How to Make a Resume With No Experience: Best Examples

There’s always a first time, and the same goes for writing a resume. But how to write a resume with no experience? Is it even possible to do it right?

It is, and what’s more important: you can land a job with a no-experience resume. Read on, and I’ll show you how it’s done.

This guide will show you:

• The first job resume example better than 9 out of 10 resumes out there.
• How to build a resume with no experience.
• What to put on a resume with no work experience to show professionalism.
• Skills for a resume with no work experience & examples of how to highlight them.

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Before you dive deeper, look at the video created by our career expert Caio on how to create a resume with no experience:

Resume with No Experience: Example

That's one of the great resume examples for the first job. Continue reading to find the bulletproof formula that will show you how to write a resume with detailed instructions. 

1. Structure Your Resume With No Experience Correctly

You’re about to write a resume with no job experience. Don’t worry—it’s much easier than you think. Let’s start by figuring out what resume sections you should include. 

Here’s what to put on your resume for the first job:

• Resume header with your contact details
• Resume profile, such as a career objective summarizing your skills
• Education section, where you add info on the schools you attended as well as your academic performance
• Relevant experience section. Yes, there are some things you probably can include there, even though it’s your first resume
• Skills section
• Additional resume sections

These are the common parts of a resume. Time to start writing!

Pro tip: Many companies use the ATS (Applicant Tracking System) software to speed up recruitment. ATSs look for keywords on candidates’ resumes to decide if the candidate has relevant experience. Thanks to this initial screening, recruiters have fewer documents to look at.

This type of screening requires you to write an ATS-friendly resume. In other words: If you want to make your experience count, you must use the job offer's wording.

2. Shine With Your Education on a No-Experience Resume 

Maybe you’re writing a resume for a high school student with no work experience. Or you’re in college and looking for a part-time job to stop asking your parents for money. Or perhaps you're writing a resume for a first job. No matter the case, listing education on a resume with no experience is a must! 

This is what you should include in the education section:

• Name and location of the school/college/university
• Years of education
• Information on your major and minor
• High GPA (3.5 or higher)
• Relevant coursework
• Dean’s list
• Activities
• Extracurricular projects
• Honors, such as cum laude on a resume
• Study abroad programs you participated in

Here’s what the education section on a resume with no experience for a college student can look like: 

Resume with No Experience—Examples of Education Section 

The first example shows impressive academic results. All the necessary parts are there, which makes it even better!

The second example, on the other hand, doesn’t deliver enough relevant information.

Let’s take a look at one more sample. Here’s an example of a high school student resume with no work experience:

Sample Resume for High School Students with No Work Experience—Education Section

The teenager from the first example doesn’t have work experience, but we can guess they already have some useful skills! When it comes to the second one, the recruiter will most likely skip it.

If you’re a college student who hasn’t graduated, don’t worry—visit our guide: How to Put College on a Resume if You Haven't Graduated Yet

3. Include Relevant Experience in a First-Job Resume

Your relevant experience doesn’t have to be work experience. You can pick up valuable skills in many settings, not just through employment. 

The first step to identifying your relevant experience is looking closely at the job ad. Think of what you’ve done while at school, during freelance work, while volunteering, helping out family members, or by pursuing hobbies matching the job requirements.

Here’s how to add relevant experience to a first-time resume:

• Read the job advertisement and take note of what exactly the role you’re pursuing involves.
• Think about all the things you’ve done that relate to the skills and duties the employer listed in the job ad.
• Match your experience with the right resume keywords.
• Use some bullet points to boost the readability of your document.
• Start each bullet point with a resume action verb such as collaborated, designed, or improved.
• Use numbers to quantify your achievements wherever you can.

These guidelines are pretty clear. But the question is—where did you get your experience?

Here are some of your options:

Mention Volunteering

Volunteer work not only looks great on a resume for the first job but is also one of the best ways to gain serious life experience. You can support thousands of charities and NGOs, and they all offer different opportunities. 

There are many things you can do when volunteering, for example:

• Fundraising
• Tutoring
• Organizing events
• Manual work

Highlight Internships

Internships allow you to learn the fundamentals of a job while working alongside professionals. It’s best to start looking for internship positions while at college—the sooner you learn, the better your chances of getting good jobs after graduation.

When listing your internship experience on a resume, always mention the following:

• Name of the position, such as Accounting Intern
• Company name, location, and duration of the internship
• Your roles, responsibilities, and achievements

List Extracurricular Activities

Think of students associations you could join, consider going to conferences, writing articles for a student magazine, or joining research projects. All these things will look great on a resume with no experience.

Here are some examples of cool things you can do while at school:

• Set up a Facebook page for memes about your school, and learn the basics of social media marketing.
• Organize a mock Academy Awards night with students from the Film Club and learn how to promote events while doing it.
• Interview local small business owners and get journalistic experience while writing articles about succeeding in business.

See? You can gain useful experience on any occasion. Let’s take a look at some no-experience resume examples: 

Resume with No Work Experience—Example

The examples above will work regardless of your education level. You can use the same approach when making a college or high school student resume with no experience. And even though they describe the same tasks, they use different words.

While the first job resume sample is impressive, the second one comes out as weak. As you can see, using the right words (and keywords!) is crucial when writing a resume that stands out.

Pro tip: You can add internships to the work experience section or create a separate internship section in your resume without job experience.

Creating a resume with our builder is incredibly simple. Follow our step-by-step guide and use content from Certified Professional Resume Writers to have a resume ready in minutes.

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When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and our resume checker will tell you exactly how to make it better.

4. Pick the Key Skills to Put on a Resume With No Experience

You need to convince the recruiter you have what it takes to be successful in the role you’re pursuing. Since you have little (or no) work experience, you must give your skills as much prominence as possible.

But how to do it right? Follow the plan below:

1. Study the job offer carefully. You should be able to find all the skills that will help you tailor your resume to this specific opening. And that’s a great way to tell the recruiter you want this job and not just any other. 

2. Make a list of all the skills you have. 

3. Pinpoint skills that overlap with the ones you’ve spotted in the job ad.

4. Select up to ten hard and soft skills for the resume listed in the job offer that the company seems to put the biggest emphasis on.

5. Try to sprinkle your skills throughout your resume for the first job. Include some in the experience and education sections, as well as in your resume objective. 

In our sample resume with no experience, the candidate’s organizational skills are reflected in the bullet point that says the candidate organized activities for children. It’s a great example of one more tip I want to share with you: make your entire resume prove your skills!

That’s it—you’ve got a great skill list ready. Let’s take a look at two examples.

Examples of Skills for a Resume with No Experience

Soft Skills

• Active Listening
• Creative Thinking Skills
• Communication Skills
• Collaboration Skills
• Interpersonal Skills
• Leadership Skills
• Marketing Skills
• Microsoft Office Skills
• Oral and Written Communication Skills
• Organizational Skills
• Presentation Skills
• People Skills
• Personal Skills
• Physical Fitness
• Soft Skills
• Strong Work Ethics
• Teamwork Skills
• Time Management
• Transferable Skills

Hard Skills

• Analytical Skills
• Management Skills
• Marketing Skills
• Microsoft Office Skills
• Physical fitness
• Data Entry
• Basic HTML/CSS
• Social Media Management
• Customer Service
• Basic Accounting
• Graphic Design
• Research Skills
• Basic Coding 
• SEO Basics
• Spreadsheet Proficiency
• Basic Photo Editing
• Email Management 
• Project Management Software

Looks great, but that’s too many for a resume. Let’s see a shortened version of some great skills for a resume with no experience:

First Job Resume Examples [Skills Section]

That combination of soft and hard skills is impressive. And that’s how to do it right!

Pro tip: Lying on a resume is on the rise—it’s grown by 19% in the last year! Don’t be tempted to lie on your resume. If you make it to the interview, all the lies will come out, and once they do, you’ll end up in a very uncomfortable situation.

5. Maximize the Impact of Your First-Job Resume with Extra Sections

When your first-time resume’s work experience section isn’t great, you must seize every opportunity to make up for it elsewhere. That’s why it’s time for the additional resume sections.

You can choose from:

• Certifications on a resume
• Conferences
• Memberships
• Awards on a resume
• Publications and appearances
• Hobbies and interests
• Language skills
• Volunteer work

Your resume should include everything relevant to the job. Here’s a couple of examples of extra resume sections to give you some ideas:

First Job Resume Example: Additional Sections

The first example gives relevant and impressive things. The second one? Not at all.

Find out what a resume should look like. Visit our guide: Good-Looking Resume

6. Write a Compelling Objective for a Resume With No Experience

At this point, your resume with no experience has all it needs… except for the beginning.

And no, it’s not a joke. The best moment to write the summary for a resume with no experienceis when everything else is in place. It makes the entire writing much easier!

And luckily for you, there’s a simple formula you can follow:

Once you have more relevant work experience, you’ll write a resume summary—a condensed version of your best professional achievements. At this stage, however, an objective will be perfectly fine. 

Here’s what a first-job resume objective can look like:

Sample Resume Objective with No Experience 

The good example follows a simple formula: who you are, what you want, what you can give back to the company. This is all you need to communicate in this section of your resume with no job experience.

The bad example has nothing of the above. It just expresses what the candidate wants, not what they can give to the company or what they want to do. Plus, it’s generic enough to fit any role at any company—and this is how you can quickly tell a poorly-written resume objective from a great one.

Not sure how to write a captivating opening for your resume? Head to our guide on How to Write a Professional Resume Profile

7. Format Your First-Time Resume for Readability

We’ve got your no-experience resume ready. Now let’s figure out how to format it properly. 

How to format a resume with no experience:

• Follow the reverse-chronological order (i.e., put the most recent info up top).
• Add section headings to make your first job resume easier to navigate.
• Use professional-looking fonts that are easy on the recruiter’s eyes.
• Stick to the 11–12pt size range for regular text. Make the headings up to 4pt larger.
• Set the resume margins to 1-inch all around.
• Use single-line spacing.
• Name your resume correctly. Name+JobTitle+Resume will work just fine.
• Save your resume as a PDF file (unless you’re asked for a different file type).

Pro Tip: There are other resume formats, such as functional resume and combination resume. However, the reverse-chronological tends to work best.

8. Write a Cover Letter to Boost Your Chances

Here’s the thing—About 83% of employers want to see your cover letter along with your  job application. Since your first-time resume doesn’t exactly abound in professional experience, you can boost your chances of landing an interview by writing a great one.

This is how to write a cover letter with no work experience:

• Make sure your cover letter format follows all the formal correspondence formatting rules.
• Write a captivating cover letter intro that introduces you to the reader and encourages them to read on.
• Say what skills you have, and they can be of benefit to the company.
• Explain why you’re a great cultural fit.
• Always end your cover letter with a call to action.
• Make sure your cover letter has the right length.

Pro Tip: A cover letter shouldn’t repeat the content from your first job resume. Use it to tell the recruiter about your motivations, fill in the gaps on your resume, and convince them you’re the best candidate, hands down.

Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:

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See more cover letter templates and start writing.

No matter where you are with your studies, we have covered it for you:

• Teen Resume Examples
• High School Student Resume
• High School Graduate Resume
• Student Resume Examples
• Undergraduate Resume
• College Freshman Resume
• Current College Student Resume
• College Graduate Resume
• Internship Resume for College Students
• Entry-Level Resume

Key Takeaway

Now, let’s sum up the tips from this article. Here's how to make a resume with no experience:

1. Structure your document properly. Use the right formatting and elements.

2. Present your relevant experience. Come up with as many examples as possible.

3. Use the right keywords. They can make or break a resume with no experience.

4. Add information on your education. Focus on relevant aspects (e.g. GPA, honors)

5. List your key skills. Focus on those relevant to the position.

6. Add extra resume sections. They will boost your chances.

7. Write a compelling objective. Highlight your selling points.

8. Compose a matching cover letter. Tell the recruiter your story. 

Thanks for reading my guide! Now I’d love to hear from you:

• What are the biggest challenges of writing a resume with no work experience? 
• What part do you struggle with the most? 

Let me know. Let’s get the discussion started!

About Zety’s Editorial Process

This article has been reviewed by our editorial team to make sure it follows Zety's editorial guidelines. We’re committed to sharing our expertise and giving you trustworthy career advice tailored to your needs. High-quality content is what brings over 40 million readers to our site every year. But we don't stop there. Our team conducts original research to understand the job market better, and we pride ourselves on being quoted by top universities and prime media outlets from around the world.

Sources

• Sydney Myers, "2023 Applicant Tracking System (ATS) Usage Report: Key Shifts and Strategies for Job Seekers"
• Hr Today: "Over Half of Employees Report Lying on Resumes". 
• Arcadia University: "Is a Cover Letter Necessary in 2022? Do I Need a Cover Letter?"

Frequently Asked Questions about Resume with No Work Experience

Should I use resume templates to apply for my first job?

Yes, you should use resume templates to apply for your first job. Writing a resume for a job with no experience is easier with the right beginner resume template. It helps you organize your skills, education, and work experience in an ATS-friendly way that’s also very understandable to your future employers.

What do I put in the resume summary if I have never worked before?

Even if you are a fresh graduate, you can still create a successful resume profile. While it’s not exactly possible to write a summary for a resume with no experience, what you can do instead is write a resume objective—the profile of choice for fresh grads and career-changers. Write two or three sentences with examples of your accomplishments and academic projects you led, mention your motivation for applying to this particular company, and add some information about your key skills. Finish off with a closing statement that will catch recruiters’ attention and make them want to invite you to a job interview.

Check out these professional resume objective examples to find out more.

How do I list my degree on a resume?

If you’re writing a resume with no experience, your academic history is likely to be your strongest asset. In order to properly list your degree on your resume, take the following steps:

1. Create an education section in your resume.
2. If you have no experience at all, you’ll be skipping the work experience section anyway. If you have a bit of professional experience, though, put the education section before the work experience section. Once you gain experience, your work history will go first.
3. List only the highest level of education you’ve attained. If you need to mention more than one (e.g. because you’re still studying for your degree), list your levels of education in the reverse-chronological order (read more about resume order of jobs and experience).
4. Add your degree, e.g. BA in Psychology, followed by the name of the institution, e.g. University of Massachusetts.
5. Include your years of attendance, e.g. 2010–2014. If you’re still studying, specify your expected graduation year.
6. Consider adding extra information about your degree in your resume (e.g. extracurricular activities, Latin honors, relevant coursework, projects, achievements, scholarships, Dean’s list, etc.). Only add your GPA to your resume if it was at least 3.5.
7. Use consistent formatting for every entry.

If you haven’t completed your degree yet, read our guide about writing an undergraduate college student resume and see how to put unfinished college education on a resume.

Which skills should I include in my resume at the beginning of my career?

Having no job experience does not mean you don’t have any skills at all. Focus on the abilities you have acquired so far, be it at the university or during internships—these are your transferable skills. Mention both hard skills and soft skills, alongside any technical skills that you have, like software proficiencies. Have a look at skills examples that you can include in your resume:

• Analytical skills
• Creative thinking skills
• Cross-functional collaboration skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Leadership skills
• Management skills
• Presentation skills
• MS Office skills
• Quick learning
• Oral and written communication skills
• Organizational skills

In order to decide which ones should be put in your resume, go through the job offer carefully and make a list of all the skills you can see there—these are the potential resume keywords to use in your application. Then pick the ones that you think you have and include them in your resume. Tailoring your resume in this way helps to ensure that your application will pass ATS tests and actually reach a recruiter.

You can read more about this in our articles about key skills in a resume and making an ATS-friendly resume.

Do I need a cover letter for my resume if I have no job experience?

Definitely, yes. Even though you don’t have a lot of work experience, a well-written cover letter sets the right tone for your resume and shows that you’ve put in some extra effort in the recruitment process. What do you write in your entry-level cover letter? Since you don’t have any specific professional achievements, explain how your transferable skills can benefit the employer and demonstrate your motivation to join the company. Do not forget to pick a cover letter template matching your resume, and you’re all set!

If you still don’t know what to write, see our cover letter examples for more inspiration.

What are the best jobs for teens?

If you’re still at school and want to earn some cash, you may want to think about taking a summer or a part-time job. Here are some ideas for jobs suitable for teenagers:

• Yard worker
• Babysitter
• Dog walker
• House cleaner
• Tutor
• Grocery stocker
• Waiter
• Restaurant host
• Escape room attendant
• Box office ticket seller

Want to know more about this? Read our guide on best jobs for teens and see some resume examples for teens if you don’t know how to start writing your CV.

How do I explain my lack of experience in a job interview?

Attending a job interview when you have no prior job experience can be stressful. Don’t worry, though, as you can discuss things shown below and still nail it:

• In the absence of relevant job experience, lean on the other jobs or internships that you had up to that point and discuss transferable skills that could be useful in the position you are applying for, e.g. communication skills or teamwork skills.
• If you have no professional experience whatsoever, focus on the skills gathered in university projects, volunteering experience, or extracurricular activities. Give relevant details about your contribution to the project or team. Describe how your skills helped you excel in an unfamiliar situation.
• Use behavioral questions (e.g., those dealing with your experience, such as “Describe a time you had to resolve a conflict”) as an opportunity to demonstrate your abilities. Remember to use the STAR method to explain how you navigated difficult situations. Keep in mind that your answers have to be in line with the company's goals and values.
• For more impact, explain your motivation to join the company and show the recruiters that you’re there for a reason: that you’ve conducted thorough research and made a conscious decision to apply for this particular position.

To better prepare yourself for your first job interview, read about best job interview tips and tricks and top interview questions and answers.