How to Make a Resume With No Work Experience

How to Make a Resume With No Work Experience

• Tuesday

 

Whether you’re applying for an internship or your first real job, writing your first resume can be tricky if you don’t have any relevant work experience or none at all. But considering your experience is the ‘meat’ of your CV, employers know everyone has to start somewhere. So the objective behind writing your first ever resume should be to highlight your skills and motivations and create an effective enough CV, so you find a job with no previous experience. With this being said, keep reading to learn how to make a resume with no work experience.

Write an impressive RESUME SUMMARY

It is very tricky to know what to put on a resume for your first job so that it stands out when you don’t have any work experience. And a key section that has to appear on your CV is a brief introduction about yourself, also called a resume summary. Thankfully, you can write a resume summary even if you don’t have any experience as the idea is to highlight your skills and education and link them to the job position you are applying to. The following is an example of a resume summary for a marketing job.

Digital Marketing recent graduate of a highly ranked university, passionate about promoting brands and marketing products to businesses and consumers. Highly-capable leader having led multiple class projects and therefore gained knowledge in sales and marketing integrated skills such as Website Analytics tools, SEO tools and Content Creation tools.

In this example you’re highlighting accomplishments as well as the relevant skills for the job. You’re also showing you’re a motivated candidate. Most importantly, you’re including digital marketing keywords such as ‘Website Analytics’ tools that will help you enormously when trying to catch your employer’s attention and passing an automated application system that the company might use to select relevant CVs. This leads me onto the next crucial aspect to consider if you’re wondering how to make a resume with no work experience and that stands out.

Include Resume KEYWORDS

Including resume keywords is important when you write a resume for your first job. As previously mentioned, some hiring managers use an Applicant Tracking System to scan resumes and get rid of the irrelevant ones. It is important that, in order for your CV to get through this system, you look for the main keywords that suit the position you’re applying for and include them all throughout your resume. It is as simple as googling a list of these keywords and strategically inserting them in every section of your CV.

Show your relevant SKILLS

How to make a resume with no work experience and fill a whole blank page is the top question first-time job seekers ask. Thankfully, companies are looking for much more than work experience. They want to hire someone that shows they are a perfect fit for the job with not only work experience, but also an exceptional educational background and a proven relevant skill set. The skills, tools and essential qualities that you’ve learned when taking a course or completing a degree can help you demonstrate to your employer what you have to offer if hired. A good tip is to tie your skills to your education and evidence you’ve practiced them, for example, in a project at school.

Here is an example of how you could show your skills:

Content Creation: Created 10 SEO-optimized articles for a potential Clothing website as a project in my last year of college.

STRUCTURE your CV correctly

A recruiter will spend only a few seconds scanning your CV. Hence, why your goal should be to create a resume that’s easy to read and that highlights the most important and relevant skills for the job opening. Your contact information should be at the very top followed by a strong summary statement, that would be your resume summary, that grabs the reader’s attention.

Let each section consist of up to 5 bullet points describing your skills and achievements. A good piece of advice is to create an impact by adding numbers to as many bullet points as possible. Finally, make it chronological as it is more likely to pass the ATS scan. Read more in depth on how to structure your resume here.

Yes, you do have EXPERIENCE...

Volunteering experience, attending networking events, extracurricular activities and academic achievements all count as some sort of experience. The same way your skills will help you land your first job, your accomplishments can help you stand out from the rest of the candidates and grab the company’s attention.

Hopefully this article has answered ‘how to make a resume with no work experience’ in detail so you can put my advice into practice in your next job search. Remember everyone has to start somewhere, so it is not out of the ordinary or strange at all to submit a CV with no previous experience. Of course, it is up to you to make your resume as professional and as eye-catching as possible to amaze your employer and get called in for an interview!