are relevant to the job you’re applying for. For example:

Soft skills, on the other hand, should be incorporated into your resume objective or bullet points, like this:

• Created and delivered presentations to senior citizens at a local community center, communicating complex technology concepts in an accessible manner