Start here
What Goes on a First Resume
Next
Choosing the Right Format
Then
Writing Bullet Points That Actually Work
Final step
Polishing and Submitting Your Resume
What Goes on a First Resume
A resume is a one-page professional document that summarizes your skills, experience, and qualifications for a specific type of role. If you've never written one before, the first challenge is figuring out what material you actually have to work with.
Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
Software used by employers to automatically scan and filter resumes before a recruiter reads them. Resumes with complex formatting or missing keywords may not pass through.
Reverse-chronological format
A resume layout that lists your most recent experience first and works backward in time. It's the most widely accepted format for most job applications.
Transferable skills
Abilities gained in one context — such as school, volunteering, or part-time work — that apply to a different role or industry, like communication, time management, or teamwork.
Action verb
A strong, specific verb that starts a resume bullet point and clearly describes what you did, such as 'coordinated,' 'designed,' or 'managed.'
Summary statement
A two-to-three sentence paragraph at the top of a resume that briefly describes your background and what kind of role you're pursuing.
Even without formal work history, most first-time job seekers have more to draw on than they realize. Consider including:
- Education: Your degree, major, graduation year, and GPA (if 3.0 or above). Include relevant coursework if it directly supports the roles you're targeting.
- Work and internship experience: Part-time jobs, seasonal work, and internships all count — even babysitting or campus employment.
- Volunteer and community involvement: Consistent volunteer work demonstrates reliability and often builds transferable skills.
- Projects: Class projects, independent research, or personal projects (such as a website you built or an event you organized) are legitimate experience.
- Skills: Software proficiency, languages, certifications, and technical tools belong in a dedicated skills section.
See our complete job search roadmap for context on how your resume fits into the broader process of landing a role.
Choosing the Right Format
Resume format determines how your information is organized on the page. For most first-time job seekers, the reverse-chronological format is the right choice. This layout lists your most recent experience first and works well with applicant tracking systems (ATS) — the software many employers use to screen resumes before a human ever reads them.
A standard reverse-chronological resume includes these sections in this order:
- Contact information — your name, phone number, professional email, city/state, and LinkedIn URL if you have one
- Summary or objective (optional) — two sentences describing your background and what you're seeking
- Education — especially important when work experience is limited
- Experience — jobs, internships, and significant volunteer roles
- Skills — a concise list of tools, technologies, and abilities relevant to your target roles
Keep formatting simple: use a single column, a standard font like Calibri or Arial in 10–12pt, and consistent spacing. Decorative templates with graphics, icons, or text boxes often fail ATS parsing and should be avoided. Learn what recruiters notice in the first 30 seconds to understand why clean formatting matters so much.
Writing Bullet Points That Actually Work
The quality of your bullet points is what separates a resume that gets callbacks from one that gets ignored. Each bullet should answer two questions: what did you do? and what was the result or scale?
Start Every Bullet With a Past-Tense Verb
For completed roles, use past tense ("managed," "built," "trained"). For a current role, use present tense ("manage," "build," "train"). Consistency signals attention to detail — a quality every employer values.
Use this structure as your starting point: Action verb + task + specific detail or outcome.
- Weak: Helped customers with questions
- Strong: Resolved customer inquiries for an average of 40 guests per shift, maintaining a consistent satisfaction rating
Strong action verbs — such as coordinated, designed, led, built, analyzed, trained, and managed — signal ownership and initiative. Avoid passive phrases like "responsible for" or "assisted with," which obscure your actual contribution.
If you don't have exact numbers, use reasonable estimates or describe scale qualitatively ("a team of six," "weekly," "campus-wide"). Accuracy matters — don't invent figures — but specificity is almost always available if you think carefully about the context of the work.
Once you have a working draft, tailoring your resume for each application is the step that turns a good resume into a targeted one.
Polishing and Submitting Your Resume
Before you submit, run through a final quality check. A single typo or formatting inconsistency can undercut an otherwise strong document.
Proofread carefully: Read your resume aloud to catch awkward phrasing. Then read it backwards, line by line, to catch spelling errors your eye might skip over normally. Ask a trusted person to review it as well — a fresh set of eyes catches mistakes you've become blind to.
Check consistency: Dates should all use the same format (e.g., May 2022 or 05/2022 — pick one). Bullet points should all end without periods or all end with them. Font sizes and spacing should be uniform throughout.
Save as PDF: Unless the employer specifies otherwise, submit your resume as a PDF to lock in your formatting. Name the file professionally: FirstName_LastName_Resume.pdf.
Resume-writing is a skill that improves with each iteration. As you gain experience, revisit and update your document regularly. Pairing your resume work with a structured approach to your broader job search — including dedicated time for applications and networking — makes the whole process more sustainable. See our guide to building a weekly job search routine for a practical framework.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can include school projects, internships, volunteer work, extracurricular leadership, and relevant coursework. Employers hiring entry-level candidates understand that experience comes in many forms. Focus on transferable skills like communication, organization, and problem-solving.
One page is the standard for candidates with little or no full-time work history. A concise, well-organized single page is more effective than a padded two-page document. Only expand to two pages once you have substantial, relevant experience to fill the space meaningfully.
A brief two-sentence summary can help frame your background for the reader, especially when your experience is limited. State what you bring to the role and what type of position you're targeting. Skip it if the space is better used for skills or experience.
Yes — a clean, simple template helps you focus on content rather than design. Avoid overly designed templates with columns, graphics, or text boxes, as these can confuse applicant tracking systems. Stick to single-column layouts with standard fonts.
You don't need to rewrite it from scratch each time, but you should adjust your summary and highlight the skills most relevant to each specific role. Even small tweaks — mirroring the job posting's language — can meaningfully improve how your resume is received.
PDF is the preferred format in most cases because it preserves your formatting on any device. Always check the job posting first — some employers or applicant tracking systems request a Word document (.docx) instead. When in doubt, PDF is the safer default.
The content on this site is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. Always consult a qualified professional for guidance specific to your situation.