Your First Resume: No Experience? Examples + Template
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A first resume has an empty Experience section and a reader who expects that. What decides whether it works is not how you fill the gap with words, but which of the things you have already done you choose to put on the page, and how you write them so they read as work rather than as a list of hobbies.
You have more material than you think
Coursework, projects, volunteering, part-time jobs, clubs, family businesses, sports teams, and anything you organised all count. The problem is that most people describe them the way they would in conversation, which is why they look thin on paper. The fix is to convert each one into the same shape a job entry uses: what you did, at what scale, with what result.
| What you actually did | How it goes on the resume |
|---|---|
| Helped at the family shop on Saturdays | Served 60-plus customers a day, handled cash and card payments, and reconciled the till at close |
| Was treasurer of the debate club | Managed a 1,200 dollar annual budget for a 30-member club and reported at monthly meetings |
| Did a final-year project on air quality | Collected and analysed 11 months of sensor data in Python, presented findings to a faculty panel |
| Volunteered at a food bank | Coordinated weekend distribution for 40 families and trained four new volunteers |
| Ran a class group chat and schedule | Coordinated schedules and shared materials for a cohort of 45 students |
Every line on the right names a scale, a number, or an outcome. For the phrasing itself, verbs and how far to push a number, the resume writing techniques guide is the companion piece.
If the harder question is which direction to aim at rather than how to write it up, the career task audit works on the same material from the other end.
What goes on the page, in order
- Header. Name, city, phone, email. A LinkedIn or portfolio link if it is real and current.
- Summary, two lines. Who you are, what you can already do, what you are looking for. Not an objective statement about seeking a challenging position.
- Education. Your qualification, institution, dates, and the two or three modules that match the job. This sits at the top until you have real work history.
- Projects or coursework. One to three, written as entries with what you built and what came of it.
- Experience. Anything paid or unpaid: part-time work, internships, volunteering, the family business. Label it "Experience" rather than "Work Experience" so unpaid entries sit naturally.
- Skills. Software, languages, certifications, and the practical ones a job asks for. Be honest about level.
- Activities or interests. Only where they show something: leadership, consistency, or a skill.
One page. Keep the format single-column and reverse-chronological; the resume format guide covers the layout and the applicant tracking rules.
Example: recent graduate
Manchester | leo.fernandes@example.com | 07700 900318
SUMMARY
Marketing graduate with analytics coursework and a six-month placement running paid social for a retail brand. Comfortable in GA4 and Excel, and used to reporting numbers to people who did not commission them.
EDUCATION
BA Marketing, University of Salford, 2023 to 2026. Upper second class honours.
Relevant modules: consumer analytics, digital campaign management, market research methods.
PROJECTS
Final-year campaign study - Analysed 14 months of campaign data for a local gym chain, identified that 60 percent of spend went to an audience that never converted, and presented a reallocation plan to the owner, who adopted it.
EXPERIENCE
Marketing Placement - Halden Retail, Manchester
June 2025 to December 2025
- Ran paid social for three product lines with a monthly budget of 4,000 pounds.
- Built the weekly performance report the team still uses, cutting the reporting time from a day to about an hour.
- Wrote copy for 40-plus ads and tested headline variants, lifting click-through from 1.1 to 1.7 percent.
Bar Staff - The Old Mill, Salford
September 2023 to May 2025 (part time)
- Worked 20 hours a week alongside full-time study, handling cash and closing the till.
SKILLS
GA4, Meta Ads Manager, Excel (pivot tables, lookups), SQL basics, Canva. English, Portuguese.
Example: no degree, first job
This is the case most guides skip. There is no capstone project and no internship, so the resume is built from a part-time job, volunteering, and school.
Birmingham | hana.bekele@example.com | 07700 900204
SUMMARY
School leaver with two years of weekend retail experience and a volunteering role that involved scheduling and record keeping. Applying for the business administration apprenticeship at Cordell Group.
EDUCATION
Kingsbury Academy, Birmingham, 2021 to 2026.
A-levels: Business Studies (B), English (B), Geography (C). GCSEs: 7 passes including Maths and English.
EXPERIENCE
Sales Assistant - Fairlane Stores, Birmingham
March 2024 to present (weekends)
- Serve 80-plus customers on a Saturday shift and handle cash and card payments.
- Trained two new staff members on the till and the returns process.
- Asked to open the store alone on Sundays from January 2026.
Volunteer Coordinator Assistant - Northside Community Centre
September 2024 to present
- Keep the weekly rota for 18 volunteers and confirm attendance by phone and message.
- Log donations in a spreadsheet and produce the monthly total for the centre manager.
SKILLS
Microsoft Excel and Word, cash handling, rota scheduling, customer service. Amharic and English.
ACTIVITIES
School netball team, 2022 to 2026. Team captain in the final year, organising travel for 12 players.
The template
Fill in what you have and delete the sections you do not. Both examples above and this skeleton are in the .docx.
[City] | [Email] | [Phone]
SUMMARY
[Two lines: what you have studied or done, what you can already do, and the role you want.]
EDUCATION
[Qualification, institution, dates, result if it helps.]
[Relevant modules or subjects that match the job.]
PROJECTS
[Project name] - [What you did, at what scale, and what came of it.]
EXPERIENCE
[Role - Organisation, Location]
[Dates, and "part time" or "volunteer" where that applies]
- [What you did, with a number attached.]
- [Something you improved, trained, or were trusted with.]
SKILLS
[Software, languages, certifications, practical skills.]
ACTIVITIES
[Only where it shows leadership, consistency, or a skill.]
GPA, grades, and when to drop them
Include a grade or GPA when it is strong, when your field expects it, or when an application form asks. Otherwise leave it out; a modest number invites a question you would rather not answer in writing. The same goes for school-level results once you hold a degree, and for the whole education block once you have two or three years of relevant work: it moves to the bottom and shrinks to one line.
What to leave off
- An objective statement. "Seeking a challenging position that allows me to grow" tells a reader nothing. A two-line summary of what you can do replaces it.
- "References available on request." Assumed, and it wastes a line. In Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and India, named referees are expected instead: the CV guide sets out which countries want what.
- Every job you have ever had, if some are irrelevant and crowd out better material. Two well-written entries beat five thin ones.
- Skills you cannot demonstrate. "Microsoft Office" as a claim is empty; "Excel: pivot tables and lookups" is checkable.
- Padding. Wide margins and a large font to fill a page are obvious. A dense two-thirds of a page reads better than a stretched full one.
Frequently asked questions
What do I put on a resume if I have never had a job?
Education, coursework, projects, volunteering, clubs, and anything you organised, each written as an entry with a scale and an outcome. Label the section "Experience" rather than "Work Experience" so unpaid entries belong there.
How long should a first resume be?
One page, and it is fine if it does not quite fill the page. Do not stretch the formatting to reach the bottom.
Should I include my GPA or grades?
Include them when they are strong, when your field expects it, or when the form asks. Drop them once you have a couple of years of relevant work.
Do internships and volunteering count as experience?
Yes, both, and so does part-time and family-business work. What matters is that the entry shows what you did at what scale, not whether you were paid.
Do I need a cover letter with a first resume?
It helps most when your resume is thin, because the letter is where you explain the fit that the resume cannot show. See the cover letter guide.
Sources
- Entry-level resume conventions for 2026: one page; education leading where there is no work history; coursework, projects, volunteering, extracurriculars and internships treated as legitimate content; GPA included only where strong or expected.