What do I put on my resume if I have no experience?
Are you a little frustrated getting stuck in that catch-22 where you don’t have the work experience required for filling out your resume?
Your prospective employers want to hire people with experience. You don’t have the experience they’re looking for. What can you do?
There’s no need to worry. Below, we’ve detailed how to write up a resume with no experience. Using a skills resume, you can show your future employer why you have what it takes to get hired.
No Experience, No Problem. Try A Skills Resume
After you’ve gained some work experience over the next few years, you’ll gain the ability to fill out that “work experience” section on future resumes. For now, you’ll focus on how your current skills match the job you want. We’ll show you how to create a no-experience resume. Some people also call it a skills resume.
Here’s how to structure your resume with no work experience:
Summary Statement
Some people teach the importance of writing a summary about career goals and what you hope to achieve. Avoid this type of summary statement. Instead, you need to focus on what you can do for potential employers.
Highlight your relevant background and qualifications for the type of job you’d like to land. Pull from your experience and write out a summary that includes the skills you picked up in the past.
For example, you might list the computer skills you learned from a computer class in school or work as an intern over the summer.
Education
Use your relevant coursework in place of a work experience section. This most likely represents your best job qualifications at this stage of life.
You might list your coursework and education like this:
- Human Rights and Culture
- Medical Anthropology
- Culture and Society
- Language and Identity
You can also list where you go to school. For example, if you’re a college student looking for work, you might list coursework along with the name of your university, its city, expected graduation date, and your GPA.
Skills
Writing a quality skills section will increase your chances of getting interviews because it reveals the qualities that set you apart from others. Likely, you don’t have the required technical skills. What’s the answer to this dilemma? Highlight your soft skills instead.
Here are some soft skills examples:
- Communication skills
- Positive attitude
- Active listening
- Time management
- Leadership skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Customer service
- Assertiveness
- Team player
All employers value relevant soft skills. This is where you can truly shine when building a resume with no work experience.
Internship
Have you interned anywhere after school or during the summer months? List this experience and highlight the skills attained during the internship.
Volunteer Work
Employers value this type of experience. Include the volunteer organization, the time frame, location, and then provide a bullet list of your accomplishments while volunteering.
You might mention that you prepared food for over 100 people each day. Or, you might list how you trained new volunteers and instilled in them a strong commitment to serving others.
What Not to Include on a No Experience Resume
It’s essential to think about what you should avoid when you want to write a resume for a first job.
-
Don’t lie on your resume. Never list fake job experiences. If a hiring manager finds out, you’ve lost all credibility.
-
Don’t include personal information except for your email, phone number, and address. Keep sexual orientation, sex, age, social media accounts, race, date of birth, political affiliation, and religion off the resume.
-
Eliminate non-relevant experiences from your resume.
-
Keep photographs off a resume.
What A Skills Resume May Look Like
Let’s look at what your resume might look like if you were applying for a job as a computer support specialist .
Your Name
City, State, Zip Code
Phone Number
Email Address
Summary Statement
Resourceful Information Technology major with experience providing customer service and resolving computer performance issues. I believe my fast learning abilities, relevant studies, communication skills, and commitment to successfully make me the perfect fit for this position.
Education
Bachelor of Science - Information Technology
University Name
City, State
Date Graduated
Relevant Coursework:
- Introduction to Data Communication and Networking
- Introduction to Programming and Logic
- Computer Forensics
- Foundations of Virtualization and Cloud Computing
- Database Programming
- Programming for the Web
- Digital Communications
Skills
Vast knowledge of current industry hardware and software
- Mac- and Windows-based systems
- Critical thinking skills
- Comprehensive written and verbal communications skills
- Customer service
- Solid grasp of local area network structure
- Active listening
- Problem-solving with preventative maintenance focus
- Critical thinking skills
Volunteer Work
Volunteer Organization
Location
Volunteer Time Frame
- Helped troubleshoot network issues
- Performed basic maintenance schedule
- Helped guide employees through technical challenges
- Updated systems
Don’t Let Inexperience Prevent You From Landing Your Dream Job.
You started by asking, how do I make a resume with no work experience for free? You should now have no problems putting together a resume with no experience.
Remember that a big part of landing your first job is the mindset you use. You might feel intimidated at first because you think you’re less than qualified. You should now see that building a resume with no work experience allows you to highlight all the reasons why you possess the proper skills.
Focus on your strengths. Brainstorm everything you’ve done through school that gave you the relevant experience and skills.
How do you write a resume for a first job? The first step is to simply get started on it. Use the information above and set aside time to fill out the first section of your no-experience resume.
Before you know it, you’ll need to start preparing for that first interview !