How to write a resume with no experience
Everyone writes a first resume without a work history. You have more to put on it than you think: classes, projects, volunteering, a team, odd jobs, things you do at home. Describe them the way you would describe a job, and keep every fact true.
Updated
What counts as experience
An employer hiring for a first job wants evidence that you show up, learn and do what you said you would. Anything you did regularly, or saw through to the end, can show that.
| Where | Ask yourself |
|---|---|
| Class projects | What did you make, with how many people, and which part was yours? |
| Informal jobs | Babysitting, tutoring, yard work, a family business: for whom, how often, for how long? |
| Volunteering | Where, how often, and did you start or improve anything? |
| Teams and clubs | Were you chosen for anything, such as captain, treasurer or organizer? |
| Things you made | A website, a video channel, an online shop, a repair: who used it? |
| Responsibilities at home | Did you look after siblings or a relative, or handle something every week? |
| Courses and certificates | Food handler, CPR, a coding course: what did you finish? |
What goes where
- Contact details. Name, city and state, phone, and an email address you would give a teacher.
- A two-line summary, if you want one. What you’re studying or finishing, and the kind of work you’re looking for.
- Education. It goes first while it is your strongest section: school, expected graduation date, and anything specific, such as relevant classes or honors.
- Experience. Call the section “Experience” so projects, volunteering and informal jobs belong in it. Give each one a name, your role and dates, like a job.
- Skills. Only ones you can show: languages you speak, software you have used for something, certificates. Leave out traits like “hard-working” and let your bullets show them.
Keep it to one page. With no work history, one full page is plenty.
Bullets from what you’ve done
Each pair shows what someone said in plain words, then the bullet. No bullet has a number the person didn’t give.
They said
“I’ve babysat for two families on my street for about three years, usually 2 kids at a time, after school and some weekends.”
The bullet
Care for 2 children at a time for two neighborhood families after school and some weekends, for about three years.
They said
“In marketing class, 5 of us made a social media plan for a bakery near school. I ran the survey: 60 customers filled it out, and the owner started using our posting schedule.”
The bullet
Surveyed 60 customers for a class social media plan for a local bakery, working in a team of 5; the owner adopted the team’s posting schedule.
They said
“I volunteer at the animal shelter on Saturdays. Mostly I walk dogs, but I also started posting the dogs that are up for adoption on the shelter’s Instagram.”
The bullet
Walk dogs at the animal shelter every Saturday; started the shelter’s Instagram posts of dogs up for adoption.
They said
“I was captain of the JV soccer team junior year. I ran warm-ups and texted everyone when practice changed.”
The bullet
Captained the JV soccer team in junior year, leading warm-ups and keeping teammates updated on practice changes.
They said
“I help at my uncle’s food truck in the summer, usually 3 days a week. I take orders and count the cash at the end of the day.”
The bullet
Take orders and count the cash drawer at close at a family-run food truck, 3 days a week in summer.
Two more, from a capstone project and a campus job, are in the bullet examples for students and new graduates.
A first resume, put together
Sam Rivera is fictional: a high school senior applying for a part-time job at a grocery store. The experience bullets are the examples above.
Sam Rivera
Austin, TX · phone · email
Summary
High school senior with about three years of after-school babysitting and summers at a family food truck, looking for part-time work at a grocery store.
Education
Lakeview High School, Austin, TX. Expected graduation May 2027.
Experience
Order taker, family food truck. Summers.
- Take orders and count the cash drawer at close at a family-run food truck, 3 days a week in summer.
Babysitter, two neighborhood families. 2023 to present.
- Care for 2 children at a time for two neighborhood families after school and some weekends, for about three years.
Volunteer, animal shelter. 2025 to present.
- Walk dogs at the animal shelter every Saturday; started the shelter’s Instagram posts of dogs up for adoption.
Captain, JV soccer. 2025 to 2026.
- Captained the JV soccer team in junior year, leading warm-ups and keeping teammates updated on practice changes.
Skills
English and Spanish. Food handler certificate.
Mistakes to skip
- Stretching. Calling babysitting “childcare management” makes a reader wonder what else is inflated. Babysitting is a fine thing to have done.
- Every class you took. List two or three relevant ones, or none.
- An objective about what you want. “Seeking a position where I can grow” tells the employer what you want from them. Use the summary to say what you bring.
- A joke email address. Make a plain one with your name in it.
- A second page. A first resume fits on one.
A first resume in Hirova
Hirova is an AI resume builder for iPhone, and you can start fresh without an old resume. Its questions are written about work, so answer them about whatever you have done: a part-time job, a class project, a volunteer role. Hirova sets each answer as a bullet and asks you to confirm every number and date before it goes on the page.
Your first resume is free, including the PDF in the Minimal design, so you don’t need Hirova Pro to make it. Pro adds a tailored version for each job posting, a cover letter for each and three more designs. Hirova Pro is $19.99 a month or $79.99 a year in the US. The App Store shows your local price before you buy.
Questions
- How do I write a resume with no work experience?
- Put your education first, then an Experience section with class projects, volunteering, informal jobs and teams, each described like a job: what you did, for whom, how often and what came of it. Keep it to one page.
- What should I put on my resume for my first job?
- Contact details, an optional two-line summary, your education, any experience including unpaid and informal work, and skills you can show, such as languages or certificates.
- Should I put high school on my resume?
- Yes, while you are in high school or it is the highest level of education you have finished. Once you have a college degree, you can usually leave it off.
- Can I put babysitting or volunteering on a resume?
- Yes. Give it a name, your role and dates, and write bullets about what you did and how often, the same way you would for a paid job.