How to Write a Resume with No Experience (Template Included)

By Mike Simpson

When you apply for a job, you usually have to submit a resume. The thing is, if you’ve never worked before, figuring how to make a resume with no experience under your belt seems impossible. Luckily, it isn’t.

Creating a resume with no experience is entirely doable. You just need to know how to approach it. So, if you’re in need of a no experience resume, here’s everything you need to know about writing one.

What Is a Resume?

Alright, before we dive into how to make a resume with no experience, let’s talk about what a resume is in the first place.

A resume is a formal document that outlines your professional qualifications. It gives a hiring manager insight into your capabilities, allowing them to estimate if you have what it takes to tackle the job they’re trying to fill.

In many ways, a resume is a marketing document. The main goal of your resume is to convince the hiring manager to bring you in for an interview. You’re selling the idea that you’re a great fit for the job by highlighting capabilities and past experiences that showcase why you’re awesome.

Traditionally, a resume is made up of several sections, including:

• • Contact information
  • Resume Summary
  • Skills
  • Work History / Professional Experience
  • Education

Those sections can be in different orders. However, each of them is typically present.

But if you don’t have any experience, how do you complete a “professional experience” section? Isn’t that impossible?

Now, it is true that having prior experience can certainly boost a job search. When you have highlight your experience on a resume, it shows the hiring manager that you can handle the responsibilities of the role, mainly by demonstrating that you’ve tackled similar tasks in the past.

Plus, many hiring managers require some amount of experience. They may have a particular number of years in mind or a necessary level of competence with a skill.

But the thing is, you might be able to meet those requirements even if you’ve never had a traditional job before. Experience can be gathered in all kinds of ways. Sure, a job is the classic approach; it just isn’t the only option.

Non-traditional experience can mean something, too. Volunteer work, school clubs, personal projects… those all count, especially if they helped you build valuable skills.

Is a hiring manager seriously going to hire someone without prior job experience? Yeah, they certainly might.

In reality, a candidate’s work history is only one part of a larger picture. Sure, experience in a similar job could be helpful, but there’s more to success than that. We’ll dig more into that in a minute.

What Hiring Managers Are Looking For

So, what are hiring managers looking for when they’re hiring? It’s a question every candidate asks. Well, the answer may surprise you.

Sure, hiring managers may seek out candidates with experience. Does that mean you can’t land a position if you’ve never had a job before? No, it doesn’t.

Most job seekers know about the classic catch 22, “You need a job to get experience, but you need the experience to get a job.” The thing is, that isn’t entirely true. At least, not in the way most people think of it.

“Experience” is a bit of an ambiguous concept. While it can certainly mean time spent working in a traditional workplace, it doesn’t always.

In many cases, hiring managers are less concerned about where your experience comes from. Instead, they simply want to know whether you have the right skills. Whether you acquired them in school, while volunteering, over the course of a personal project, or anything else doesn’t matter as much.

Non-work experience is still experience in the eyes of hiring managers. The trick is to make sure that you focus on relevant capabilities, showcasing them in the context of achievements.

Additionally, it’s crucial to understand it isn’t just about hard skills. Overall, 97 percent of employers said soft skills were as important or more important than technical prowess. That’s good news if you need to build a resume with no work experience.

Why do hiring managers value soft skills? Because they play a huge role in a candidate’s success. Passion for the field, a willingness to learn, the ability to communicate effectively… that matters a ton.

Job seekers that bring all of that to the table can often be molded into a great employee. They are open to new experiences, want to acquire new skills, and are well-equipped to work with others. As a result, the company can teach them to technical stuff.

Now, those aren’t the only soft skills that can provide value. In fact, a slew of soft skills can help you excel, so hiring managers may seek out a wide variety, depending on the nature of the job.

Another amazing point about soft skills; they are commonly transferable skills. While technical ability might only apply to certain jobs, soft skills may be useful just about anywhere. The hiring manager isn’t worried about where your soft skills come from; the fact that you have them is the critical part.

But that’s not all hiring managers are after. Culture fit is also essential.

A new hire needs to mesh with the workplace. If they have great soft skills coupled with values, motivations, and priorities that align with the company or team, their odds of fitting into the environment go up dramatically.

Again, you don’t need prior work experience to showcase yourself as an excellent culture fit. That can come across in your traits, personality, interests, and more.

When you’re writing a resume with no experience, those are the areas you need to focus on. By highlighting relevant skills – including those acquired in non-traditional ways – as well as how you fit into the picture, you can position yourself as a great candidate.

Common Mistakes

When you’re writing a resume with no work experience, it is possible to make some mistakes that cost you the job. Misrepresenting your experience is one of the biggest.

When you write your resume, it may be tempting to list your experience under a “work history” category or not be clear that the activities weren’t associated with a traditional job. While this may not seem like a massive deal, the hiring manager might interpret it as dishonesty. If they do, then you can probably kiss the job goodbye.

Luckily, this is a pretty simple mistake to avoid. By using “Professional Experience” instead of “Work History” on your resume, you give yourself some leeway.

With that approach, you’ll have the ability to add points that aren’t necessarily related to a traditional job while remaining completely honest on your application. As long as the activities had some level of structure or formality and they are relevant to the role, you can classify it as “professional experience.”

Additionally, describe the role accurately. If you were volunteering, list “volunteer” in the job title. If it was a personal project, you can use an associated title but add “personal project” in parenthesis. If you want to be extra cautious, you can create a separate “Personal Projects” section on your resume, eliminating all doubt about the nature of the activities.

Another huge misstep is not targeting the job in your resume. Overall, 60 percent of hiring managers notice whether candidates go the extra mile to customize the content of their application for the role. If you want to stand out from the competition, this step is a must.

Luckily, customizing your resume is simple. With the Tailoring Method, you get a strategic approach for taking a generic resume to the next level. It focuses on relevance, ensuring every detail in your application provides the hiring manager with value.

How to Write a Resume with No Experience

If you need to create a resume with no work experience to share, you need the right strategy. That way, you can tap on the critical points and position yourself as a great candidate, even if you’ve never held a traditional job.

Here is a step-by-step guide to help you write a resume with no experience:

1. Start with Your Contact Information

No matter what, your contact information should be at the top of your resume. You need to include your name, phone number, and email address at a minimum. It’s also wise to add your city and state, but the rest of your address isn’t necessary.

If you already have a LinkedIn profile set up, you can add a link to it. However, this isn’t necessary if you don’t have much content there.

If you’re going for a creative position, adding a link to a web-based portfolio could be a great move. It gives the hiring manager a quick way to explore examples that showcase your capabilities, giving you a chance to separate yourself from the competition.

2. Write a Resume Summary

After your contact information, create a new “Resume Summary” section. It’s an incredibly versatile spot on your resume. You can highlight relevant capabilities, as well as discuss your career objectives, making this the perfect option if you don’t have any traditional work experience.

3. Add a Skills Section

Once your resume summary is done, add a “Skills” section. Here, you can create a bullet point list of relevant technical capabilities and traits.

Use the job description to figure out which skills should be listed first. Relevancy is important, so concentrate on capabilities the hiring manager explicitly said they were after in the job ad.

4. Discuss Higher Education (Optional)

If you don’t have any on-the-job experience, but you do have a related college degree, professional certificate, certifications, or similar training, you might want to make your “Education” section the next part of your resume. This approach is incredibly popular among new grads, as it lets you show that you have some expertise in the field, even if you haven’t worked in the industry yet.

Begin by listing the degree, certificate, or certification, including when it was earned and the school you attended. Then, add a few bullet points outlining relevant coursework.

You can also include your GPA. However, this is normally only a good idea if your GPA is likely to impress. If you’ve got a 3.5 or higher, then including it might work in your favor. If it’s a 3.4 or below, you may want to leave it off.

Now, this approach may not work if you don’t have post-high school education or training. If that’s the case, leading off with your relevant experience may serve you better. Then, once you’ve covered that, you can add an education section to show that you’re a high school graduate, GED holder, or high school student.

5. Add Your Professional Experience

There are numerous non-traditional ways to gather experience. Volunteering, internships, school clubs, membership organizations, and school sports teams may all be worth including, particularly if they help you highlight relevant skills.

In some cases, longer school-related projects may also work. This can include academic endeavors, as well as overseeing other activities, like charity drives.

Reflect on every association, group, or organization you’ve been involved with to pick out the ones that could be worth including. Then, identify a relevant achievement that showcases the skills you want the hiring manager to know you have.

6. Describe Personal Projects Separately (Optional)

In some cases, listing your personal projects in a separate section is a smart move. It lets you make it clear that these were activities you took on because you wanted to, not because they were related to a role.

If you go this route, start a new section, titling it “Personal Projects.” Then, you can briefly describe any relevant ones that highlight your capabilities.

7. Target the Content

While you may initially want to create a broader resume that captures any potentially relevant skill or achievement, it’s wise to refine the document before you submit it to a hiring manager. Look for keywords in the job description and use those as a guide.

Focus on the points that genuinely align with what the hiring manager is after by reordering the bullets. Additionally, cut anything that doesn’t match with the role, ensuring there aren’t any unnecessary details.

8. Adjust Your Formatting

While you want to have your core formatting in place as you create your resume, you may need to refine a few points when you’re done. Ideally, you want to use font size changes, bolding, italics, and bullet points effectively, ensuring your resume is readable.

Additionally, you want to ensure there’s enough whitespace. This lets the eyes breathe, making it easier to skim the document.

If you want to take a deep dive into resume formatting, we’ve created an in-depth resume format guide. Take a moment to check it out so that you can create a resume that ticks all of the boxes.

Resume With No Experience Template

If you’re looking for resume with no experience examples, we’ve got you covered. Here’s a sample no experience resume:

Putting It All Together

Ultimately, the tips and examples above should give you a solid idea of how to write a resume with no experience. Use it all to your advantage. That way, you can create an application that will catch the hiring manager’s eye, even if you’ve never formally held a job in your target field.

Good luck!