Writing a first resume with little experience

A first resume can be strong even when the work history is short. This page shows which sections to use, how to turn class projects, volunteering and family responsibilities into clear entries, and how to tailor one page to each posting.

The sections to start with

Begin with your name, phone number, email address and city, then an education section listing your school, your degree or program and your expected graduation month and year. Include your grade point average if a posting asks for it or if you would like to show it. Relevant courses can sit under education when they match the job.

After that, add sections for experience, projects, activities and skills. Leave out a photo, your age and your marital status, since US employers generally do not expect them.

Finding experience you already have

Experience includes more than paid jobs. Class projects, research, volunteer work, student organizations, caring for family members and running a small side business all show skills employers look for. List each one with a title, the organization if there is one, and the dates.

Students returning to school after years of work can draw on earlier roles, even ones in a different field. Describe the parts that carry over, such as supervising others, handling customers or managing a budget.

Before you send it

• Contact details are current
• Each entry starts with an action verb
• It fits on one page
• Saved as a PDF with your name

Writing each entry

Under each entry, write two to four short lines that start with an action verb, such as organized, built, trained or answered. Say what you did and, where you can, the result or scale, for example how many people attended an event you planned. Use only details you can explain in an interview.

Plain description works better than a stack of adjectives about yourself. A line about answering phone and email questions for a busy campus office tells an employer more than calling yourself hardworking.

Tailoring and finishing

Read each posting and move the most relevant entries and skills toward the top. Use the posting's own words for skills you actually have, since some employers screen resumes with software that looks for those terms. Keep the whole resume to one page.

Save the final version as a PDF with your name in the file name, and ask the career center to review it before you send it out. A second reader catches typos and unclear lines that are easy to miss in your own writing.