How to make a resume for your first job

What counts as experience when you have never had a job

More than most people think. The UK's National Careers Service advises: “If you're applying for your first job, you can focus on skills you've learned through projects, work experience or volunteering.” Canada's Job Bank youth pages list volunteering, apprenticeships and internships as ways to gain experience and training. Look for evidence in:

• School and college projects: group assignments, science fairs, final-year projects, business-studies exercises.
• Volunteering: community centres, religious or charity events, NGOs, vaccination or relief camps.
• Internships and work experience placements, even unpaid or a week long.
• Informal paid work: tutoring, babysitting, helping in a family shop, delivery, freelance design.
• Clubs, sports and student roles: team captain, class representative, fest organiser, NCC, NSS, scouts.
• Things you made: an app, a YouTube channel, a blog, an Instagram page for a local business.

The sections of a first-job resume, in order

Use whichever heading is true. “Volunteer experience” or “Projects” is honest and reads well; there is no need to call it “Work experience” if it wasn't paid work. Put the section with the most evidence highest. In CVEmber you can drag sections into any order, and rename any heading.

How to make a resume for your first job, step by step

1. Pick the kind of job first. Retail, food service, office support, a call centre, an internship. Read three ads for it and note the skills they repeat.
2. List everything you have done in the last three or four years: every project, role, activity and odd job. Don't judge yet.
3. Choose the three or four that best show those skills, and write each as an entry with bullets (next section).
4. Add education and skills. Only skills you can show or would be happy to be tested on.
5. Write the objective last, naming the job and the skills you have just proved. Virginia Tech recommends an objective when you are new to the workforce.
6. Cut to one page. Job Bank's limit for any resume is two pages; a first resume rarely needs more than one.
7. Check it twice, then ask a teacher or someone who hires to read it.

Turning activities into resume bullets

Write each bullet as: action verb, what you did, and what happened. Job Bank recommends starting with simple action verbs (handled, managed, led, developed) and leaving out “I”, “my” and “me”. Add a number wherever one is true: people, items, money, hours, days. Illustrative before and after:

A first-job resume sample

One page, objective first, and volunteering written like experience. The applicant, places and figures are made up. A Canadian example is used here; the same structure works in any country, with the local conventions from the resume format guides.

What to leave out of your first resume

• Personal details employers don't need. Job Bank lists age, weight, height, marital status, religion and political views among the details to leave out. (Indian resumes are an exception for date of birth and languages; see the fresher format.)
• Skills you can't back up. “Leadership” without a bullet that shows you leading is a claim, not a skill.
• References. Keep them on a separate page and send them when asked; see references on a resume.
• An unprofessional email address. Make a plain one with your name.
• Long lists of hobbies. Two or three that show something are enough; see hobbies and interests.

If you are a student or fresher

The structure above works everywhere. Country by country, the conventions change a little:

• India: freshers out of college should use the fresher resume format; students still studying, the student resume format.
• Philippines: see the fresh graduate resume, with OJT written as experience.
• US: see the entry-level resume format; teenagers, the high school resume.
• UK: see the graduate CV and the personal statement.
• Internships: the internship resume example and the internship cover letter.

Beginner resume examples by field

A first resume looks different depending on the field, but beginner resume examples share one shape: a short summary, education, the activities and jobs that count as experience, and a skills line. A beginner sample resume for a nursing assistant leads with a training program and clinical hours; a beginner acting resume leads with training, classes and school productions, and puts special skills last; a project management entry level resume leads with coursework, a capstone and any team leadership, with the tools you used.

Whichever field you are in, keep the template plain: one column, standard headings, no graphics. The advice is the same: say what you did, how many and what came of it, and keep it to one page. The role pages in the resume examples section give a first-level sample for each job.

Before you apply

• Tailor the objective and skills to each ad. Job Bank: “Tailor your resume to suit the position you are applying for.”
• Choose a plain one-column template for online applications, so software reads it in full (see ATS-friendly templates), and send it as a PDF unless the employer asks for Word.
• Add a short cover letter when the application allows one: it is where you explain why you want this job. See how to write a cover letter.
• Check what software reads with the free ATS resume checker.

Teenagers can also read teen resume examples, and volunteering counts here too: see how to list volunteer work on a resume.

Sources

Checked on 4 October 2026.

• National Careers Service (UK): CV sections
• Job Bank, Government of Canada: How to write a good resume
• Job Bank, Government of Canada: Youth
• Virginia Tech Career and Professional Development: Objective vs. Summary of Qualifications