Resume for First Job: The 5-Section Rule (Sample + Template, 2026)

The 5 sections of a first job resume

Find each section, write the lines it calls for, then check its "You are short if" line before you keep it.

The builder lays out all five sections before you type anything. No signup needed to start.

How to make a resume for your first job (6 steps)

1. Step 1, add contact info. List your name, phone, email, and city and state at the top. No street address.
2. Step 2, write a 2 to 3 sentence objective. Name the exact role you want and your top one or two relevant strengths.
3. Step 3, lead with education. Put your school, graduation, GPA if 3.5 or higher, relevant coursework, and honors as your strongest section.
4. Step 4, add a skills section. List 8 to 12 specific tools and abilities that match the job posting.
5. Step 5, build an experience section from what counts. Use projects, volunteer work, clubs, sports, and casual jobs, each paired with a number and a result.
6. Step 6, format for ats and check the score. Keep it one page and single column, save as PDF, then run it through an ATS match check against the job.

Full sample resume for a first job with no experience

A complete one-page first job resume for a student with no paid work history, top to bottom.

That page is full with no paid work history because every line carries a number. Start free in the resume builder and do the same in about five minutes, or see 5 more no-experience resume examples.

Copy-paste first job resume template

Copy this, swap in your own details, and you have a working draft. Keep the headings exactly as written so the ATS reads each section cleanly.

Three ATS rules keep it readable for the software that scans applications at Target, Starbucks, and Chipotle before a manager sees them:

• One page, single column, no text boxes, tables, or sidebars. 10 or 11 point Arial or Calibri.
• Standard headings only: Objective, Education, Skills, Experience. No creative names, no functional format.
• Use the posting's exact words, for example "cash handling" rather than "money management." Export a PDF from a word processor, never a screenshot.

Rather skip the formatting? Start free in the resume builder and it fills this structure in for you.

What counts as experience when you have never had a job

Anything that took commitment and produced a result counts. Find what you have, delete the weak line, use the resume-ready bullet:

The pattern is always the same: an action, a number (hours, people, dollars, weeks), and an outcome.

Objective examples for a first job resume

Name the role, your top strength, and where it came from, in 2 to 3 sentences. Match the role title and a keyword or two to the posting. Three objectives by target:

• Retail (sales associate): Reliable high school senior seeking a part-time sales associate role at Best Buy. Two years on the robotics team built strong tech knowledge, and 80 hours volunteering at the school store built cash-handling and customer-service skills.
• Food service (crew member): Hardworking 17-year-old seeking a crew member role at Chipotle. ServSafe certified, with 6 months of food-prep experience volunteering at a local soup kitchen and a record of perfect attendance during junior year.
• Office / admin assistant: Detail-oriented recent high school graduate with advanced Excel skills and 200 hours as a volunteer office assistant at a local nonprofit. Seeking an entry-level admin role to build on data entry, scheduling, and bookkeeping basics.

For skills, list 8 to 12 specific items, not vague labels: customer service, cash handling and POS systems, Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, time management, teamwork, written communication, data entry and 40+ WPM typing, Canva, a foreign language with your level, CPR or first aid, ServSafe if you have it. See the full resume skills section guide.

What to do when your experience section is empty

Almost every first-time applicant hits the same wall. The template says "Experience" and you have never been paid for anything, so the section stays blank and the resume looks half finished.

The section is not empty. It is unwritten. What you did last year already counts, it just is not in resume language yet. Here is the five-step fix.

1. Step 1, write down every unpaid thing you did in the last two years. Clubs, sports, a church group, a family business, tutoring a cousin, a group project, a fundraiser, a summer of lawn mowing. Do not filter yet. Ten lines of rough notes is enough.
2. Step 2, attach a number to each one. How many hours, how many people, how many weeks, how much money raised, what place you came. "Helped at the school store" is not a bullet. "Ran the register for 80+ lunch shifts with zero drawer shortages" is.
3. Step 3, build the resume in the builder. Enter the activities the same way you would enter a job, and it writes them into resume bullets with the right verbs and structure. It takes about five minutes and it is $5.99 one-time when you download the finished PDF. No signup needed to start.
4. Step 4, paste the finished resume and the job posting into the free ATS check. Retail and food service chains screen applications with software, and the check scores the match and names the top missing keywords, things like cash handling, POS, ServSafe, or availability, in about 30 seconds. No signup needed.
5. Step 5, add the missing keywords only where they are honestly true, then apply.

One honest limit: this fills the page, it does not invent experience. If you genuinely have nothing at all yet, the fastest fix is a single volunteer shift or one certification, both of which take a weekend and give you a real line to write.