To get a job, you need experience, and to have experience, you need a job. Your first resume can be pretty nerve-wracking. After all, it is difficult to decide on the format, it is not known how to write and what to focus on. Most of the advice online is not suitable because it focuses on the professionalism of your skills so you are completely at a loss. Whether you are a graduate or a high school student who writes a resume with no work experience, you are probably intimidated by some empty columns in your document.
How to Make a Resume With No Experience
What to Put On a Resume With no Experience
Any good job application must have this content:
- Header with your contact details
- An objective, or a concise paragraph where you briefly describe your skills
- Education column
- Experience, as paradoxical as it may sound
- And a skills section where you can write down why you are a good candidate.
First, make your plan for what you want to include on your resume. The essence of a resume with no work experience is that you haven’t any practical skills, but this is only according to official information. You have achievements that you have already acquired through some activities on your daily basis. Therefore, in your resume, under the heading “experience”, do not forget to mention volunteers, community groups, or organizations in which you were a member. A little later, in the column about skills, write in more detail about the achievements that you received during your activities.
Tips on How to Write a Resume With No Experience
The first step is to analyze your life experience to show that you are truly beneficial to the company. Even though you didn’t have any related positions, it’s worth giving your best.
Surely during your student years, you have acquired some interpersonal communication skills. This is what should be stated on your first job resume. Show how people skills can solve specific problems that may arise in the desired position.
If you have a specific company that you want to work for, then be sure to analyze the job descriptions in the vacancies. Your main task is to find what the hiring manager values in candidates to put the information on your resume. The most common interpersonal communication skills are reliability, responsibility, teamwork, and organizational skills.
The approach to writing a resume makes the process itself much easier because looking at a blank page is hard and creepy. But if you surf through the existing vacancies, you will roughly understand how you write your document.
Related: How to Write an Academic CV
What Else Do You Need to Do While Making a Resume for Your First Job
- The objective summary is your everything. This is the first paragraph after your contacts where the hiring manager has a first impression of you. After reading, the recruiter has a choice between reading further or throwing this document away. Tell them how the position will affect you, and how you can grow with this company.
- If you are applying to several companies, be sure to customize your resume. Anyway, job descriptions differ, and recruiters may require different personal qualities, so you shouldn’t be limited to one document. Design your template to help you fill your resume blank with relevant information.
- Don’t focus all your attention on the usual chronological resume format questioning yourself on how to make a resume when you’ve never worked. Why choose this option if it doesn’t suit you? Other options will diversify your document and make it more attractive to the hiring manager. Choose functional or hybrid resume formats and you’ll focus on skills, not employment history.
- If you are not sure what skills and achievements to write about, then arrange to brainstorm. Remember absolutely everything that you have achieved in your life, including even the smallest details. This little “exercise” may take you a while, but it will give you an idea of your basic skills. After you remember absolutely everything, narrow down the circle of achievements by choosing only the most important, which, in your opinion, should be on the resume.
- The applicant tracking system (ATS) is one of the latest innovations in the field of human resources. The feature saves hiring managers a ton of time by tracking resumes for keywords and phrases. They can be found in the job description, but there is one “but”: in any case, do not use slang expressions, or banal words that can be put in absolutely any resume.
- Consider a cover letter. If the employer does not require you to write a short text describing the motivation, it is not superfluous to show your determination with a cover letter. It can show you as a serious candidate though.
Read Also: How to Check if My Resume is ATS-Friendly
The main do’s and don’ts while writing a first job resume or cover letter
- Don’t lie. Even though you want to appear very reliable and confident, it is the worst possible option. Hiring managers can invite you for an interview, where your behavior can be used to recognize your lies.
- Do not overdo it. You need to be short and to the point, don’t write more than is required of you. For example, don’t talk too much about yourself, don’t write about incoherent hobbies.
- Reread the finished text. The worst thing that a recruiter can come across is a text with a bunch of lexical and grammatical errors. You can ask your friends to check your application, or you can contact us. We can not only correct mistakes, but also improve your document, or we can even write a resume from scratch.
To Sum it Up
Writing your first resume is a terrific process that will make your job search easier in the future. In general, this is your first opportunity to leave a good impression of yourself, so do not neglect this chance. You can always contact our ResumeEdge team. Since we value our clients, we provide sound advice to improve your applications and increase the chances of getting interview invitations!
