Writing your first job resume is no small feat, as you want to present yourself as a capable professional with plenty of potential while having little to no experience. On top of that, it’s easy to get bogged down with all the specifics revolving around formatting the document, designing a compelling layout, and ensuring you’ve included all the essential information.
In this article, we’ll teach you how to write an outstanding first job resume. We’ll give you step-by-step instructions on how to create each section, what to include in them, and what mistakes to avoid. Without further ado, let’s dive right in!
Key Takeaways
The best format for a first job resume is the chronological one if you have some experience or the functional one if you want to focus on your skills.
You can use substitute activities, such as volunteering, internships, and personal projects, instead of work history to make your first resume strong.
Write a cover letter and submit it with your resume to show a willingness to go the extra mile and stand out among other applicants.
Before we dive into the specifics, let’s start with a complete example of a first job resume to give you a solid idea of what it should look like:
This sample of a resume for a first job has all it takes to get to the interview stage. Keep reading to learn how to write one just like that and maximize your chances of impressing recruiters.
What Format to Use For Your First Job Resume
There are two established formats suitable for your first job resume:
Popular Resume Formats
The chronological resume format is the most common format among professionals of all career levels. It neatly arranges your work history in reverse-chronological order, giving recruiters an overview of your career. This format is perfect for a first job resume if you have notable efforts to highlight, such as volunteer experience, internships, or projects.
The functional resume format is tailored toward candidates who want to focus on their skills. If you have little to no experience relevant to the job you’re applying for but have the necessary abilities, you can use this format to emphasize them and highlight your strengths as an entry-level professional.
Standard Resume Layout
The resume layout represents the design of your document. A visually appealing resume is pleasant to look at and easy to read. Plus, it can help you grab the recruiter’s attention.
Here are some tips on how you can create a clean and professional resume layout:
Resume Layout Guidelines
Your first job resume should be one page long. Keep it concise and relevant, and don’t include unnecessary information.
Choose a suitable font for your resume (e.g., Arial or Helvetica). Avoid overly stylized fonts that are hard to read.
The standard font size is 10–12 pt.
Margins should be at least 1 inch on all sides.
Line spacing should be 1.0 or 1.15.
First Job Resume Mandatory and Optional Sections
No matter what the first job that you’re applying for is, these sections are a must-have:
Resume Mandatory Sections
Contact information
Resume objective
Education
Skills
Once you’ve included those, you can consider adding one or more optional sections that are relevant to your qualifications and can help present you as a suitable candidate. Some optional sections to consider are:
Resume Optional Sections
Volunteer experience
Personal projects
Languages
Hobbies and interests
If you want help writing your first job resume and don’t want to start from scratch, you should give our resume builder a try.
We created an AI-powered software solution with ready-made first-job resume templates and examples you can use to craft your document in minutes.
The process is simple: find a template that suits your needs (e.g., a no-experience resume template or a student resume template), add your information in predesignated spots, adjust the format and layout with a press of a button, and download a submission-ready resume!
Here’s an example of a resume template for your first job that you can customize if you use our resume builder:
First Job Resume Template
Name and Surname
Phone number: 000-000-0000 | Email: namesurname@gmail.com | Location: City, State
[Adjective] [your job title] with [years of experience, if applicable] in [your area of expertise, if applicable] looking for a [position] job at [company name]. Eager to apply [relevant skills] gained through [work/volunteer/other experience] to help [company name] [mention what you can do for the company].
Work Experience
Most Recent/Current Job Title Company City, State [Start date] — [End date]
For recent jobs, use 5-6 bullet points to list your top achievements and responsibilities
Use action verbs to make your responsibilities and achievements stand out
Add numbers to quantify your achievements
Previous Job Title Company City, State [Start date] — [End date]
For recent jobs, use 5-6 bullet points to list your top achievements and responsibilities
Use action verbs to make your responsibilities and achievements stand out
Add numbers to quantify your achievements
Oldest Job Title Company City, State [Start date] — [End date]
For older jobs, use 2-3 bullet points to list your top achievements and responsibilities
Use action verbs to make your responsibilities and achievements stand out
Add numbers to quantify your achievements
Education
[Degree] in [Major] [University/college name] [Start date] - [Graduation date]
Skills
Soft Skills
Skill #1
Skill #2
Skill #3
Skill #4
Skill #5
Hard Skills
Skill #1
Skill #2
Skill #3
Skill #4
Skill #5
Additional Sections
Add any relevant additional sections (languages, licenses, publications, hobbies, etc.)
Resume templates
Resume templates that are designed to help you win a jobHow to Correctly Add Contact Information
Contact information is a standard section for the resume header. Creating it is straightforward, as you only need to list:
Header Mandatory Details
Your full name
Job title
Phone number
Email address
Depending on your profession and the role you’re after, you can include additional details, such as your LinkedIn, other relevant social media profiles, portfolio, personal website, etc.
Here’s an example of a contact information section for a first job resume written by an aspiring web developer:
Header Example
Brett Francis Web Developer + 630 750 1066 brettfrancis@example.com linkedin.com/in/brett.francis github.com/bfrancis Chicago, IL
Pro tip: Make sure to use a professional email address when applying for a job. If needed, you should create a new one with the format along the lines of “firstname.lastname@email.com.”
Add a First Job Resume Objective
A resume objective is an introductory paragraph for your document meant to grab the reader’s attention in 2–4 sentences. You should use it to state the position you’re after and emphasize the key strengths that make you the right person for the job.
For your first job, your resume objective should feature a few of your most prominent skills, as well as your career goals, to show recruiters that you’ll be a valuable long-term hire. If you have some notable accomplishments (e.g., through internships or freelance projects), you can include them to demonstrate your competence further.
Let’s see that in a good example:
First Job Resume Objective Example
“Recent graduate with a B.S. in Computer Science seeking an entry-level role as a web developer at Cubify. Proficient in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Note.js. During the internship, assisted in rebuilding web applications for a client to boost target audience engagement by 13%. Eager to contribute to your team on the road to becoming a full-stack developer.”
Now, let’s see how not to write a resume objective:
Bad Example
“Recent graduate looking for a first job. No real-world experience, but I am a quick learner, and I am highly motivated.”
Notice a lack of skills, accomplishments, or career goals; this results in a bland resume objective that doesn’t provide any concrete details about the candidate’s qualifications.
What to Add Instead of Professional Experience
Even if you’re writing a resume for your first job, you may still have some professional experience to include and substantiate your competence. This includes activities like internships, projects, and volunteer experience. In this case, you should use the chronological resume format and list them in reverse order.
These are the details to include:
Work Experience Mandatory Details
Your role
Name of the project or organization
Dates of activity
Notable achievements
Now, here are some tips on how to make this section stand out:
Tips to Highlight Your Qualifications
Use a bullet list and focus on notable results over everyday tasks when talking about your accomplishments.
Leverage numbers to quantify the results of your work and make them concrete in the eyes of recruiters.
Incorporate action verbs and power words to make your writing catchy and more memorable.
#1. Internships
Here’s an example of an entry-level resume work experience section where a candidate used their internship to create a compelling case for their application:
Internship Experience Example
Work Experience
Web Development Intern Rotocode Chicago, IL
February 2024–January 2025
Designed and coded user interfaces using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to help the client improve engagement rates by 7%.
Participated in stand-up with senior developers and team leaders 3 times per month to keep them updated on the progress of the latest features.
Collaborated with cross-functional teams of marketing specialists and UI/UX designers to boost the client’s conversion rates by 13%.
#2. Projects
In this sample of a first job resume work experience section, the candidate leverages their personal project to showcase their competence:
Project Experience Example
Work Experience
Freelance Web Developer Personal Project | Authentify Fresno, CA
July 2024–February 2025
Developed a fully responsive web application in React and improved page loading speed by 31% through code optimization.
Integrated Google Maps API to provide real-time data and boost engagement by 45%.
Collaborated with online communities to improve UI/UX design and enhance user retention by 25%.
#3. Volunteer Experience
Lastly, here’s an example of a candidate writing a cashier resume and using their volunteer experience to demonstrate relevant skills and qualifications:
Volunteer Experience Example
Work Experience
Volunteer Server & Cashier Community Public Kitchen New York, NY
August 2024–December 2024
Assisted in serving 100+ meals per shift to create a pleasant and welcoming experience.
Handled daily cash donations of $500+ on average and distributed meal vouchers with 100% accuracy.
Coordinated with a team of 11 other volunteers to provide exceptional service to upward of 150 patrons per shift.
Don’t Forget About the Education Section
The education section serves to validate your skills. At a minimum, this section should highlight:
Mandatory Details
Your highest degree
The institution issuing it
Years of attendance
However, since you’re writing a resume for a beginner job and you don’t have as much experience to showcase as a seasoned professional, you can put more emphasis on this section.
This is best done by including a bullet list of notable achievements, such as a high GPA, relevant coursework, extracurricular activities, school projects, etc.
Let’s see that in an example:
Education Example
Education
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science University of Illinois, Chicago, IL 2020–2023
Relevant coursework: Object-Oriented Programming, User Experience (UX) Design, Responsive Web Design, Cloud Computing & Deployment, Data Structures & Algorithms
College students and teens writing their first job resumes can also include a degree they are working toward. To do that, either add “expected” next to the graduation date or omit it and put “current” instead.
What Skills Can You Add to Your First Job Resume?
There are two things to do when adding skills to your first job resume:
Main Goals to Achieve When Adding Skills
Research the company and read the job ad. This way, you’ll determine which abilities recruiters look for in candidates. In turn, that will allow you to create a tailored list of skills that portray you as the best candidate for the role you’re applying for.
Prove your skills with relevant achievements. When crafting a work experience section, mention notable skills next to the results you obtained. This will show direct results of your competence, adding validity to your skill set.
Another thing to keep in mind is that you need a mix of hard and soft skills on your resume.
Hard skills are job-specific and will depend on the industry you’re in and the role you’re applying for.
For instance, a web developer might list the following abilities:
Web Developer Hard Skills Examples
JavaScript
Angular
React
Git
PHP
On the other hand, an architect’s list of skills can look like this:
Architect Hard Skills Examples
AutoCAD
3dxMax
Drafting
Modeling
Project management
After that, you should separately list soft skills. Also known as transferable skills, these abilities influence your interpersonal prowess, self-organization, workplace efficiency, and other aspects.
Some of the most sought-after soft skills include:
Soft Skills Examples
Attention to detail
Time management
Organization
Collaboration
Problem-solving
Critical thinking
Other Sections You Could Add to Your Resume
Adding optional sections is a great way to strengthen your case and persuade recruiters that you have what it takes to succeed in their organization. Remember that the sections you include need to be strictly related to the role you’re after and help you demonstrate relevant skills and qualifications.
Volunteer Experience
Your experience volunteering can be added to a dedicated section if you already have other activities for your work history section. This can help make your resume look more professional while indicating your empathy and willingness to go the extra mile to help the community.
Personal Projects
Much like with volunteer experience, personal projects can be listed in a separate, optional section if you’ve already included something else in your work history (e.g., your internship). As an optional section, personal projects demonstrate a proactive approach to your career development and show that you have real-world experience on top of theoretical knowledge.
Languages
Proficiency in foreign languages is critical for companies that work with international clientele or have diverse teams. Therefore, adding language skills to your first job resume when applying for roles that require them can significantly boost your chances with recruiters.
Keep in mind that you should use an established frame of reference when listing your skills and start with the language you’re best at.
Hobbies & Interests
Hobbies and interests humanize an otherwise formal document and can help you stand out in the eyes of recruiters. Still, you should keep this section brief and only list the things you’re genuinely passionate about.
Should You Send a Cover Letter for Your First Job?
Yes, you should send a cover letter for your first job. Doing so proves that you’re genuinely interested in getting the role and eager to go the extra mile to show your motivation. Your cover letter should be 250–400 words long, written to showcase your competence and reason for applying to that company in particular.
Cover letter templates
Create a cover letter by filling in a free template and sharing it for free3 Final Tips for Creating a First Job Resume
Finally, here are three career and resume tips that can help you get the most out of this document:
First Job Resume Tips
Proofread with diligence. Even simple mistakes show a lack of attention to detail or professionalism. Moreover, a single typo in contact information can make it impossible for recruiters to contact you.
Match your cover letter to your resume. Your cover letter shouldn’t repeat the information stated in your resume. Instead, talk about additional skills and experiences as well as your drive and career goals. That way, you’ll paint a complete picture of who you are as a professional.
Make the links in your contact information clickable. Certain elements of your contact information section (e.g., your LinkedIn profile, personal website, or email address) should be clickable in the soft copy of the document. This shows attention to detail on your end and makes it more likely for recruiters to use the links.
Closing Thoughts
Keeping track of everything that goes into writing a first job resume can be daunting if you don’t have a guide to follow. That’s why we’ve given you step-by-step instructions to help you design your document, format it, and add all the necessary information.
Whether you’re writing a resume for fresh graduates, looking for your first job after high school, or otherwise eager to start your career, following this guide can help you impress recruiters and land a role you’re after.
First Job Resume FAQ
#1. How do I write my first resume with no experience?
You should write your first resume with no experience by focusing on your skills and analogous activities. You can mention your volunteer work, personal projects, or internships and use them to demonstrate your competence.
#2. What should I include in my first job resume?
There are five must-have sections to include in your first job resume: contact information, resume objective, professional history, education, and skills. After that, you can include multiple optional sections as long as they are relevant to the role you’re applying for.
#3. Should I use a resume builder?
You can use Resume.co’s resume builder to significantly reduce the time it takes to create the document. Moreover, by using our expert-made templates and examples, you’ll ensure a professional format and layout without having to create everything from scratch.
