How to write a résumé with no experience, with examples

Writing your first résumé when you have never had a "real" job can feel like starting from a blank page. (In the UK it's called a CV; the advice is the same, and the differences are flagged below.) Yet an employer opening a graduate's résumé does not expect a ten-year career. They are looking for evidence that you can learn, get organised and follow through. You already have that evidence: you just need to present it in the right order, with the right words.

What the recruiter looks at first

A résumé is not read, it is scanned. An eye-tracking study by the job site Ladders measured how long recruiters spend on a résumé during the first screen.

In those seconds, the eye catches your name, your headline, the section headings and the first words of each line. Everything that matters has to be there: a clear headline, a short summary, and lines that open with a result rather than a generic phrase.

The right structure when you are starting out

With no work experience, flip the usual order: your strongest material goes first.

1. Headline and summary. Under your name, a one-line headline naming the role you are targeting ("Graduate Marketing Assistant"), then two or three lines on who you are and what you are looking for.
2. Education. Degree, university, year, and one line on what is relevant to the job (major, dissertation, final-year project). In the UK, give your degree classification, achieved or predicted ("predicted 2:1"); in the US, add your GPA if it is 3.5 or above, or whenever the employer asks for it.
3. Projects and experience. Internships, placements, coursework projects, part-time jobs, volunteering, personal projects: anything that produced a result.
4. Skills. Tools, languages, certifications, with an honest level.
5. Interests. Only if they say something useful about you.

Turning what you have done into experience

The trap is describing tasks. "Served customers, handled the till" says nothing about you. The same job, described by what it achieved, becomes evidence.

For each line, ask yourself two questions: what did I actually do? And what changed because of it? A number (people, budget, time, percentage) makes a line credible. If you have no number, a concrete outcome works: "site still used by the club two years later".

Writing a summary that makes them read on

The summary is the first thing read after your name. Three lines are enough: where you are, what you can do, what you are looking for.

Business management graduate who spent two years coordinating the digital overhaul of a 300-member charity, from brief to launch. Looking for a first role as a junior project manager in a tech company, based in Bristol or hybrid.

That same summary will serve you in the interview when you are asked to tell them about yourself: a résumé and an introduction that tell the same story reassure the interviewer.

Skills: prove them, don't pile them up

A list of twenty skills convinces no one. Keep the ones the job ad asks for and that you can prove, and give an honest level.

• Tools: name them precisely ("Excel: pivot tables, XLOOKUP") rather than "proficient in Microsoft Office".
• Languages: say it plainly with a level ("Spanish: fluent (C1)"), or give a test score if you have one.
• Qualities: don't list them, show them in your experience. "Detail-oriented" can't be read; a budget balanced to the penny can.

Many employers first run applications through screening software (an ATS) that looks for the skills in the ad. If you have them, name them in the ad's own words rather than a synonym: the free ATS check shows you what this kind of software takes from your résumé.

The most common mistakes

• Spilling onto a second page for no reason. In the US, a graduate résumé is one page. In the UK, two pages is the usual CV length, but a graduate is better served by one strong page than two thin ones.
• An unprofessional email address. Create one like firstname.lastname@… for applications.
• Typos. Have someone else read it; you stop seeing your own mistakes.
• A busy layout. Skill bars, loud colours, text inside images: anything that slows a quick scan works against you. A clean sidebar, on the other hand, reads well.
• A photo, date of birth or marital status. Leave them off in the US and UK: it is not the custom, and employers prefer not to receive details they are not allowed to use.
• One résumé for every job. Tailor at least the headline, the summary and the order of your experience to each application.

Before you send it

Résumé ready? Pair it with a short cover letter, then move on to getting interviews.

Frequently asked questions

Should I include my high school or A-levels?

In the US, drop high school once you are at university, unless it adds something useful (a scholarship, an IB diploma). In the UK, keep one line for your A-levels (or equivalent) with grades: many graduate employers still look at them.

What should go under interests?

Something concrete: a sport played competitively, a regular commitment, a personal project. "Reading, films, travel" sets no one apart; better to leave the section out.

Should I include references?

No need to list them on the résumé, and "references available on request" wastes a line. Have two names ready (a lecturer, a former manager) in case you are asked.

What if I really did nothing outside my classes?

Your coursework is experience. A dissertation, a case study for a real company, a group project you saw through: describe them like assignments, with their goal and their result.