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’re an excellent candidate and how you’ve prepared yourself to succeed in your first job.

When you’re entering the job market for the first time and creating a resume with no work experience, you’ll 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.

What experience should you include on a resume for the first job?

Once you’ve been working as a professional for a few years, your “Work Experience” section will fill the majority of your resume. Until then, it’s important you share how you’re building skills relevant to the job you’re applying for and emphasis on experiences that demonstrate your work ethic.

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

lExtracurricular activities such as clubs and sports

lInternships or apprenticeships

lVolunteer work

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

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

ü7th Standard Math Tuition Teacher 2018–Present

üScheduled and managed classes with 2 to 3 students 3 days a week

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

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

üCommunicated with parents to understand each child’s level of learning and ability to grasp in order to design classes and gave parents regular updates on their children’s progress.

üScaled 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 need 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 specialized 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’s acceptable if you haven’t yet cultivated all the hard skills you need for a position. By sharing that you’re capable of building new skills and learning new processes, employers will see your value as a potential new employee.

By revising your resume for each job you apply for, you’ll 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:

nTime management

nOrganizational skills

nProblem-solving

nCustomer service

nActive listening

nMicrosoft Excel

nEmail management

How to include education on a resume with no experience:

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

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

²St. Joseph’s High School, Mumbai

²Graduation Date: June 2016

²Grade/rank: A+

²Relevant coursework: Introduction to Consumer and Business Mathematics

²Clubs: Young Entrepreneurs Association

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

ØMumbai University

ØMajor: BBA in Business Administration

ØExpected Graduation Date: May 2020

ØGrade/rank: A/First Class

ØRelevant coursework: Customer Discovery and Development, 

ØIntroduction to Interpersonal Communication

ØClubs: Entrepreneurs Club and Elocution Club

Other things to consider when creating your first resume:

1. 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.

2. Be confident.

Employers want to know you’re 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.

3. Keep it concise.

Recruiters often have several applications to review and may spend less than a minute reading your resume. Your resume should be powerful but brief. It should be easy for the recruiter to quickly understand.

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

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