Writing a resume with no experience can be a challenge. Your resume serves as your first impression when applying for a job, showcasing your skills, qualifications, and potential to prospective employers. However, what happens when you’re just starting out and have little to no professional experience to highlight?
Many people find themselves in this situation, feeling unsure of how to present themselves effectively to employers. The good news is that having no experience doesn’t mean you have nothing to offer. It simply means you need to approach your resume differently.
Many employers understand that entry-level candidates may not have much job experience, and they value other qualities such as dedication, adaptability, and a willingness to learn.
To find out more opinions about this topic, we hired Minuca Elena to reach out to 14 career coaches to ask them the following question:
What are your top three tips for writing a resume when you have no experience?
We received a variety of answers that focus on skills, non-paid experience (internship, volunteering, school projects, etc), and how to write a resume in a professional way. Keep reading to see what the experts had to say.
Leah Lambart – Relaunch Me
My top three tips for writing a resume without any experience include the following:
Include a ‘skills’ section on the front page that highlight the relevant skills that you have developed through other aspects of your life. This might include skills such as teamwork, leadership, relationship building, conflict resolution, and communication from experience during studies (school/university), team sports, individual sports, music, drama, or other extra-curricular activities.
If you don’t have relevant work experience to put on your resume, then expand on any relevant experience gained as part of your studies. For example, you might provide more detail about a particular assignment or project that you worked on or a problem that you solved as part of your course.
Make sure you include any extra-curricular activities, volunteer work, or other relevant achievements that demonstrate that you have been keeping busy even if you don’t have any relevant experience.
Matthew Warzel – MJW Careers
When writing a resume with no prior experience, it’s essential to focus on highlighting your skills, education, and any relevant experiences or achievements.
First, emphasize transferable skills! Although you may lack specific work experience, you likely possess valuable skills gained through education, extracurricular activities, volunteer work, or personal projects.
Identify and emphasize transferable skills such as communication, problem-solving, teamwork, leadership, organization, and adaptability. Provide concrete examples of how you have demonstrated these skills in different contexts.
Second, highlight education and relevant coursework. When lacking professional experience, your educational background becomes a significant asset. Include relevant coursework, projects, research papers, or academic achievements that align with the position you’re applying for.
Highlight any relevant skills or knowledge gained during your education that can contribute to the desired role.
Third, showcase relevant experiences and achievements! Even if you haven’t held formal employment, you may have engaged in internships, part-time jobs, volunteer work, or extracurricular activities that demonstrate your capabilities and dedication.
Include any relevant experiences and highlight the skills and accomplishments gained from them. Focus on responsibilities, accomplishments, and any results you achieved, showcasing your ability to contribute positively in various settings.
Remember to tailor your resume to each specific job application, using keywords from the job description and aligning your skills and experiences with the requirements of the position.
Additionally, consider including a strong and concise summary or objective statement at the beginning of your resume to capture the reader’s attention and highlight your motivation and potential contributions.
Lucyna Polok – Europe Language Jobs
Focus on transferable skills
Transferrable skills are skills that can be applied in many professions across various industries, such as time management, work organisation, communication, attention to detail, teamwork, or leadership.
These skills are in high demand among employers because they can’t be taught as easily as hard skills such as the use of specific software. You either are organised or a good communicator or you’re not, so it’s invaluable to show off these skills on your resume.
Demonstrate real-life examples
Previous employment is not the only source of experience. Participation in all kinds of projects, completed courses, or internships are all great examples of relevant experience. Think about everything you did in the past to help kick-start your career and focus on that.
Build your resume around skills rather than work experience
You don’t need to structure your CV in the classic way. These days, skills-based resumes are becoming more common – especially among those with no experience.
In the end, it is the skills employers care about. Previous positions are only meant to demonstrate how you got them. Find a template of a “skills-based resume” online and build your own in a similar way.
Ida Pettersson – Resume Genius
Here are my tips on how to write a resume with no experience:
Many job seekers find resume writing to be a daunting task, and it can be especially challenging if you’re a student or recent graduate. However, a lack of work experience doesn’t necessarily mean you’re at a disadvantage compared to more experienced applicants.
My first tip for writing a resume with no experience is to use a chronological resume format but replace the “work experience” section with a “relevant experience” section. List volunteer work, internship roles, or student government positions you’ve held from most recent to least recent. Include bullet points that describe what you achieved in each role.
Secondly, I recommend expanding your education section to include relevant coursework, achievements, and your GPA (if it’s 3.5 or higher). When you don’t have any work experience, your academic accomplishments will likely be your best selling point.
Finally, if you’re struggling to fill a full page, include additional sections on your resume. Some sections you can add include awards, publications, languages, extracurriculars, or certifications. Personal projects can also be a great addition. For example, if you’re applying for a job in web development, highlight coding projects you’ve been working on in your free time to demonstrate your abilities.
Kimberley Tyler-Smith – Resume Worded
When crafting a resume without any prior job experience, it’s important to shift your focus toward highlighting your education, transferable skills, and relevant achievements.
Instead of dwelling on the lack of work experience, you can still create an impressive resume by leveraging your academic accomplishments, both in and out of school. Consider including notable achievements, such as academic awards or projects demonstrating your abilities and dedication.
Moreover, don’t underestimate the value of extracurricular activities, volunteer work, or even non-formal jobs you may have undertaken.
These experiences can showcase your transferable skills and commitment. Be sure to provide specific examples of any leadership roles or responsibilities you have assumed, whether within your educational institution or elsewhere.
Additionally, include a dedicated section for “Skills” to highlight your technical proficiencies, software knowledge, or language skills relevant to the job you’re applying for.
To create a strong first impression, include a summary or objective statement at the beginning of your resume. This will not only express your career aspirations but also convey the value you can bring to a potential employer.
Tailor your resume to match the job requirements you’re applying for, and utilize a clean and professional template that effectively presents your information.
Mark Herschberg – The Career Toolkit
When I was graduating college I had no real experience. From having interviewed hundreds of college students myself later in my career I can tell you you call look the same. Everyone in your major, at your school and others, takes pretty much the same classes and so looks more or less the same.
However, I had something unique on my resume–a certificate from the New England School of Professional Bartending. Every interviewer asked me about that; it made me unique and memorable.
Try to have something unique on your resume, such as a hobby, volunteer work, or other activity. Playing the violin or working at a local soup kitchen is great, but not unique. Playing the spoons or doing a local river cleanup is far less common. While you can’t learn some uncommon instrument overnight, you can start and list it as “learn to . . .” on your resume.
As you get older your unique experience will differentiate you from others. When you have no experience, it’s the filler items that will make you unique.
Jenny Palmer – Eggcellent Work
When you have no experience, it can be hard to know where to start. Here are my top three tips:
Start with a summary of your skills. This is especially important if you’re applying for jobs that require specific skills (like web development). Since you don’t have any experience yet, this is your opportunity to tell the employer why they should hire you anyway.
Summarize your skills in the most relevant way possible. Don’t worry about being too brief—you can always expand on each point in more detail later on.
Make sure your resume is well-structured and easy to read. Use common formatting conventions and make sure it’s easy to scan quickly for important information. And don’t forget about including relevant keywords in the job description section. This way, you’ll make sure that your resume is tailored to the role you want to pursue!
Make sure you highlight anything that makes you stand out from other applicants. For example, if you have a certification or something else that shows off how much time and effort you’ve put into getting better at something, definitely include it! A well-written resume is what sets you apart from other applicants. Make sure it’s as good as it can be!
Nate Nead – Recruiters
Here are three tips that’ll help for writing a resume when you have no experience:
First up, focus on your skills and abilities! You might not have any official work experience, but everyone can boast some pretty impressive skills. Make sure to highlight those in your resume – it will give employers an idea of what you bring to the table.
Education is another important factor. Recent graduates should put emphasis on academic achievements (e.g., graduation honors), relevant coursework, and projects completed. Don’t forget the details – these will show off what makes you stand out from other applicants!
Lastly, extracurricular activities count for more than just fun! They are also excellent opportunities for developing practical skills or gaining industry-specific knowledge. If your volunteer work or extracurriculars are related somehow to the job description- include them too! And don’t forget leadership roles – they demonstrate teamwork capability required by many workplaces in most fields.
Aleksandar Ginovski – Enhan CV
Graduates often lack the necessary work experience to impress hiring managers. This is a perfect scenario to use the functional resume. Then, you’ll be free to highlight your many talents without having to stress your employment record.
Also, if you don’t have any work experience but still want to apply for a job, you might try combining a functional resume with a targeted resume. You can go as detailed as you like in outlining the ways in which your talents and experience will benefit the organization. You’ll have an advantage over the other students because of this.
Confidence in the position is an easy way to win over the recruiter in a cover letter. An effective CV will include, among other things, a list of relevant keywords. The issue arises when personnel performs these actions in an Applicant Tracking System. Make sure your resume is 100% ATS-friendly.
Consider your past experiences and what you did that could be used as a transferable talent. The ability to write well, demonstrate responsibility in other contexts, juggle various goals, and display sound judgment are all examples.
Don’t assume you know what counts as a transferable skill unless you know the nature of the job for which you’re applying.
Matt Erhard – Summit Search Group
Here are my top three tips for how to write a resume when you have no relevant professional experience:
Emphasize growth, adaptability, and drive.
Drawing on your transferrable skill sets and soft skills, in general, is a smart move when you’re applying for a job with no experience. In particular, though, many companies that hire inexperienced workers are looking for employees who are willing and eager to learn and build their careers with the company.
It’s one thing to say you’re a fast learner or have a growth mindset, but if you can demonstrate that on your resume that’s even better.
Include experience gained through volunteering, clubs, or other non-professional contexts.
You don’t need to get paid for something for it to count as experience. If you’ve used the skills required for the role in other contexts, this is absolutely something to include on your resume.
For example, if you’ve helped to publicize or organize events on a volunteer basis, or held a leadership role with a school club, this can demonstrate your ability to use your skills for an organization to their standards and deadlines.
Get as much relevant education as you can.
Having a degree in the field is the most impactful education credential from a hiring manager’s standpoint. There are also professional certifications in many industries that can demonstrate niche skill sets, while also proving your dedication to the industry and desire to learn as much as you can about it.
Having certifications in addition to a degree can help your resume stand out, even among others that do have professional experience to show.
Eva Chan – CV Genius
Everyone starts somewhere, and employers are aware that entry-level candidates may lack experience. What they’re looking for is evidence of potential, motivation, and fit. That being said, here are my three top tips for writing a resume with no experience:
To show you’re a proactive go-getter who is resourceful and willing to learn new skills, get online certifications.
In today’s digital era, online platforms like Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, and Udemy offer a huge range of free and paid courses. Completing relevant courses and adding these certificates to your resume is a powerful way to demonstrate initiative, eagerness to learn, and industry-specific knowledge, even if you don’t have formal work experience yet.
If you’ve participated in clubs, sports, or volunteer activities, use these times to emphasize your transferable skills. For instance, successfully navigating a team project or leading a club event reveals abilities like teamwork, leadership, and problem-solving.
But instead of just listing these skills, write examples about when you’ve used them in action in your resume’s bullet points (or in your cover letter). Give a vivid account of a real-life situation and what you learned.
Demonstrating your enthusiasm in your job application tells employers that you’re genuinely excited to join their team. So always customize each resume and cover letter to show you understand that specific company’s needs and what the role entails.
Don’t forget to share why you’re interested in this industry, company, or role and express your desire to grow and contribute within that specific field.