Most first resumes fall flat not because the person lacks experience, but because no one ever explained what a resume actually is. It’s not a list of everything you’ve done. It’s a short, targeted argument that you can do a specific job, assembled from whatever evidence you have.
That evidence doesn’t have to be paid work. Here’s how to build it.
What a First Resume Actually Needs
A hiring manager reviewing entry-level resumes spends about six seconds on an initial pass. They want to know:
- Is this legible and organized?
- Does this person have relevant skills, or signs they can learn the role?
- Is there anything worth reading more carefully?
Your first resume doesn’t need to be impressive. It needs to be clear, honest, and relevant to the role. One concise page beats two pages of padding every time.
The One-Page Rule
For a first resume with under three years of full-time work experience: one page, always.
When a resume runs longer, hiring managers often assume the writer doesn’t know how to prioritize. That’s itself a red flag. Experienced professionals can justify a second page. First-time candidates generally can’t.
If you struggle to fill one page, that is fine. Half a page of good, relevant content is better than one page of filler.
The Sections: What Goes Where
Contact information (top of the page) Full name in a slightly larger font, professional email address, phone number, city and state (no full street address needed), and optionally a LinkedIn URL or portfolio link if it adds something. No photo.
A professional email address means a variation of your name. An address like “coolguy2003@” sends the wrong signal. Create a clean Gmail account if needed.
Summary (optional, one to three sentences) A brief statement about who you are and what you’re looking for. Useful if you’re making a non-obvious connection between your background and the role. If your resume already tells the story clearly, skip it.
Example: Recent accounting graduate with two years of bookkeeping experience through a campus-run student business. Looking for a junior accounting role where I can work toward my CPA.
Education For first-time job seekers, education often goes near the top rather than the bottom. Include:
- Degree, major, and institution
- Graduation date (month and year)
- GPA only if it’s above 3.5 and the field values it
- Relevant coursework, academic projects, or honors if they’re directly relevant
Experience This is where many first-time writers get stuck. Experience doesn’t mean only paid, full-time jobs. Eligible experience includes:
- Part-time or seasonal jobs (retail, food service, campus jobs)
- Internships, paid or unpaid
- Freelance or contract work
- Significant volunteer roles
- Substantial leadership in student organizations or clubs
- Research projects or independent academic work
- Personal projects (an app you built, a business you ran, a blog with real readership)
List them in reverse chronological order, most recent first. Each gets an organization name, your title, dates, and bullet points.
Skills A short list of tools, software, languages, or hard skills. Include only things you could honestly demonstrate if asked. Common first-resume skills: Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, specific programming languages, Adobe products, data tools like SQL, Excel, or Tableau, a second language.
Turning Non-Job Experience Into Resume Content
The key move is to write about non-job activities the same way you’d write about a paid job: using action verbs, specific details, and measurable results where possible.
Instead of: “Member of the university debate club.”
Write:
Debate Club, Competitor / Research Lead University of [State], Sept 2022 – May 2024
- Researched and synthesized arguments across 12+ policy topics per semester for competitive rounds
- Placed in the top 10 at three regional tournaments, including first place at [Tournament Name]
Instead of: “Volunteered at a food bank.”
Write:
Volunteer Coordinator, [Food Bank Name] Summers 2022–2023
- Organized weekend distribution shifts for 20–30 volunteers per session
- Maintained intake records and coordinated with donation partners on supply levels
The rule: show what you did, what skills it used, and what the result was, even if the work was unpaid.
Writing Bullet Points That Don’t Sound Generic
Weak bullet: “Responsible for customer service and helping customers.”
Better bullet: “Handled 50+ customer transactions per shift; resolved complaints and processed returns while maintaining a 98% customer satisfaction score on post-visit surveys.”
The format that works: Action verb + what you did + quantified result or context.
Strong action verbs for a first resume: managed, led, organized, created, built, analyzed, coordinated, researched, wrote, trained, designed, reduced, increased, improved.
Avoid passive constructions (“was responsible for,” “assisted with,” “helped”) whenever you can use an active verb instead.
Numbers don’t need to be large to be useful. “Served an average of 30 customers per shift” is more specific than “worked in customer service.”
What NOT To Include
- High school activities (once you’re in college or past 21, these no longer belong)
- A photo (not standard in U.S. hiring and can introduce unconscious bias)
- References or “References available upon request” (assumed; takes up space)
- An objective statement (“To find a challenging role where I can grow…”), replace with a summary or nothing
- Hobbies and interests unless directly relevant (a hiking list doesn’t belong; speaking three languages does)
- Full street address
- Any experience from more than 10 years ago (10-year-old high school events don’t belong on a 22-year-old’s resume)
How To Tailor a Resume to a Specific Job Posting
A generic resume sent to every employer performs worse than a slightly tailored one sent to fewer employers.
Read the job posting carefully. Underline the skills and tasks it mentions, especially those that appear more than once. These are what the employer actually cares about.
Then check your resume: do you mention those things? Do you use similar language? Many companies use applicant tracking systems, software that scans for keywords before a human reads the resume. If the job says “project management” and your resume says “managed multiple tasks,” you may not match.
You don’t need to rewrite the whole resume. Adjust the skills section to include the specific tools mentioned. Reorder your bullet points so the most relevant experience comes first. Change a job title like “Office Helper” to “Administrative Assistant” if it accurately reflects what you did.
The goal isn’t to misrepresent yourself. It’s to use the same language as the employer so your experience maps directly to what they’re asking for.
The Format and Presentation
Use a clean, single-column or two-column layout. Standard fonts (Times New Roman, Calibri, Garamond, or similar) in 10 to 12pt. Keep margins between 0.5” and 1”. Use consistent formatting throughout, same bullet style, same date format, same header size.
Save and submit as a PDF unless the employer says otherwise. PDFs keep your formatting intact. Word documents can shift when opened on a different system.
Free templates: Google Docs has several clean resume templates built in (File, then New, then Template gallery, then Resumes). They’re not flashy, which is fine. Flashy formatting is rarely an advantage and can confuse applicant tracking systems.
Once your resume is ready, see Where Do I Search For New Jobs? and How To Search For Your First Job to put it to use.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What if I genuinely have nothing to put in the experience section?
This is rarer than people think. Most people have done something that demonstrates a skill. But if you truly have nothing: volunteer somewhere before you apply, take on a short freelance project, contribute to an open-source project, or build something small that’s relevant to the role. Two months of structured volunteer work is legitimate experience.
Q: Should I include a cover letter?
If the application has a cover letter field, yes. Many hiring managers skip them, but some read them closely, especially for entry-level candidates where the resume is thin. A cover letter lets you explain connections the resume can’t show: why you want this specific company, what transferable skill bridges your background to the role. Keep it short. Three short paragraphs is plenty.
Q: My GPA is low. Should I leave it off?
You’re not required to include it. Leave it off if it’s under 3.0 in most fields. If you include it, only use the major GPA if it’s significantly higher than your overall GPA and relevant to the role.
Q: Is it okay to have a gap in my timeline?
Yes. Don’t try to hide gaps by removing dates. Be honest. If asked, be ready to explain briefly what you were doing (caregiving, a health issue, figuring out your direction). Employers are generally more forgiving of gaps for entry-level candidates than for experienced hires.
Learn More
- Department of Labor: Career exploration and job search tools
- Department of Labor: O*NET, job descriptions and required skills by role
- CFPB: Financial topics for young adults