How to Make a Resume with No Experience

Are you a fresher or college student making your first resume? Not sure what to write in your Resume? 1millionresume.com has guided many freshers, and college students to make a resume with no experience.

Our AI Resume Builder helps you choose a resume template and format. By the end of this guide, you will know how to write a resume, what sections to include and what to write in them. We will make resume writing as interesting as possible.

I am assuming you are a fresher/college student looking for entry-level jobs. And you can’t get that job without resume. So let’s start this guide with what you already know 👇

Mandatory Resume Sections: Add them one by one

Contact Information

On top of your resume – you need to mention

1. Your Name in big size font
2. Email address
3. Contact number
4. Your city and country (complete address is not required)

Resume Education Section: Write your academic story

Start writing from your most recent education/degree and go all the way back to Intermediate and High schooling. You should include below detail for each education/qualification –

1. Degree (Example – Master of Business Administration)/ Bachelor’s Degree / Intermediate / High School
2. Discipline in case of graduate or postgraduate (Example – in Finance or Marketing)
3. College or school Name with address (only city and country)
4. Start Year of education/qualification
5. Completion Year of education/qualification

In case you have completed masters, putting masters and bacherlors details is sufficient and you can skip intermediate and high schooling.

Below is an education section example from our Glacier Chill Resume Template 👇

What to put in skills section of resume

You should write about your professional skills, technical skills, technical tools and soft skills in a simple comma-separated manner.

Kunal, I still don’t know what to write in my skills. I need help. – This is common if you are writing your first resume. So use the below formula –

1. Think about all the courses you have taken during your degree/education – is there a skill that you will use in your next job.
   Example from IT / Software – you must have studied 1 programming language, Data Structure and Algorithms. So you can write – “C, Java, Data Structure, Algorithms” in the skills section
   Example from MBA – say MBA in sales, then you might know – Market Analysis, Sales, Forecasting and Budgeting, Customer Relationship Management, Customer service etc. These you can write in the skills section
2. Have you gone through training/certifications? These are usually skill-oriented. So identify and list those skills under skills section.
3. Technical Tools – there are common tools like MS Office, MS Excel etc. Like this think about the tools that you know and if those will be used in next job. Add these as skills.
4. Soft Skills – these are equally important. I often see soft skills missing in resume. Common soft skills used by Freshers / Students are – Attention to Detail, Problem Solving, Analytical skills, Communication, Teamwork etc.

I assume, now you will be able to write skills section. If this doesn’t answer your question – please ask in comments and 1MillionResume will be happy to answer.

See Example of Skills section in sample below (right side)👇

Career objective in resume

Career objective tell the employer about your aspirations related to your career and next job. You can also mention your top skills, the industry you want to work in and the internship that you have completed.

My video has helped more than 125000 freshers and professionals in creating a suitable career objective and not just copy-paste from Google. Check Career Objective Video post.

Enthusiastic, confident and problem solving individual having knowledge of Java, Python and DBMS along with communication skills and time management skills. Aspiring to secure Software Engineer position with organisation that will provide me opportunities to learn, grow and benifit from my technical knowledge.

Career Objective example for Aspiring Software Engineer

This is a well-written career objective. Please check our 75 career objective examples according to the job.

How to include certification in resume: Certifications & Trainings

You can write your certifications and training bullet point-wise.

1. For Certificates – mention the name of the certification, the year of certification and who provided that certification (certification authority)
2. For Trainings – mention the training name, duration, training institute and your learnings from this training in the same sentence.

see certifications example below –

How to include projects in resume

90% of Freshers don’t use this powerful section because they don’t know. But you should. You don’t have any experience and projects give you a chance to show your competency in resume. Project section is widely used in IT Industry. These can be your personal project or side project as well which demonstrate the use of your skills. Let me tell you how can you write the projects in your resume –

You need to write the project name and description or a few points about your work on that project. Follow my formula for every project –

1. In the first bullet point write a description of the project or “What was the project about”
2. Second point – What you did do in that project, what were your role and responsibilities
3. Third point – which module/parts you have worked on and what technologies/skills you have used.

Take a look at the project section example below –

Language section in resume

Simply write about your spoken languages in comma comma-separated manner. No scale/icon or fancy stuff is needed.

Example – English, Hindi, Bengali

How to add Internship in resume

You should write your internship experience under the Work Experience section. You need to mention –

1. Your Role name (for example – Data Science Intern)
2. Company Name with address (city and country)
3. Duration in month-year format
4. 2-3 points about work you have done as an Intern

Not sure what to write in description? Here is 1MillionResume formula 👇

Write your top 3 responsibilities as 3 separate points. Even if it is one word, don’t worry I will show you – how can you write a whole bullet point from just 1 word.

So I am taking a Sales Intern example at 1MillionResume. The candidate’s top 3 responsibilities are

1. Preparing weekly reports
2. Calling and emailing new customers
3. Talking to potential business leads

Now I will elaborate on bullet point #1 to show you. Just ask yourself – what these reports are and for whom I am preparing these reports. Based on this if I enhance point no 1, it becomes

1. Prepare weekly new leads report, analyse free plan and premium plan sales and conversion for senior management.

Better than a few words? We can improve further by adding – What is the result of this?

1. Prepare weekly new leads report, analyse free and premium plan sales and conversion for senior management. This results in easy tracking of weekly and monthly sales for AI Resume Builder.

🔥So this is how you can convert a single word responsibility into a full bullet point for experience section. Repeat this for other points as well.

If you are still stuck, let me know in the comments.

Resume templates with no experience

You can create a simple resume FREE at 1millionresume.com. But this is the most used and most common resume template. Worry not, Pro Plan has awesome colorful resume templates which grab the recruiter’s attention immediately. Check these below

Resume sections to stand out: Add what you can

Resume Headline

For Fresher – it is a short version of the role and industry you are targetting.

Example – Aspiring Data Scientist

Extracurricular Activities in resume

If you have organised or co-ordinated any activity during college or any activity outside your studies, then this shows your potential and you can add these activities as bullet points. If you can come up with good points to write in this section, this can set you apart from your friends and peers.

Example 👇

Volunteer Experience on resume

Have you worked for NGO or Non-profit? You can mention that volunteering activity in your resume. Usually, these activities are for a few weeks to a few months. The structure of this section is similar to Experience section described earlier. if your volunteer work, uses your current skillset, It can be a great addition to your resume. Do highlight those skills used with context in your bullet points.

When I say ‘with context’ – I mean frame it like a proper sentance. In volunteer experience section, you need to write?

1. Your Role Name for Volunteership (Example – Volunteer IT Engineer)
2. Company or Institution with Address (city and country)
3. Duration of Volunteership
4. Description that tells about work you did as a volunteer

Strengths section

You can mention your top strengths like – Positive Attitude, Hard Working, Focused etc

Use this section if you don’t have enough details to fill 1 page or if you have a key strength that you want to highlight. Otherwise, give other sections a priority over this.

Hobbies and Interests section

You can add your Hobbies and Interests which can be relevant to your next Job.

You can write this in a comma-separated manner.

Again, use this section if you don’t have enough details to fill a one-page resume, else give other sections priority.

How to put Achievements on resume

You can write your academic or work-related achievements in this section. You can write Awards here too but if you have more than 3 awards, then you can choose to write them in a separate “Awards” section as well. Write your Achievements and Awards in a bullet-point manner.

Example –

10 most frequently asked questions

1. Should you write “Personal Information” like gender or date of birth, Parent’s name etc in Resume?

No. Personal Information should not be mentioned in resume because it creates a bias in hiring process. Countries like USA have a non-discrimination policy so if you are applying in the USA with personal information on resume – you will get rejected.

Now there can be exceptions to this rule. If your country has a common practice of asking about personal info like gender then you can mention that in “Other Information” section.

💡Our Recommendation – not to mention any personal information on resume and If recruiter needs it, they will ask.

2. How will you mention Visa status or Work Authorization in Resume?

In 1millionresume.com – you can include “Other Details” section where you can add your Work Authorization in another country or Visa Status. You can also mention any personal details if it is a must on resume.

3. How long should my resume be?

For college students, a one-page resume is usually sufficient. But you can go up to 2 pages if you have impactful items to showcase on your resume.

4. Should I include a cover letter?

Yes, a well-crafted cover letter can provide additional context and persuade employers to give your resume a closer look. In some countries and professions, cover letter is general practice. It is written in job description if you are expected to submit a cover letter. But in India, you don’t need cover letter.

5. What if I don’t have any work experience?

Focus on your skills, academic achievements, and extracurricular activities in your resume with no work experience. Recruiters and hiring managers are looking to see evidences of your skills. You can show these evidences by completing a course, completing a certification, achievement, doing projects or volunteership.

6. Should you write “Declaration” at the end of your Resume?

No. Writing a Declaration in Resume is an old tradition and is no longer needed. Companies assume the information mentioned on resume is correct and they will ask you to confirm this separately if they need it.

7. Do internships count as work experience

Your internship is training period where you are learning and getting familiar with the job and company. Now there is a bias if internship should be counted in your total experience. What I have seen – Internship is not counted in your total experience but if you are applying for job that requires 0-1 years of experience, your internship will be considered as experience.

8. Which resume template is best for freshers?

Students and early career professionals can use our free resume template. It looks simple and clean. Now because it is very common so recruiter will be seeing 5-6 shortlisted resume with this template. It doesn’t give you that edge or stand out.

You can use professional templates or modern templates which are designed to catch attention immediately. We recommend you use Glacier Chill resume template.

9. Why resume get rejected?

You may face rejection because of the following reasons

1. Your skills, role and experience don’t match with job requirements. Now it doesn’t have to be a perfect match but you should cover the key/primary skills and requirements of the job.
2. Poor formatting and presentation – your resume is always competing against 10 other shortlisted candidates who seem equally qualified. Then recruiter can reject you for a poorly formatted resume. You can fix this by using a good resume template.
3. Resume is not ATS friendly – If your resume can’t be read by recruitment software then it will be silently rejected and recruiter may not see it. All companies use software for recruitment process because they can’t read 300 resumes for every job. So pick a resume format that is ats friendly (software readable).

10. Are resume and cv different?

1. Yes. Resume is good for students and early career professionals who have experience between 0 to 6 years. Freshers’ resume focuses on skills and education. CV is for mid and senior career professionals with experience of more than 7 years.
2. CV is generally longer than resume, while most resumes are one to two pages long, CVs can be multiple pages long.
3. A resume is very targeted for a job but CV gives a comprehensive overview of a candidate’s academic and professional experience history.
4. Resumes typically have a chronological format, listing work experience and education in reverse chronological order. CVs follow a similar format but also include sections such as research experience, publications, academic projects, conferences attended, professional affiliations etc.

Conclusion

Creating a compelling college student resume may seem boring and challenging, but with our explained approach and formulas, you can write a resume to showcase your potential and get hired faster.

Don’t miss out on this golden opportunity. Experience the power of AI and create your resume today with 1MillionResume!

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