You have no or very little professional experience and you are looking for a student job or a first job? In this article, we guide you to create a professional resume for beginners. We've all been there, as a resume is a prerequisite for getting a job interview. Even without experience, you can still put forward information that will help recruiters understand your skills. What personal information should you put forward to find a job? How to build a relevant first resume? How can you stand out without any professional experience? Here are our tips.
Include your skills in the other sections of your resume
If you don't have a career path that has already provided you with skills, you can expand on the other sections of your resume, such as your education, and add some new ones, such as languages, soft skills and interests.
Emphasize your educational background
A professional with 2 or 3 years of experience will develop the "professional experience" section, while he/she can be more succinct about his/her training. But for you, it is in this "education" section that everything is at stake! To attract the recruiter's attention, it is better to detail it well. What key skills did you develop during your training? What subjects did you learn that you think would interest the recruiter? What school projects have allowed you to develop skills that are useful for the position you are applying for? Whether you are applying for a job on your own or in response to a job posting, always try to put yourself in the recruiter's shoes when choosing the educational experiences you will talk about.
Create a catchphrase
It is like a trailer for your resume! In a few words, you can highlight your strong points for the job offer and tell the recruiter the purpose of your application in this short paragraph. You can actually use the one from your LinkedIn profile, if it's consistent with the offer.
💡 For inspiration, here is an article dedicated to catchphrases.
Create an "interests" section in your resume
Yes, they are important! Your interests indicate what you like to do in your free time, what you enjoy doing, and that's elements that allow recruiters to know you better.
💡 To learn more, here is an article dedicated to interests.
Create a "skills" section in your resume
They can allow the recruiter to better understand your skills and personality, especially via soft skills!
💡 To learn more about existing skills and how to present them in your resume, here is an article dedicated to resume skills and another to soft skills.
Include work experience
If you've ever done internships or volunteering, don't hesitate to highlight these accomplishments in your resume! Did you pick shallots for 5 days? Accompanied your parents in sorting clothes? Helped organize a sporting event? Have you ever been given responsibilities or missions? All these experiences can be discussed! Of course, you can make a selection of the most relevant ones in relation to the organization or the job offer.
➡️ For example, if you're applying in the agribusiness and even foodtech sector, it might be interesting to talk about that shallot-picking experience, which indicates a hands-on understanding of the farming business.
Work on the layout
For your job search or internship search, you can also focus on the formatting of your resume. As mentioned above, you can include several headings but also play with the design, colors, fonts and keywords in your resume.
Make an original resume
If you are applying for a job that requires creative and innovative skills, you can try an original layout to build a resume. This is particularly true for creative jobs such as graphic designer, photographer, illustrator, but also in marketing, communication or event management. You can include icons, colors, illustrations, graphics. Thanks to tools like illustrator, photoshop or canva, you can create a graphic resume.
Use key words
You can also construct sentences using key words found on the organization's website or in the job posting.
➡️ For example, if the words "taste for challenge" and "team spirit" appear in the offer, you can use them to talk about your skills if they are consistent with your person, of course!
➡️ If values such as "authenticity", "audacity" and "benevolence" are values communicated by the company and in which you recognize yourself, you can use them to write your catchphrase or talk about your soft skills for example.
Watch out for spelling mistakes
Being a beginner in professional life will not be an excuse, spelling mistakes will not make it easier for you to get an interview! So make sure you proofread your resume before sending it.
Follow a chronology
Presenting your academic and professional background in chronological order in your resume is very important to allow the recruiter to follow your career path.
Spacing out
To make your presentation more readable, try to make your resume nice and airy.
2 examples of cv layout
💡 There are also many downloadable resume templates and free resume templates on the internet that you can take inspiration from, for the layout!
An example of a resume without experience
Here is a sample resume of a student in bts, looking for a job in the energy renovation sector.
Julien Le Cerf
+XX XX XX XX XX XX
julien.leclerf@gmail.com
37 000 Tours
Title
Business Developer in alternation
About me
I am a student in my 2nd year of a BTS in Business Management and I am convinced of the positive impact of building renovation in the transition. I would like to challenge myself and learn my job at [COMPANY NAME], for a 1-year work-study program starting in September 2023.
Training
2023-2024 (in progress)
BTS Commercial Management
Development of customer relations and sales advice
Animation and dynamization of the commercial offer
Operational management
Management of a sales team
General subjects: general culture, economic, managerial, legal, English.
Webmarketing
WordPress and PrestaShop training
Since 2021
Self-training on the energy transition
Reading of the Shift Project's Plan for the Transformation of the French Economy
Reading of all the Shift Project reports in the building sector
Participation in conferences on the subject of energy transition
2016-2019
Technological Bac STMG
High school XXX, Tours
Professional experiences
2021-2022
Presentation of the Badminton association of Tours at the XXX exhibition
Present the association and adapt the speech according to the needs of the interlocutor
Manage the calls and emails received after the show
Enter the data of the potential new members on excel
Recontact interested people 3 months later
Be the dedicated contact for registrations
Skills
Technical
Knowledge of energy renovation issues
Customer relations
Creation and dynamization of commercial offers
Soft skills
Great rigor
Very good interpersonal skills
Proactivity
Languages
Spanish
Bilingual
English
Intermediate (level B2)
Interests
Cooperative board games
5 years of Badminton
Reading reports on energy transition
⚠️ To stand out from the crowd, avoid copying and pasting ready-made phrases from existing resumes. Who better than you to find the right words to describe your experiences ?
To take action
👉Here are the job openings with no experience
To go further
👉 Write a spontaneous application email
👉 Write a cover letter for an internship in 10 steps
👉 How to write a resume for an alternation ?
👉 Volunteering to facilitate your professional insertion in the impact