What to Put on a First-Job Resume

If you’re applying for your first job, your resume should sell your potential, not apologize for your past. The strongest first-job resumes make it easy to see your skills, education, and small wins in projects, activities, or volunteering. Lead with what proves you can show up, learn fast, and deliver results. Below is a practical guide—and a complete example you can model.

How Hiring Managers Read First-Job Resumes

Most reviewers scan, then read. On a first pass, they look for clear signals that you can perform and that your application fits the role. That means your layout and order matter. They’re hunting for a quick “yes” from your top third—your name, role-aligned objective/summary, strongest skills, and current education. If those align with the job, they’ll read deeper.

Signals they trust when you lack paid experience:

• Specific outcomes in projects or activities. “Designed a website for a local club; increased sign-ups by 28%” says more than “built a website.”

• Evidence of responsibility and consistency. Leadership roles, internships, part-time jobs, and volunteer work prove reliability.

• Skills they can use right away. Technical tools, languages, platforms, or soft skills tied to the role (customer service, data entry accuracy, inventory handling, cash-handling, basic Excel).

Your goal is to remove doubt. Every section should answer one quiet question in the reviewer’s head: “Can this person help here, now?” Keep your content role-specific, measurable where possible, and easy to skim.

What to Put on Your First-Job Resume (Core Sections)

Contact Information
Place it at the top, clean and compact: full name, phone, professional email, city/state (or city/country), and—only if it actually helps—the link to a portfolio or GitHub. Skip crowded lines of icons, quotes, or multiple addresses. If you include a portfolio, make sure it’s focused and complete.

Objective or Summary (2–3 lines max)
Use this when you’re early in your career. State your target role, strongest relevant skills, and the value you bring. Avoid generic claims (“hard-working team player”). Name the field and hint at outcomes.
Example: Entry-level customer service candidate with 300+ hours of front-desk volunteering, conflict-resolution training, and a 95% satisfaction score in student help-desk surveys; eager to help [Company] reduce response times and improve first-contact resolution.

Education
Put your current or most recent education near the top until you’ve earned 1–2 years of professional experience. Include degree or program, institution, location, and expected or actual graduation date. Add relevant coursework if it proves role-ready knowledge (e.g., Accounting I & II for a junior bookkeeping role, Intro to Programming for an IT support role). Include GPA only if it helps (typically ≥3.5 or notable improvement). You can add scholarships or awards as short, one-line achievements.

Skills (Tailored, Not a Dump)
List 8–12 skills that map to the job description, mixing technical and interpersonal abilities. For example, a retail associate might show: POS operation, inventory checks, cash reconciliation, customer communication, complaint handling, basic spreadsheets. Group skills by theme (e.g., Technical | Service | Tools) to help readers find matches fast. Avoid unproven claims; if you list it, be ready to demonstrate it.

Projects (Your Proof of Work)
This section replaces “experience” when you’re starting out. Pick 2–3 projects that produced visible outcomes. For each, include title, context (course, club, or personal), tools used, and one to two concise results.
Example: Redesigned school club signup flow; reduced average signup time from 3 minutes to 45 seconds using Google Forms and clear CTAs; participation grew from 42 to 68 in one semester.

Experience (Internships, Part-Time, Volunteering)
Experience is more than paid employment. If you’ve staffed events, assisted at a campus office, helped a family business, or supported a fundraiser, it counts when described with outcomes. Use action verbs and numbers where possible: served, organized, processed, resolved, improved. One to two lines per role can be enough if the result is concrete.

Achievements & Leadership
Show positions of trust (class representative, team captain, club treasurer) and small wins that reflect the role (e.g., balanced a $1,000 club budget without discrepancies; coordinated 12-vendor event; trained two new volunteers). This section turns “no experience” into “proven responsibility.”

Certifications or Training (Optional)
Only include items relevant to the role: e.g., First Aid/CPR for childcare roles, Food Handler for hospitality, Google Workspace or Excel basics for office support, customer service training for retail. The aim is to show readiness, not decorate the page.

Building Experience Without Jobs

Create evidence through small, fast projects. You don’t need a payroll record to demonstrate capability. Use clubs, community, coursework, or personal initiatives to produce outcomes you can measure. A weekend project can become a convincing bullet:

• Created a simple inventory spreadsheet for a neighborhood food drive; reduced missing items by 40% over two events.

• Wrote step-by-step desk guides for the student help-desk; cut average ticket handling time from 9 to 6 minutes.

• Managed social posts for a local art meetup; increased RSVPs from 12 to 21 in one month.

Quantify wherever possible. If you can’t measure in percentages, use scale and frequency: “served 30–50 customers per shift,” “sorted 200 library books per week,” “resolved 15 tickets daily.” Numbers make early experience feel real.

Write results using the mini-STAR method.
Situation, Task, Action, Result—boil it down to one line that starts with an action verb and ends with a result.
Example: Coordinated volunteer shifts (A) for a campus blood drive (S/T); filled 100% of slots two weeks early and increased donor turnout by 18% (R).

Tailor every resume to the role. For a retail job, highlight customer service, point-of-sale, cash accuracy, and stock checks. For office support, emphasize spreadsheets, email etiquette, calendar coordination, and document formatting. Your first 6–8 skills and the top project should mirror the job description’s language—as long as it’s true for you.

Keep it honest. Don’t inflate titles or claim tools you can’t use. If an employer mentions something you listed, you need a 30-second demo or story ready. Trust is your most valuable currency when you’re starting out.

Formatting and ATS Optimization

One page is perfect at this stage. Recruiters expect a concise, scannable page for entry-level roles. Use a simple, readable font (e.g., Calibri, Arial, Georgia) at 10.5–12 pt for body, 13–16 pt for headings. Margins between 0.5″ and 1″ keep the page airy. Bold sparingly to guide the eye to role-relevant words.

Order sections by strength. If your projects are stronger than your experience, put Projects above Experience. If a technical certification is your best proof of fit, raise it higher. Your top third should “win the scan.”

Write bullets like mini outcomes. Avoid task lists (“responsible for…”). Start with a verb, end with a result, and include tools or scale where it helps: “Processed 200+ inventory items weekly in Excel; cut missing SKUs by 12%.”

Name your file professionally using the job title when possible: Firstname-Lastname-FirstJob-Resume.pdf. PDF is often safest for preserving layout; if a posting requests DOCX or an online form, follow that instruction. Always keep a plain-text version for forms that strip formatting.

Use keywords naturally for ATS. Scan the job description. Mirror exact skill phrases that reflect your real abilities (e.g., “customer escalation,” “cash handling,” “inventory cycle counts,” “Excel data entry,” “front-desk reception”). ATS looks for overlaps, but humans decide—so keep sentences clear and results concrete.

Common first-job mistakes to avoid:

• Crowding the page with five columns, icons, and graphics reduces readability and can break in ATS.

• Listing every class and club instead of curating what fits the role.

• Empty skill labels like “communication skills” with no proof; show them through outcomes in projects or roles.

• Typos—they are instant credibility killers. Proofread slowly once on screen and once out loud.

What recruiters look for vs. how you can show it

If your resume is still short, add substance, not fluff. Build a quick weekend project, help a local group, or document a process others can reuse. Real output beats generic adjectives every time.

Complete First-Job Resume Example

Below is a complete, one-page example designed for a student or recent graduate applying to entry-level customer service or retail roles. Use the structure, not the exact wording—rewrite details so they truthfully reflect your own wins.

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JORDAN RIVERA
City, State • 555-123-4567 • [email protected]
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jordanrivera • Portfolio: jordanrivera[dot]portfolio

Objective
Entry-level customer service candidate with 300+ hours at the campus help-desk, a 95% satisfaction score, and cash-handling experience from student events. Eager to help a retail team reduce wait times and improve first-contact resolution.

Education
B.A., Communications — State University, City, State — Expected May 2026
Relevant coursework: Customer Psychology, Business Writing, Intro to Data Analysis
Awards: Dean’s List (2 semesters)

Skills
Customer communication, POS operation, cash reconciliation, inventory checks, conflict de-escalation, email etiquette, basic spreadsheets, ticketing systems (basic), team coordination

Projects
Student Services Help-Desk Guides — State University (2024)
Wrote six step-by-step desk guides (password resets, ID reprints, locker requests). Trained two new volunteers and reduced average ticket handle time from ~9 to 6 minutes during midterm rush. Tools: Google Docs, shared drive, basic ticket tags.

Club Event Registration Flow — Campus Arts Society (2024)
Simplified online sign-ups and QR check-in; increased event RSVPs from 42 to 68 over one month. Tools: Google Forms, Canva for posters, basic spreadsheet tracking.

Experience
Front-Desk Volunteer — Student Services Center (2024–present)
Greeted and assisted 30–50 students per shift; answered common questions, escalated complex issues appropriately, and maintained accurate visit logs. Helped pilot a ticket-tagging approach that cut repeat visits by ~12%.

Events Assistant (Part-Time) — Campus Athletics (Fall 2023)
Set up and broke down equipment for home games; operated basic POS at the concessions stand; balanced cash drawers to a 100% match across four events; coordinated with a team of six to speed lines between quarters.

Leadership & Activities
Treasurer — Communications Club (2024–present)
Managed a $1,000 semester budget without discrepancies; negotiated vendor quotes and ensured on-time payments.

Volunteer — City Food Drive (2023–2024)
Maintained a donation inventory spreadsheet and labeled items; reduced missing items by ~40% across two drives.

Certifications
Customer Service Basics (campus workshop, 6 hours, 2024) • First Aid/CPR (valid through 2026)

References
Available upon request

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Why this resume works:

• It leads with proof. The objective mentions satisfaction scores and cash-handling, which most entry-level customer service roles value.

• Projects replace missing jobs. Each project ties an action to a measurable result. This is the heart of a no-experience resume.

• Skills match the likely job description. POS, inventory, reconciliation, and communication are immediately visible.

• Numbers are everywhere, but honest. They show scale and outcomes without exaggeration.

• Layout is simple and scannable. Headings are clear; no dense blocks of icons or graphics.

How to tailor this example to another field:

• For office/admin: emphasize spreadsheets, document formatting, calendar coordination, phone etiquette, data entry accuracy, and proofreading. Replace projects with items like “Converted paper intake forms to fillable PDFs; cut manual retyping by 50%.”

• For entry-level IT support: highlight basic troubleshooting, hardware setup, ticketing systems, password policies, and small network tasks. Projects might include “Set up a home lab; documented a printer install guide used by classmates.”

• For hospitality: bring forward guest interaction, upselling, food safety basics, and shift teamwork. Projects could be “Designed table-turn process for a fundraiser; reduced average wait by 6 minutes.”

Final polish before you apply: print your resume to PDF, check spacing and line breaks, and read it aloud. If every bullet ends with a clear outcome, you’re ready.