What to Put on a Resume for Your First Job (2026 Guide)

Writing your first resume is one of those tasks that feels harder than it should be. Every job posting asks for experience you do not have. Every template assumes you have had three or four prior roles to fill in. You start from a blank page and wonder if you are disqualified before you start.

You are not. The challenge is real, but it is a framing challenge — not a content problem. You have more to put on a resume than you think. The issue is not a lack of material. It is not knowing which material counts and how to present it.

Here is exactly what to put on a resume for your first job.

The Sections Your First Resume Needs

A first job resume does not need every section a senior professional uses. It needs the right sections — the ones that show you have the skills and work ethic to do the job, even without years of formal work history.

1. Contact Information

Full name, professional email address, phone number, and your city and state (no full street address needed). If you have a LinkedIn profile that is up to date, include the URL. If you have a portfolio, GitHub, or personal website relevant to the role, link it here too.

Your email address matters more than you think. An address like firstname.lastname@gmail.com signals professionalism. A nickname or an old address from middle school does not. If you need to create a new one for job applications, do it before you submit your first application.

2. Education

For first-time job seekers, education is your primary credential and it leads the resume. Include:

• School name and location
• Degree and major
• Expected or actual graduation year
• GPA, if it is 3.5 or above (list major GPA separately if your major GPA is strong but your overall GPA is not)
• Relevant coursework, if it is directly applicable to the role (limit to 4–6 courses, not a full transcript)
• Academic honors, dean's list, or scholarships

Do not include high school if you are in college or have graduated. Once you are in college, your high school education is no longer relevant.

3. Experience — And What Counts as Experience

Here is where most first-time resume writers get stuck. "Experience" is not limited to traditional jobs. For your first resume, relevant experience includes:

Internships are the most direct equivalent to paid work experience. If you have done one, it leads your experience section. Format it like any other job: company name, your role, dates, and two to three bullet points showing what you did and what resulted.

Part-time and hourly jobs count. Retail cashier, barista, camp counselor, server, warehouse associate, grocery stocker — these are all valid experience entries. They show a work ethic, reliability, and the ability to operate in a professional environment. Write accomplishment bullets, not duty lists. Instead of "Handled cash transactions," try "Processed 50+ customer transactions per shift with zero cash shortfalls across eight months."

Volunteer work counts. If you volunteered consistently for an organization, treat it as a work entry. Give it the same format: organization name, your role, dates, accomplishments.

School projects count, with conditions. Include projects that produced a real output — a research paper, a functioning app, a business plan, a designed piece, a client-facing deliverable. A group discussion or a standard assignment does not belong here. A capstone project, a thesis, a competition entry, or a project where you led a team does.

Extracurricular leadership counts. If you served as an officer, team captain, event organizer, or editor — anything with a defined responsibility and outcomes — it belongs on your resume. Led a fundraiser? Run a club of 40 members? Organized a conference? Those are accomplishments.

4. Skills

Your skills section should be focused and honest. Include hard skills that are relevant to the role you are applying for — specific software, tools, programming languages, platforms, foreign languages. Match the terminology in the job description as precisely as you can; ATS systems are literal keyword matchers.

For a first job resume, eight to twelve skills is usually the right range. Do not pad the list with things everyone has, like Microsoft Word or Google Search. Do not list soft skills like "team player" or "quick learner" — those claims carry no weight in a skills section without evidence to back them up. Demonstrate those traits through your experience bullets instead. For a full breakdown of how to build this section, see our guide on how to list skills on a resume.

5. Optional: Summary Statement

A brief summary at the top of your resume can help contextualize what the reader is about to see. For a first job, keep it to two to three sentences: your degree, your area of focus, and the value you bring. Do not restate your resume in prose — add context that is not obvious from the sections below. If you are not sure what to write, skip it and let the resume speak for itself.

How to Write Bullets That Actually Land

Most first resume bullets are a list of responsibilities: "Assisted customers," "Helped with social media," "Completed tasks assigned by supervisor." These tell the employer nothing useful about what you actually did or what you are capable of.

Strong bullets are built around results. The formula is simple: action verb + what you did + what resulted (with a number wherever possible).

Instead of: "Helped run social media accounts for the student newspaper" Write: "Managed Instagram and Twitter for the campus newspaper (2,400 followers), increasing weekly reach by 31% over one semester through a consistent posting schedule and story coverage of campus events."

Instead of: "Tutored students in chemistry" Write: "Tutored eight high school students in AP Chemistry over two semesters; six of eight students improved their grade by at least one letter grade."

You will not always have a percentage or a number. When you do not, describe the scope and the outcome in concrete language. What was the situation? What did you do? What was different because you did it? See our full breakdown of resume summary examples for how to frame experience at any level.

What to Leave Off Your First Resume

Remove anything that takes up space without adding value. Specifically:

• Objective statements — outdated and generally not useful for first-job applicants
• High school information once you are in college
• Every class you took — limit coursework to four to six directly relevant courses
• "References available upon request" — assumed; do not waste the space
• Interests and hobbies — only include if directly relevant to the role (graphic design portfolio for a design job, for example)
• A photo — not standard in most hiring contexts and creates bias risk

Your resume should be one page. Everything on it should be earning its place.

The Format Makes You Look More Experienced Than You Are

A clean, professional template signals seriousness before anyone reads a word. A cluttered layout, inconsistent fonts, and awkward spacing make an entry-level resume look even more entry-level than the content. The inverse is also true: a well-structured, ATS-optimized template makes a thin resume look composed and credible.

The Career Toolkit ($39) includes ATS-optimized resume templates built exactly for this — clean formatting, smart section hierarchy, and structures that work whether you have one internship or five jobs. Instant digital download, including both Word and HTML formats, available at /products. The Career Bundle ($69) adds a cover letter template and interview prep guide so your entire first job application package is locked in.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I put on my resume if I have no work experience?

Lead with your education. Then include internships, volunteer work, school projects, extracurricular leadership, and any freelance or side work. Frame each entry with the impact you had, not just the tasks you performed. Recruiters expect first-job candidates to have limited formal work history — what they are evaluating is potential and communication.

Should I include my GPA on my first resume?

Include it if it is 3.5 or above. If your GPA is below 3.5, leave it off — it will not help and could hurt. If your major GPA is strong but your overall GPA is not, listing "Major GPA: 3.7" is acceptable and gives the hiring manager the relevant signal without the unflattering overall number.

How long should a first job resume be?

One page. For a first job application, there is no situation where two pages is appropriate. A tight, well-organized single page demonstrates good judgment about what matters — and that quality is itself part of what a recruiter evaluates.

Can I list high school jobs and volunteer work on a resume for my first job?

Yes. High school part-time jobs — retail, food service, tutoring, camp counselor, lifeguard — are relevant for entry-level applications. The key is framing them properly: write accomplishment bullets that show what you did and what resulted, not just a list of duties.

What skills should I list on a resume for a first job?

Include hard skills relevant to the role — software, tools, platforms, languages. Match terminology from the job description exactly for ATS keyword matching. Do not list generic soft skills like "team player" or "detail-oriented" in a skills section. Instead, demonstrate those traits through your experience bullets where they are credible and specific.

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