How To Write a Resume With Limited Work Experience

Whether you are still in school or a recent graduate, applying to jobs with limited work experience can be challenging. You might ask yourself what to put on your resume if you’ve never had a job, but there are ways you can fill up an entire page without any work experience.

Consider the following steps to create the best resume you can without ever being previously employed.

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Create an objective statement

An objective or summary statement can be a great way to explain to future employers what goals you wish to achieve in your career and what you want to focus on in your potential position.

In an objective statement, it is important to briefly explain what makes you an asset to the company that may potentially hire you. Describe how you can help them and what sets you apart from other applicants.

For example, explaining that you have an impeccable work ethic and the ability to learn quickly can set you apart from other candidates with similar credentials and experience as you. Of course, it’s important to be prepared to follow-up on your statement with hard evidence to back up your claims. If you truly are a hard-worker, then you should be able to easily give examples of when that was the case.

Expand your education section

While your education section would normally be much smaller on a resume with lots of previous work experience, it can be expanded and lengthened in this particular situation where you lack other things to write about. If you had a high GPA, academic awards or honors, or were part of any school clubs or activities, list all of these things in your resume to showcase to hiring managers what you’ve managed to accomplish while you were in school.

List all of your achievements

Even with no work experience, you can successfully land a job just by listing your achievements and activities that you do. Think about any achievements you’ve received over the years. This may include educational honors or sports accolades.

Also, consider listing some of the activities you do to show that you have an interest in the job you are applying for.

Extracurricular volunteering

Many companies take volunteer work seriously, especially because you are working for free for the good of the community and the people around you.

If you’ve never volunteered before, consider exploring various volunteering opportunities in your area.

List your skills

Many hiring managers like to get an understanding of what skills you think you have. Of course, the skills you list must be backed up by evidence and an explanation of how you developed these skills when you interview for the job.

Make sure you possess at least some of the skills that are required or preferred from the job posting and create a “skills” section on your resume where you list your skills and how you possessed and developed those skills over time.

If you need to develop hard-skills like a specific software, program, or other hard-skill, there are plenty of Best Online Jobs for Teens and tutorials that can help. Additionally, if you have taken online courses that developed your education and skill level, you can list these courses to show that you have gone above and beyond to learn more about the required skills in the job you want.

Include a cover letter

A cover letter that is included with your resume can help provide a clear explanation to the hiring manager about why they are about to look at a resume with no jobs listed. In your letter, you can further explain your extracurricular activities, education, skills, and achievements to increase your chances of getting an interview.

Instead of including phrases like “give me a chance,” you should focus more on why you believe you have what it takes to succeed in the position you are applying for.

Bonus tip: The interview

Your resume has one primary purpose, and that is to get to the next step of the hiring process – the interview.

The interview is your chance to show the hiring manager that you are confident and prepared for your future position at their company. If they were unsure about you after reading your resume, you could instill confidence in them by displaying self-confidence.

Have a “can-do” attitude in the interview and show them that you’re capable of working for them and ready to get started.