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It’s the first job posting you’re applying for and you’re serious about securing the opportunity.
The problem is, will you even be considered for the role since you don’t meet all the ideal criteria?
It might seem daunting at first glance. But, it’s certainly not impossible.
Many of Rezi’s candidates and student users who don’t have much work experience have landed placements and jobs at their dream company. In fact, we’re trusted by 120,000+ job seekers.
In this guide, we’ll teach you everything you need to know about how to write a resume with no experience step by step.
Resume With No Experience Examples
Everyone has potential, especially at the starting phases of your career. Just because you don’t have all the desirable life experiences, it doesn’t stop you from being an ideal candidate.
With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of successful samples from first-time resumes and student resumes. These are applications from job seekers who have little to no formal work experience.
First Time Resume With No Experience
Corporate Rotational Graduate Resume
In this rotational graduate sample resume, all the main resume sections are included and as well as the extracurricular activities under the projects section.
More importantly, they’ve used the work experience section to talk about their years in corporate education. As they go into detail for each year, the candidate shows key skills and responsibilities. But, they’ve also mentioned working as a freelancer which is a relevant experience.
With everything listed, it's more than enough for employers to see that the candidate has potential for the job.
Resume Example for Students With No Work Experience
Assistant Policy Intern Resume
The college student who used this policy intern resume example landed an interview at Accenture.
It’s not the professional experience that’s the main highlight. While it’s a section with minimal description, it’s the other sections that stand out. This includes:
- Projects
- Education
- Certifications
Each of these indicates your academic achievements and passions. It’s no different if you were to create a job resume in high school.
We’ll be looking at how to replicate the same success from these resumes step by step. It’s what helped our users land an interview at even the most competitive job postings.
If you’d like to jump ahead, feel free to go through our list of 313 ATS resumes and cover letters!
What to Put on a Resume With No Experience
It’s a common struggle not knowing what to put on your resume for students and graduates.
When starting out in your career, it’s perfectly normal. But, even if you don’t have all the desirable life experiences that prepare you for the job, you’re bound to have transferable skills that are valuable to your future employer.
Besides that, the extra sections to put together a compelling resume and impress your hiring manager include:
- Certifications
- Coursework
- Education
- Projects
- Volunteering
- Skills
- Training
You’ve also got internships, volunteer work, and extracurricular activities to mention if you have any. These can show you’re self-driven and that you have a willingness to learn since you’ve made the decision to do this in your spare time.
Advantages of Having Little Experience
Even without having much past experience in the workforce, it doesn’t stop you from being the ideal candidate. For instance, employers prefer to hire someone whose personal attributes and background are a strong cultural fit.
Here are 4 main reasons why having limited corporate experience can be an advantage:
- You have no habits yet, so they can mold you into their own
- You’re more likely to introduce new ideas as you have a fresh perspective of the industry
- Candidates tend to be more passionate and interested in their profession
- It’s more affordable for recruiters and can lead to bigger profits in the future
How To Make a Resume For Your First Job With No Experience
Freshers and inexperienced professionals are often afraid of sending over their resumes to companies. It’s also pretty common to experience imposter syndrome since you might not feel good enough.
It’s easier said than done. But, be confident in yourself and your ability to apply what you’ve learned. Everyone starts somewhere.
Plus, we’re here to help.
There are 12 steps you need to follow to create a successful job resume and we’ll go through each one carefully with examples included.
1. Get The Resume Format Right
In this scenario, the best resume format to use would be the skills-based resume.
This type of resume focuses on your skills. Rather than making your employment history the main highlight as chronological resumes do, your knowledge and abilities come first.
The combination resume won’t be as effective either because you won’t have any work experience to highlight. If you did use this format, you could end up highlighting your lack of experience instead.
2. Complete The Resume Header
This section only needs to be one line long. Any more than that is a waste of valuable space.
All the employer needs to see here is your contact information. This includes some of your personal details such as:
- Full name
- Address
- Phone number
- LinkedIn (optional)
When applying for jobs in the creative industries, you can include website links to your portfolio too if you have any.
Here’s a resume header sample from Rezi:
For both the ATS and human readers, this is the first thing they should see. To improve the readability though, consider using resume icons.
3. Use a Resume Summary Section
You might have heard from the crowd that it’s not necessary to include your resume summary.
However, if you’re on an ongoing job search with little to no previous employment history, use this space to create a strong first impression. It’s a good idea to outline some of your highlights such as:
- Areas of interest
- Accomplishments
- Goals and objectives
- Passions and interests
- Skills
To align with the job description and company values, spend enough time doing the research beforehand.
When prospective employers see that you match the company culture as you introduce yourself, it gives insight into how you would be a good potential fit. It also shows you’re self-motivated and genuinely interested because you’ve gone the extra mile.
Here are two examples of powerful resume summaries with little to no experience:
4. List Your Education and Qualifications
If you’re not going to use a summary section for your resume, sometimes the education section can be used first.
Your qualifications are another way of showing that you’re qualified for the job position as you’ve been acknowledged by respectable institutions, e.g. universities. If your academic record is good and you have a GPA above 3.0, you can include this detail too. It implies good discipline and a solid work ethic.
When listing things down, they should be listed in reverse chronological order. That means starting from the most recent date to the oldest.
Here are a few examples:
5. Include Relevant Work Experiences
Your work experience is a section of your resume that employers expect in every application from candidates.
Even if you don’t have any in the corporate environment, use one of the alternatives below:
- Volunteer experience
- Internships and placements
- Relevant training
- Projects
- Extracurricular activities
As you go into detail, outline the responsibilities and duties you carried out. If you have any achievements or results, it’s good to mention them. These indicate that you’ve made a real impact and it’s effective for catching the reader’s attention.
On the flip side, if you don’t have results to show for then focus on highlighting the skills you’ve learned or developed.
We’ll show you three examples from Rezi. Including one example that landed a candidate an interview at the University of Oregon.
6. Write Down Your Relevant Skills
You’ll need to include the hard skills required for the job. If you have other attributes or abilities that are applicable to the position that enables you to perform better, it’s good to mention those too.
The types of skills you can talk about are:
- Hard skills
- Soft skills
- Communication skills
- Technical skills
- Transferable skills
The more competent candidates will have a diverse range of skills while the less competent candidates will have a smaller range of skills. However, it doesn’t mean the more things you list down, the better. The most important factor is whether or not they’re relevant and applicable.
Like one of the samples below, you can narrow it down into specific areas:
7. Match The Job Description By Using Keywords
Without using resume keywords, you won’t make it past the first stage of the hiring process.
HRnews reported that 99% of Fortune 500 companies use HR software to filter out qualified applicants.
It’s not surprising since recruiters and employers usually receive a large volume of resumes. To save time and identify those who are a good match, they’ll use software to review applications faster.
So, how do you know what words you need to include?
They can be found in the job description itself. Chances are, it contains a summarized list of things they’re looking for in the ideal employee.
Another easier way to find them is by using Rezi’s keyword scanner.
It takes less than a minute to find everything hiring managers are looking for in a resume. See the short clip below to see how it works:
8. Additional Resume Sections
The main sections you need are your work experience, education, and skills section. This applies to professionals in the workforce at all levels, i.e. entry-level up to executive.
A few examples of those other resume sections include:
- Projects
- Relevant coursework
- Training
- Involvement
- Certifications
These can add to your credibility when used accordingly. In other words, personalizing your application.
9. Tailor Every Application You Send
Don’t send the same resume to every company you apply to – it’s a common resume mistake job seekers make. Even if the job position is the same, companies will post different job descriptions.
Therefore, all resumes you send should be customized for the organization each time you hit send.
Having zero personalization leads to a generic application, which isn’t good enough to impress your employers or overcome the resume scanners.
Do the research, then imitate the company’s job description and cultural values.
10. Stick To a One-Page Resume
Even if you have 1-3 years of work experience or more, we recommend all job seekers and employees to stick to a one-page resume. It’s more scannable for both a human reader and the ATS. On top of that, it saves time.
Don’t worry if there’s more white space on your resume than expected. It can be a tactical move as it increases the readability level because it’s concise and easier to skim. That’s what makes it more effective for the reader to find key details faster. As a result, they tend to leave a stronger impression.
11. Write a Cover Letter
Cover letters help you make up for the lack of experience you have. They’re also a good replacement for not meeting all the desirable criteria set by your prospective employers.
The biggest reason is that it adds more value. You can go into more detail about the things you’ve mentioned on your CV and explain why you’re the best fit. Unlike a resume, you can get more personal and show how your traits make you the right person for the job.
For those reasons, it’s why we suggest sending a cover letter along with your resume.
12. Use Rezi’s AI Resume Builder
Rezi has helped thousands of students and graduates land their first job. We’ve also helped candidates secure a position in the most competitive companies such as Facebook, Spotify, and Amazon!
Building a resume with Rezi is simple, here’s how it works:
Step 1: Sign up for free to access Rezi’s dashboard
Step 2: Click on “Create New CV”
Step 3: Enter your details
Step 4: Fill in the details under each section provided
Step 5: Once you reach the end, you’ll be provided with a complete resume using the details you’ve written as well as a score for your application which gives you feedback
Final Note
Nice, you’ve made it until the end!
Despite having limited experience in the corporate working environment, it doesn’t stop you from sending a powerful resume. What really matters when it comes to differentiating yourself from other experienced candidates is how you personalize your application. The more tailored it is, the better.
And that’s one of the main driving factors behind our ATS resume builder.
We help applicants speed up the job search and land a new career opportunity by building the perfect resume. Our resources are free to try, no card details needed.
Anyhow, as long as you follow the steps and outline your strengths, you’re good to go!
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