This resume highlights education, skills, and volunteer work rather than traditional job experience. The candidate effectively showcases leadership and teamwork to demonstrate employability.
Key Tip:
If you have no work experience, focus on academic achievements, extracurricular activities, and any volunteer work. Learn more about how to write a resume with no experience.
This resume balances academics, extracurriculars, and part-time experience to present a well-rounded candidate. Quantified achievements enhance its impact.
Key Tip:
High school students should highlight leadership roles, club involvement, and part-time jobs to demonstrate reliability and initiative. Learn more about how to list your education on a resume.
This resume demonstrates relevant academic and extracurricular experiences. The candidate also includes projects and coursework to show real-world skills.
Key Tip:
If you’re still a student, showcase class projects, leadership roles, and any relevant coursework. Learn more about resume objective examples to craft a strong introduction.
This resume combines internships, campus involvement, and coursework to build a compelling case for employers. The candidate highlights transferable skills and quantifiable achievements.
Key Tip:
College students should focus on internships, leadership roles, and coursework to make up for limited work experience. Learn more about how to build a resume.
This resume highlights teaching-related experience, academic achievements, and leadership roles. The candidate uses quantifiable results to show impact, such as improving student engagement by 20%.
Key Tip:
If you’re applying for a role in education, highlight classroom experience, tutoring, mentorship, and leadership roles. Learn more about how to list your education on a resume.
This resume focuses on organization, data entry, and office management skills, showing how the candidate can support an office environment even without full-time experience.
Key Tip:
Entry-level administrative professionals should highlight computer skills, organization, and attention to detail. Learn more about how to build a resume for administrative positions.
This resume focuses on customer service skills, sales experience, and teamwork. The candidate highlights quantifiable achievements, such as improving customer satisfaction by 15%.
Key Tip:
Retail workers should emphasize customer service, teamwork, and product knowledge. Learn more about how to align your resume with a job posting for retail jobs.
This resume focuses on problem-solving, communication, and conflict resolution skills, which are essential for customer service roles.
Key Tip:
Customer service applicants should highlight phone skills, problem-solving abilities, and teamwork. Learn more about best resume formats for customer service professionals.
This resume highlights relevant coursework, extracurricular projects, and technical skills. The candidate effectively presents problem-solving and teamwork abilities, making up for limited experience.
Key Tip:
If you’re applying for an internship, focus on academic achievements, volunteer work, and relevant projects. Learn more about how to write a resume with no experience.
This resume highlights physical labor skills, safety awareness, and teamwork experience, demonstrating the candidate’s ability to handle warehouse operations effectively.
Key Tip:
Warehouse workers should focus on efficiency, physical stamina, and ability to work in fast-paced environments. Learn more about best resume formats for labor-intensive jobs.
This resume focuses on customer service and problem-solving — essential skills in the hospitality industry. The candidate quantifies achievements, such as handling 200+ guest interactions weekly.
Key Tip:
Hospitality workers should emphasize customer service skills, efficiency, and ability to work under pressure. Learn more about how to align your resume with a job posting.
This resume highlights child care skills, safety awareness, and problem-solving abilities, which are essential for babysitting roles. The candidate demonstrates reliability and responsibility.
Key Tip:
Babysitters should emphasize child supervision, emergency handling, and organizational skills. Learn more about how to list your education on a resume.
This resume emphasizes customer service, efficiency, and teamwork, key skills in the fast food industry. The candidate quantifies achievements, such as handling 100+ transactions per shift.
Key Tip:
Fast food applicants should focus on speed, attention to detail, and customer service. Learn more about how to build a resume for the food service industry.
This resume highlights reliability, time management, and customer service skills, crucial for delivery roles. The candidate quantifies experience, such as delivering 50+ orders daily.
Key Tip:
Delivery drivers should emphasize punctuality, navigation skills, and customer interaction. Learn more about how to align your resume with a job posting.
This resume highlights technical skills, troubleshooting abilities, and problem-solving expertise, crucial for IT roles.
Key Tip:
IT candidates should emphasize software knowledge, customer support, and troubleshooting skills. Learn more about resume objective examples to create a strong summary.
This resume showcases organization, communication, and administrative skills, essential for receptionist roles.
Key Tip:
Receptionists should highlight phone etiquette, scheduling, and customer service. Learn more about how long a resume should be for entry-level professionals.
This resume emphasizes physical labor, time management, and teamwork, critical skills for landscaping roles.
Key Tip:
Landscapers should focus on attention to detail, equipment handling, and efficiency. Learn more about best resume formats.
This resume highlights content creation, engagement strategies, and analytics, showcasing the candidate’s ability to manage and grow an online presence. The inclusion of quantifiable results strengthens the impact.
Key Tip:
Social media professionals should focus on content strategy, analytics, and engagement metrics. Learn more about how to build a resume for digital marketing roles.
This resume showcases leadership, health knowledge, and client engagement, demonstrating the candidate’s ability to work with individuals and groups to meet fitness goals.
Key Tip:
Fitness trainers should highlight exercise program design, motivation techniques, and certifications. Learn more about how to list your education on a resume.
This resume emphasizes phone etiquette, problem-solving, and customer service skills, which are crucial in call center roles. The candidate highlights efficiency and customer satisfaction improvements.
Key Tip:
Call center professionals should focus on call handling, conflict resolution, and active listening. Learn more about resume objective examples to craft a strong introduction.
For your first resume, choose a simple layout with clearly labeled sections and easy-to-read fonts. Since you may not have extensive work experience, use a format that highlights your relevant internships, volunteer roles, education, or extracurricular activities.
Your resume summary should focus on strengths, interests, and skills related to the job you’re after. Keep it concise and tailored to show why you’re a great candidate, even with limited experience. (Note: Most job seekers find it easier to write their profile last.)
High school graduate with experience in customer service, leadership, and team collaboration through volunteer work and school projects. Eager to apply communication and organizational abilities in a professional setting.
Recent high school graduate with volunteer experience. Hardworking, detail-oriented, and willing to learn.
Brainstorm your recent career activities on a separate document or sheet of paper. Consider the various ways you’ve applied yourself through your work, internship, volunteer, or co-curricular roles. What tasks were you charged with, and what was the positive impact of your efforts?
Once you have everything down, review your notes in light of your target job. Identify details that speak strongest to your current search goals, and make those the basis of your experience section. For instance, you may find the fundraising duties you held as a volunteer speak to your goal of an entry-level sales position.
Retail Associate, ABC Clothing Store, Boston, MA | June 2022 to August 2023
Retail Associate, ABC Clothing Store, Boston, MA | June 2022 to August 2023
Education is likely one of your strongest assets as a first-time job seeker, so list it prominently on your resume. Include your GPA if it’s above 3.0, along with any relevant coursework, academic honors, or extracurricular activities. If you have certifications or specialized training that apply to the job, include them as well.
Diploma, Lincoln High School, Los Angeles, CA | June 2023
3.8 GPA | Honor Roll Student
CPR and First Aid Certified, American Red Cross
Google IT Support Certificate, Coursera
Add a skills section to show the different ways you’ll contribute in your target job. Use only terms or phrases that fit in the sentence “I’m skilled in X,” for example:
Resume.org offers free, HR-approved resume templates to help you create a professional resume in minutes.
Build Your ResumeWhen choosing a resume template, simplicity and readability are most important. A clutter-free format with clear section headings, bullet points, and white space makes it easy for hiring managers to scan your qualifications.
Avoid flashy designs or excessive colors. Instead, focus on a clean, professional layout that presents your skills, education, and experience in a structured, easy-to-read format.
Yes, using a First resume example can provide guidance on structuring your resume, even if you’re at the beginning of your career. Focus on your internships, education, and skills that are transferable to the job you want. A strong entry-level resume example will highlight your potential and willingness to learn, making your limited experience a benefit.
Order bullet points in your experience section(s) by their relevance to the job opening. Say you have a point about mentoring in one of your volunteer positions. Move that bullet up to or near the top of the list for any job posting that cites mentoring and training as a key part of the role. With this simple edit, you can tailor your resume so it’s more likely to draw attention.
The combination (or hybrid) resume format, which combines elements of the chronological and functional formats to emphasize your relevant skills and experience.
For a full breakdown, check out best resume formats.
Career Coach
Irina Pichura, founder of Resumeology, is a renowned career coach with over 10 years of recruiting experience at Fortune 500 companies like Goldman Sachs and ADP, as well as startups such as Investopedia. With a degree in Psychology from Fordham University in New York City, Irina offers a unique perspective on what it takes to stand out in a competitive job market.
Resume.org offers free, HR approved resume templates to help you create a professional resume in minutes. Choose from several template options and even pre-populate a resume from your profile.
