Summary examples for students: Resume Summary Examples for Students

Опубликовано: December 22, 2022 в 5:05 am

Автор: alexxlab

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Resume Summary Examples for Students

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Last Updated December 15, 2021

Guide Overview

What is a resume summary?How to write a resume summary as a studentWhat to include in a resume summaryResume summary examples for students

Guide Overview

Using resume summary examples for students

Whether you’re a high school student or a college student, you may discover that it’s challenging to decide what to put on your resume. Since you are just entering the workforce, it’s likely that you have little to no professional experience to include on your resume. That’s why it’s so important to highlight relevant volunteer experiences, extracurricular activities, and skills you have. Here we discuss how your summary section can be beneficial and share some resume summary examples for students.

What is a resume summary?

A resume summary is a brief section at the top of your resume that highlights why you’d be a good fit for a position. In one to four lines, you can explain your professional background, skills, and accomplishments. Those who have a decent amount of experience in their field tend to use resume summaries, however, as a student, you can find a way to make this section beneficial for you. Those with little professional experience may opt-out of a resume summary and use a resume objective instead. This is a short statement at the top of your resume that explains your intentions for finding a job and career goals. As a student, you need to decide whether a summary or objective serves you better. As long as you can still keep your resume to one page, you may include both.

How to write a resume summary as a student

Follow these steps to write a student resume summary:

1. Read through the job description

When first getting started as a professional, one solid piece of advice to remember is that you should tailor your resume to the job you’re applying to. Keep a master copy of your general resume and then make slight changes based on the role you want. When planning your summary, carefully read through the job description. Think about what would make you a good fit for this role.

2. Think about your skills and experience

When applying to a student job or entry-level role, employers understand that you might not have much work experience. In this case, you need to highlight other experiences and skills that make you a top candidate. For instance, if you’re applying to a customer service job, then your attentiveness to detail and communication skills could make you stand out. If you want a job as a dog walker, then your experience volunteering at the animal shelter would be good to include in your summary.

3. Show your willingness to learn

Since you are new to the workforce, employers want to see that you are willing to learn. Make it clear that you want to develop your skills and gain new experiences. Even if you have little experience, showing that you are eager and motivated signals to employers that you will be easy to train on the job.

4. Include some adjectives

Your summary consists of a few lines that explain why you’re a good fit for a particular job. By including adjectives to describe yourself, your resume may stand out. Try to think of unique descriptors that would capture an employer’s interest. Here are some adjectives you may want to include:

Adaptable
Ambitious
Diligent
Eager
Focused
Goal-oriented
Independent
Motivated

What to include in a resume summary

Include the following details in your resume summary:

Accolades: If you are an honors student or have other impressive achievements, mention this in your summary. This shows employers that you are ambitious and hard-working.
Experience: When you have relevant job experience, certainly include it. As a student this may be challenging, but there are plenty of other details to include. Volunteer experience, extracurricular activities, and leadership opportunities are all great things to add.
Skills: Read through the job posting to see any skills the employer is looking for. Be sure to include any of these skills that you have. You can also think about which other abilities you have would be helpful for this role.

Resume summary examples for students

Use these resume summary examples for students as inspiration for your own:

High school student

Honor roll high school student with an aptitude for customer service. Has experience working for retailers, such as Old Navy and Gap. Experienced using a variety of point of sale systems and price checkers. Eager to develop management skills.
Motivated high school student experienced in serving others. Has proven customer service, organization, and communication skills. Familiar with best practices for serving and willing to learn.
Responsible high school student who enjoys working with children. Has three years of experience babysitting children ages two through 11. Enjoys coming up with creative games and activities that are enriching for developing minds. Has experience doing light housework, cooking, and taking care of pets.
High school senior with a love for plants. Willing to work hard in a physically demanding position. Excited to learn more about gardening techniques and different plant varieties.

College student

Recent finance graduate with a specialization in personal finance and economics. Eager to help families plan for their futures and develop budgets that work for them. Highly skilled in Microsoft Excel, QuickBooks, and Mint.
High-achieving college student with an aptitude for marketing, copywriting, and brand management. Experienced in building advertising campaigns through student organizations. Excited to work for an advertising agency and gain real-world experience.
Natural-born salesman with a degree in marketing. Highly involved in Future Business Leaders of America, Marketing Club, and Salesmen for Change. Adept at learning new sales techniques and business practices.
Hard-working college student with a passion for health and fitness. Has five years of experience participating in fitness classes and one-on-one instruction. Eager to take this knowledge of the fitness world and break into being on the teaching side. Trained in Zumba and Body Pump.

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Resume Summary Examples for Students

Student Resume Examples & Guide for 2022

Recently graduated and looking for a job?

Or maybe you’re still in college, applying for your first internship?

Whichever the case might be, you’ll need a strong resume to stand apart from all the competition.

And yes – the whole process can seem super scary if you don’t have a lot of work experience.

After all, what can you even include in your resume, if you’ve never worked a day in your life?

Worry not, we’ve got your back!

It’s actually pretty easy to create a compelling resume, even if you’re just a student starting out their career journey.

And in this guide, we’re going to teach you how. Here’s what we’re going to cover:

All the essential sections to include in a student resume
How to list work experience on your resume, and what to do if you don’t have any
How to create a compelling resume that stands out (with zero work experience)
3 student resume examples to get you inspired (high school, student, and graduate levels)

Ready?

Let’s dive in:

What to Include In a Student Resume

First things first, let’s talk about which sections to use on a student resume.

The essential sections for a student resume are:

Contact Information.
Resume Objective
Education
Work Experience (if you have any)
Skills

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If you don’t have much work experience, you can also use the following optional sections to stand out:

Projects
Volunteering
Awards and Qualifications
Hobbies and Interests
Languages

Of course, you don’t have to include ALL of these sections, just the ones that are relevant for your resume.

Now, let’s dive into all these sections one-by-one, and explain how to do each right.

Contact information is the most critical section on any resume ever.

Sure, it’s not that hard to mess up, but if you make a single typo – you risk messing up your whole application because the HR manager couldn’t get in touch with you.

It goes without saying that you should double-check, and even triple-check that everything in this section is up-to-date and accurate.

Here’s what you should include in your contact information section for your student resume:

Contact Information for a Student Resume:

Must have information:

First Name, Last Name – Jane Doe
Phone Number – 451-483-6924
Email address – [email protected]
Location – Chicago, USA

Optional information:

Title – Your professional title. If you don’t have a lot of experience, feel free to insert the position you’re applying for or your current position – e.g. Business Graduate
LinkedIn URL – Do you have an up-to-date LinkedIn profile? Mention it in your contact info! Sure, it’s not a game-changer on it’s own, but a good LinkedIn profile shows the recruiter that you’re serious about your career.
Social Media – Do you have a published portfolio online? For developers, this could be your GitHub, for designers – your Behance or Dribbble, and so on.
Website / Blog – Do you have some form of online presence that’s relevant to your job? Let’s say you’re applying for a job as a content writer, and you have a personal blog where you review tech products. You want to include a link to show off your writing skills.

What NOT to include:

Date of Birth – The HR manager doesn’t need to know how old you are. Unless it was specifically requested in the job ad (e. g. bartender), keep your age off your resume.
Headshot – Same as above, unless requested (e.g. modeling), keep your headshot off your resume. After all, you’re looking for a job, not a date!
Unprofessional Email Address – List your professional email address (e.g. first name + last name), not whatever you made in grade school ([email protected]).

Student Resume: Summary or Objective?

Did you know that the HR manager spends around 6 seconds, on average, scanning each resume they get?

That’s right.

Your carefully worded resume just gets 6 seconds to convince the recruiter that you’re relevant.

So, how are you supposed to do that?

Why, by using a resume summary or objective, of course!

If you’re new to resumes, a summary/objective is a short statement that goes on top of your resume. It’s main use is to show the recruiter that you’re relevant in a single glance.

Here’s what that looks like:

Now, you’re probably wondering, what’s the difference between a summary, and an objective? Here’s your answer:

Resume summary – Main focus is on your work experience. You’d use a summary if you have 2-3+ years of work experience.
Resume objective – The focus is on your skills, education, and goals. An objective is perfect if you don’t have any work experience.

Now, let’s explain how to write each:

How to write a student resume summary

A resume summary is a 2-3 sentence summary of your career achievements and work experience that goes at the top of your resume.

You’d go for a resume summary if you got started with your career early, and already have 2-3 years of work experience (if you don’t, you just go for a resume objective! More on that later).

Here’s what a resume summary might look like for a recent college grad:

College Student Resume Summary Example:

“Recent college graduate with a B.A. in English from University X seeking an entry-level job as a content writer. Previous experience includes working as an English tutor for 2 years at University X, having worked with 100+ students, helping them improve their essays. In addition, managed a personal blog about tech, publishing over 40 articles in the last 3 years.”

Don’t have a lot of work experience?

No problem!

Here’s how to write a resume objective instead:

How to write a resume objective as a student

A resume objective, as we mentioned before, is basically the same thing as a resume summary, but with a focus on goals, objectives, skills, and education instead of work experience.

In your student resume objective, you include:

What your field of study is.
Relevant skills
Why you’re applying for the position and what you can do to help.

Here’s a student resume objective done right:

College Graduate Resume Objective Example:

“Finance student with a 3.92 GPA seeking an entry-level Financial Analyst position at Company X. Skilled in financial data analysis, and reading financial sheets, with excellent knowledge of accounting and tax legislation. Hoping to help Company X improve their activity-based accounting techniques and grow within the company.”

All clear?

Good!

Now, let’s move on to the next section: education.

Emphasize Your Education and Certificates

Education is one of those sections that sound simple to structure, but requires a lot of details.

You insert all the schools you attended in chronological order and done. You move on, right?

Not exactly.

There’s a ton of details that make up an education section.

Does your education section go on top, or under your work experience?
Should you mention your GPA, even if it’s not all that good?
How do you mention your awards, honors, and so on?

See? Not quite so simple, is it?

Let’s start with the basics: how to list education on a resume, how to format it, and what to mention within.

Here’s what a typical education entry includes:

Program Name: E. g. “B.A. in Business Administration.”
University Name: E.g. “University of Texas at Austin”
Years Attended: E.g. “08/2008 – 06/2010”
(Optional) GPA: E.g. “3.9 GPA”
(Optional) Honors: E.g. “Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude”.
(Optional) Academic Achievements: E.g. any interesting projects or papers you’ve written.
(Optional) Minor: E.g. “Minor in Psychology.”

Here’s what that might look like on a real resume:

If you don’t have much relevant work experience, make sure to put your education section on top of work experience.

And finally, here’s some other essential tips on your education section:

Mention your latest educational entry on top.
If you have a university degree, don’t mention your high school at all.
ONLY mention GPA if you had an impressive academic career (i. e. 3.5 GPA or higher).

Now, let’s move on to the next section on your student resume: work experience.

How to List Your Work Experience as a Student

When applying for a job, the number one thing recruiters want to know is if you can really do it right.

And one sure way to check that is to look at your past experience.

But what if you don’t have any?

Don’t worry, we’ll cover that below!

If you DO have work experience, here’s how you list it on a student resume:

How to list work experience as a student

When listing your previous jobs, you should follow a reverse-chronological order, and go with the standard work experience format.

Which is as follows:

Job Title and Position – The first section the HR manager will check. To keep things simple, you can just use the exact name you saw in the job ad you’re applying for.
Company Name, Description, Location – Describe the company in 1-2 sentences, and be sure to mention the location (country, city) of the firm too.
Dates Employed – Simply list how long you worked at the previous role for. If you don’t remember the exact dates, feel free to give an approximate. Standard format for dates is: mm/yyyy
Achievements and Responsibilities – When possible, you should always list achievements over responsibilities. After all, the HR probably already knows what your responsibilities are. And with achievements, you should list any specific changes you made possible (use data and numbers!), that the HR manager could apply to their company.

And here’s what that looks like in practice:

Pro Tip:

For more tips and tricks on how to best present your work experience, check out our complete guide to the work experience section.

Student Resume FAQ

Q —

Should you list irrelevant work experience in a student resume?

Most students don’t have much professional work experience.

What they DO have is some experience doing part-time work during university, summer break, etc.

So, you’re probably wondering, is your part-time summer server experience something you mention in your resume?

The answer is yes.

Even though the experience is probably not relevant for the job you’re applying for, it shows the recruiter that you have SOME work experience.

Q —

2. What to do if you don’t have any work experience?

Here’s the thing:

Most college students don’t!

And this shouldn’t stop you.

For most entry-level jobs, the HR manager knows that the candidates are students with not much work experience (and that’s OK!).

Instead of work experience, you can focus on the following sections:

Internships – Have you done an internship that’s relevant for the position you’re applying for? Here’s your chance to mention it. Format it like the work experience section (see above).
Extracurricular Activities – If you still have a lot of empty space in your college resume, extracurricular activities are always a great addition. Whether they’re related to your job or not, they still show that you’re passionate and hard-working. Activities can include anything from personal projects to organizations or groups you’re part of.
Volunteering Experience – Volunteering shows that you have a cause that you care about (and that you’re willing to work for it!). And there’s nothing a recruiter loves more than a dedicated employee. Whether you spent some time at the soup kitchen, or just helped collect trash in the parks, you can always mention your experience in your resume!
Projects – Finally, in this section, you can add just about any type of project you’ve participated in, as long as it’s relevant. Graduation thesis, coursework or personal projects, all of that goes here.

Here’s a student resume example that focuses on volunteer experience and personal projects instead of work experience:

Best Skills to Mention on a Student Resume

Another must-have section for your college resume is the Skills section.

Here, you want to mention your expertise and why you’re the perfect candidate for the job.

How do you do that?

Let’s take a look.

There are 2 types of skills you can mention:

Soft Skills (Personal Skills): These are a mix of social, communication, and other personal traits. For example, leadership, critical thinking, time-management, so on.
Hard Skills (Measurable Abilities): These are your measurable abilities. So, anything from baking to complex machinery skills.

A good resume should aim for a mix of both, soft and hard skills.

And if written correctly, the skill section can look something like this:

Now, when listing skills on your resume, here are a few essential tips to keep in mind:

List hard skills with experience levels. For each skill you list, you can mention your proficiency at it as well (i. e. from beginner to expert).
Keep it relevant and tailored to the job. You might have some awesome and rare skills, but they’re not always going to be useful. You wouldn’t talk about your accounting skills in a marketing job, right?
Include some Universal skills. There are skills that are bound to be useful pretty much anywhere. These are both soft skills (communication, teamwork, etc.) and hard skills (Photoshop, Powerpoint, writing, etc.). Whatever job you’re applying to, these skills will probably come in handy.

And for a student resume, here are a few of some of the top skills almost every single employer will value:

Verbal and Written Communication.
Teamwork.
Adaptability
Punctuality.
Organization.
Flexibility.
Problem-solving abilities.
Motivation.
Patience.
Persuasion.
Time-management.

Now, you might be wondering – but isn’t just about everyone ‘communicative’ and ‘flexible’?

And you’d be right!

Mentioning buzzword skills only for the sake of sounding smart will get you nowhere.

To really show that you do have these skills, you want to back them up with the rest of your resume.

For example, if you say you have “critical thinking” as a skill, you could have a work experience section that emphasizes that.

In other words: show, don’t tell.

Now, if you have some space left in your student resume, here are some other ‘nice-to-have’ optional sections you could mention.

5 Other Awesome Sections to Include in a Student Resume

The sections we’ve covered so far are essential for any student resume.

They’re going to be your bread-and-butter. Get those sections right, and you’ll land any job you apply to.

But consider the following situation:

The HR manager has to make a decision between 2 near-identical student resumes, with very similar work experience and backgrounds.

Even if the following sections might not be relevant at first glance, they might end up being the deciding factor between you getting the job or not.

You should only ever mention the following sections in your student resume – IF you have the space for them.

Hobbies and interests

Why would I want to include my hobbies in my resume, you might ask?

Sure, it’s not going to be the section that gets you hired.

It will, however, give the recruiter some insight on what you’re like as a person, and what are your interests.

When the hiring manager is faced with 2 near-identical resumes from 2 equally-qualified candidates, the deciding factor might come down to your personality and interests.

Pro Tip:

Not sure which hobbies to mention in your resume? Check out our comprehensive guide on 40+ hobbies and interests to put on your resume for a full list!

Languages

This one’s pretty simple.

Are you bilingual? Maybe even trilingual?

You should ALWAYS mention that in your resume!

Most companies are pretty international nowadays. And even if the position you’re applying for doesn’t need any specific language skills, it can still come in handy at some point.

To list languages in your resume, simply write them down and assign them the appropriate level:

Native.
Fluent.
Proficient.
Intermediate.
Basic.

It goes without saying that you should never lie about your language skills.

You never know when the interviewer might turn out to be fluent in the language.

Awards and Certifications

Do you have a piece of paper with your name on it that says why you’re so smart and qualified?

It could be an award from a competition, or an online certificate.

Whichever the case, as long as it’s relevant to your job – you can include it in your resume to further back up your expertise.

Publications

Are you a freelance writer? Or worked with your university’s student paper?

You can include any relevant works you published (online, academic journal, etc.) with an URL in a publications section.

3 Job-Winning College Student Resume Examples

Looking for more resume inspiration?

Check out the 3 different student resumes below to see what a job-winning resume might look like.

College Resume Example

Pick Template

M.A. Student Resume Example

Pick Template

High School Resume Example

Pick Template

Key Takeaways

And there you go.

That’s how you create a powerful student resume from scratch!

Now, let’s quickly summarize everything we’ve learned so far:

Don’t have much work experience? No worries – recruiters don’t look for any in entry-level candidates.
Want to stand out without work experience? Focus on one of the following instead: extracurricular activities, internships, projects, and volunteering experience.
Need some inspiration? Check out the student resume examples we mentioned above!

Need some more guidance on everything job-search? Check out our career blog for the latest industry-leading advice and more actionable guides.

Resume Summary with No Experience: Examples for Students and Fresh Graduates

If you’re looking for how to write a summary for your resume with no work experience, you’ve come to the right place.

I’m going to walk you through exactly what to do, and then we’ll look at resume summary examples for entry-level job seekers, students and fresh graduates.

Let’s get started…

How to Write a Summary For Your Resume With No Experience:

First, a resume summary is different than an objective. And it’s much better. Putting an objective on your resume is outdated and unnecessary.

Resume objectives are useless because they don’t share anything the hiring manager doesn’t already know (such as “my goal is to obtain a position in the ___ industry”).

So what we’re doing here is better and will help your resume stand out from people who simply put an objective.

Whereas, the resume summary gives a quick highlight-reel of your qualifications, education, and more.

If you’re not sure what a resume summary actually is, check out this article on 10 resume summary examples.

And while it’s easier to figure out what to put if you’ve built up some work experience, you can still write an effective resume summary with no work experience whatsoever.

So in this article, I’m going to show you how. What should go into your summary when you don’t have any work experience?

1. Put academic accomplishments and leadership

What did you study? Did you just graduate with a degree? Mention that.

If you took a leadership role in your class projects, or clubs/groups at your school, you can mention that too.

Leadership doesn’t need to be in a job to get the hiring manager’s attention! Taking a leadership role in a sports environment is impressive as well.

You’re not going to mention specific accomplishments in your resume summary usually (you can do that later in your resume), but you can say things like “proven leadership” or “natural leader”, etc.

2. Put your interests and passions

Are you passionate about startups and technology? Great, put that.

Want to make a difference in the world, and focus your career on social impact? Mention that.

This can include the grades you received, but also leadership positions you led, and clubs/groups you participated in.

3. Put “hard” skills

If you’re proficient in any tools, technologies, etc… you can include that in your resume summary. Don’t list 20 things. That’s what your “Skills” section is for.

But pick the three or four things that are most relevant for the job you’re applying for.

Coming up in this article, we’re going to look at two resume summary examples for people with no experience... and in the second example, you’ll see how this would look.

4. Put “soft” skills

Are you great at analytical thinking? Do you love working as a part of a team? Are you great at multi-tasking and handling a fast-paced team environment?

While this shouldn’t be the main focus of your resume summary section, these can be worth mentioning.

It’s especially good to include soft skills if you see them mentioned on the job description.

For example, if you see they mention wanting someone who’s great at multi-tasking in a fast-paced environment, and you feel that describes you well, then your resume summary is the perfect place to include this.

5. Put statements that will grab the employer’s interest and make them want to ask you questions!

If you mention leadership they’ll want to ask you more about your leadership experiences. That’s a good thing.

Remember, whatever you put, they’ll probably ask you about.

So as you write your summary for your resume, try to think about what you want them to discuss with you, and what you want a chance to talk about.

And try to “tailor” your resume to fit the companies you’re applying to. If you’re applying to large corporations don’t start your summary by saying “Startup enthusiast”.

3 Resume Summary Example for Students, Fresh Graduates and Entry-Level Job Seekers:

In this section, I’m going to share three examples of how to write a summary for your resume with no experience.

You can use these resume summary examples as a student, entry-level job seeker, or any job search where you don’t have experience:

Resume Summary with No Experience – Example #1: Economics Student

Enthusiastic, highly-motivated Economics student with proven leadership capabilities, who likes to take initiative and seek out new challenges.

In this example above, you’re showing that you completed your Economics degree and have an interest in the subject, and you’re mentioning leadership and making the reader want to learn more about this.

You’re also making yourself sound ambitious and motivated at the end, which is always a good thing (I’m referring to the part that says “who likes to take initiative and seek out new challenges).

Notice the format too. This is how I recommend phrasing it. Don’t say “I am a ___”. Just start with the descriptive words.

This is a simple yet effective resume summary example for students OR recent graduates.

Resume Summary with No Experience – Example #2: Fresh Graduate in Computer Science

Computer Science graduate passionate about data engineering and machine learning. Highly-capable leader, having led multiple Senior class projects to completion. Proficient in a range of modern technologies including Python, Java and Scala.

This is another good example of a student or fresh graduate resume summary that still shows your skills and academic focus, even if you have no formal work experience.

In this entry-level resume summary example, you’re highlighting accomplishments and leadership as a student and you’re also showing that you’re passionate about your work.

Saying you’re passionate about data engineering is much better than just saying, “Looking for a job in data engineering.”

They’ll know you’re looking for jobs because you applied. Taking up space to say it is a bad use of this area of your resume, and is why I never recommend having a resume “Objective” section.

The summary exists instead of an “Objective” and is much better.

The example above also included some great programming keywords (Python, Java, Scala) to help get past any automated application systems and grab the hiring manager’s attention very quickly when they first look at your resume.

If you work with any tools or technologies that have names like these, you can include it in your entry-level resume summary if you’d like.

Other examples of tools/technologies: Photoshop, MS Excel, etc.

If you decide not to include these on your resume summary, make sure to include them elsewhere such as your Education or Skills section.

Resume Summary Example with No Experience #3: Math Student Graduating Soon

4th year mathematics student passionate about statistics and data analysis. Proven project leader. Active member of Boston University’s Mathematics Club. Speaker at 2018 “New York Young Mathematicians Conference.”

This resume summary example for students shows how you can list accomplishments even if you’ve never formally worked before.

Did you participate in any clubs at school? Have you led any class projects? These are impressive pieces you can add to your resume summary with no experience formally working.

How to Write a Resume Summary For Students/Fresh Graduates – Quick Recap

Skip buzzwords like “hard-working” and put real academic accomplishments instead, like projects you produced and tasks you led
Include what you’re interested and passionate about to show them why you are applying for this position
Mention hard skills like “Java Programming” or “Excel,” especially if they’re listed on the job description
Include soft skills as well like, “excellent at multi-tasking”, especially if you saw these keywords anywhere on the job description
Include statements in your resume summary that will catch the employer’s interest and make them want to talk with you and ask you more. Remember – the entire goal of your resume is to get invited to interview. So if you did anything unique like giving presentations, working in an internship, participating in a school club, etc., you can include this in your entry-level resume summary.

If you follow the tips above, you’ll have a great entry-level resume summary that will stand out and catch a recruiter’s or hiring manager’s attention so you can get more interviews.

After you write your entry level resume summary, here are two more articles that may be helpful when job searching with no experience:

The best times of year to job search
How to create a great elevator pitch for job hunting

Previous Post How to Answer “What Is Your Greatest Achievement?” Interview Question Next Post How To Answer “What Is Your Leadership Style?” (Interview Question)

Resume without work experience. The pain of a student and a graduate

To gain experience, you need to get a job, which . .. is hired only with experience. A kind of vicious circle often scares students and graduates. Where to start looking? Of course, with a well-written resume.

This guide will show you:

how to write a resume without work experience correctly?
How to write a resume for a student, pupil, graduate?
How to write a resume without work experience?
Sample resume without work experience for a student

1 How to write a resume if you have no work experience?

2 “About me” section

3 Cover letter for resume with no work experience

4 How to write a resume for a student: Takeaway tips

Dozens of people apply for the job you want. They have professional skills and achievements. And it’s good: 65% of employers are looking for experienced candidates.

What about you? The empty space is where the experience section should be. We don’t want empty white space. So what are we to do? Let’s use other strengths in the summary, as well as the correct block design.

How to write a resume if you have no work experience?

Your CV may include the following sections:

Title: contact information and desired position
Brief information, career goals
Education, academic achievement
Undergraduate internships, volunteering, personal or academic projects, (these sections will replace full-time work experience)
Awards and achievements
Trainings and certifications
Skills and personal qualities 9001
About me
Cover letter

In this article, we’ll walk you through each section and show you what you need to complete in each section to stand out from the competition. You are ready?

Then go ahead!

The perfect CV with no work experience

Click the link to use this CV template

Contact Information

It’s simple. You must specify your full name, phone number, email address, city of residence.

Tip: Don’t use an email address like kolbasa19@. Such applicants are simply not taken seriously, at best they become the object of ridicule. Work mail should be formal, for example ivan.ivanov@.

The same goes for social networks. Many serious companies ask for links to accounts to learn more about the identity of the applicants. Make sure that there are no compromising pictures in your account, as well as on the Internet.

Desired position

No need to write here: “I will work for food”, “I am a student and agree to everything”. It is better to indicate the position for which you are applying. For example: trainee, assistant, sales assistant, operator, junior waiter, office manager.

Brief information

Modern resumes include brief information instead of career goals. The summary section is right after your name and contact information and includes one or two sentences about you, your interests and opportunities.

If you don’t have experience yet, write about your level of education, relevant skills, professional interests, and work ethic. The section must be adapted according to the requirements of the vacancy.

Example #1:

“New to the restaurant business, currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree from the Food Academy. I am a team player who firmly believes that the customer is always right. Delighted with Italian cuisine and very interested in working in a restaurant with fast service.”

Example #2:

“I do efficient data analysis, pay attention to detail, and have a mathematical mind. Author of term papers in mathematics and statistics. Interested in an entry-level analytics position.”

How to write a resume for a student with no work experience? (CV2you example)

(click here to open the text version of the resume)

Instead of work experience: internship, practice, personal and academic projects, volunteer and extracurricular activities

So, how to write a resume for a student without work experience

First of all: maybe you will get some experience? No, we are not mocking, we are well aware of the vicious circle. But here’s how to get out of it:

Start with an internship, part-time, seasonal or temporary job.
Say you dream of doing investigative journalism for the New York Times? So do a little freelance writing to get started on a freelance marketplace like Upwork, or practice at a local publishing house for free so you can list a few published articles on your resume. After all, even if the job was part-time, it’s already better than nothing.

What if there was no temporary work yet? List personal or academic projects related to work. Just immediately think about what exactly you will tell about him in the interview, and how the project can be connected with the desired job. For example:

Personal project relevant to work
Let’s say you want to work in a health and fitness center. A relevant project could be the development of a personal fitness program to prepare for a marathon.

Academic project related to work
It is very easy to include an academic project in your resume. Indicate where the project was implemented, what curriculum it was included in, the name of the project, the date it was completed, and a brief description of its objectives.

An example of how to write a resume for a job for a student about an academic project:
Kyiv University of Tourism, Economics and Law, August 2018
Curriculum “Fundamentals of Hospitality”, project “McDonald’s Analytical Group of Restaurants” .
Worked with a team of 4 to analyze revenue and customer base data for a popular fast food restaurant chain in Ukraine. Was responsible for collecting McDonalds revenue data and creating a PowerPoint presentation.

Another option is to mention university practice. Specify the time, place and results. For example:

“ During my internship, I worked as an assistant economist in company N. It was an interesting experience that made me finally convinced of the right choice of profession. During my internship, I conducted financial analysis, learned to work in 1C, gained experience in economic planning ”.

Extracurricular activities, sports and clubs
Imagine that you are an HR manager and you can choose between these two candidates:

Dmitry Otlichnik. Studied at Moscow State University, grades – good and excellent. But that’s all he did in college—no extracurriculars, internships, or anything else.
Alexander Aktivson. Also studied at Moscow State University, good student. Vice President of the Business Club. Worked in the student parliament. Organized several events within the marketing club.

Of course, Dmitry probably has a solid theoretical background, but we don’t know anything about him except that he studied a lot.

Alexander, on the other hand, can manage a team (Vice President of the Business Club), organize events (Marketing Club) and strive to bring new ideas to the environment in which he is located (Student Parliament).

So which one would you choose?

And here is how it will look like in a resume:

Awards and Achievements

After work experience (or alternative sections) create a section for awards and achievements. You can list academic or school achievements, such as “Best Presentation” in class or “Highest Grade”. You can also list personal accomplishments, such as medals in sports. (if they reinforce your profile or illustrate personal qualities).

Example of how to list awards and achievements #1:
Kyiv University of Tourism, Economics and Law, August 2018
Fundamentals of Hospitality – Best Group Presentation (McDonalds Restaurant Analysis)

Example of how to list awards and achievements #2:
Unified Sports Classification Ukraine, candidate master of sports in basketball.

Trainings, courses and certificates

The ideal option is when you have a completed higher education and a desire to work in your specialty. But life makes its own adjustments, and such ideal scenarios are far from always found. Perhaps you have realized that the specialty is not interesting for you, and you want to do something completely different. Let’s face it: most applicants make an unconscious choice of educational institution.

There are professions that are impossible without a higher education, such as doctors or chemical engineers. But for the rest (say, marketing and PR, HR) there are online courses, distance learning, which, in terms of the ratio of resource costs and time, greatly outperforms the traditional one. You can learn from the best professionals in your field on EdX, Udemy, or Coursera. Go at least a few towards the desired profession, get a certificate and include it in your resume.

Include courses you took while at university if they are relevant to the position you are applying for. It is enough to indicate the name of the course, as well as add a brief description of what you have learned and what skills you have acquired. Add a start and end date for the course.

Tell me about attending seminars, conferences, master classes only if they are related to the job you want to get.

An example of how to write about the course in a resume:
Hospitality Fundamentals Course: Introduction to the hospitality industry, including various career paths. In-depth lessons on food and drink, including categories of restaurants and different types of catering.

Example of how to list certificates:
Medical University, Odessa, Ukraine
First aid and CPR certificate, 2019

By the way, here is an article on how to get the Certificates section.

Skills

Skills are divided into Hard Skills (professional skills) and Soft Skills are the applicant’s soft skills.

Read more about personal qualities here, about skills – here.

Previously it was believed that Hard Skills were of decisive importance, but over time the priorities have changed. Employers increasingly value the soft skills of the applicant, in part because they are almost impossible to train a new employee, unlike professional skills that are achieved by practice.

Before filling out the “Personal Attributes” section, think about what is important in the profession you have chosen. It can be an analytical mindset, dedication, punctuality. List these qualities if you have them. Don’t lie! 🙂

Graduate and High School Skill Types

Your CV can include skills you have acquired in school, extracurricular activities, sports and volunteering. For example, if you have played football, basketball, or other sports, you have teamwork skills. Have you been a captain? You have leadership qualities.

Did you attend a computer class or learn how to use the software? You have computer skills. Almost everyone has some level of communication skills. If you can hold a conversation, speak in front of a class, or defend a paper at school, you have written/oral communication skills.

When you successfully navigate between personal affairs and studies, you show flexibility. Have you worked on a group project? You have collaboration skills. Have you been babysitting small children? You are reliable.

Top High School Skills

Below are examples of skills that almost every high school student has and most employers are looking for.

Communication skills (written and oral)
Reliability/Responsibility
Following instructions
HSSI
Multivativity
Fat Energy
Enthusiasm
Initiative
Research thirst for
Team work
Cooperation
Leadership
Positive Relation
Digital Technologies
Technical skills: Exel, PowerPoint, Photoshop

School Schools

Section “About me”

We don’t recommend to indicate your hobbies: in fact, this is not very interesting for the recruiter (if he is interested, he will ask for an interview). Free space is best used to talk about the types of tasks you would like to work on and areas of professional growth. Believe me, this is of much more interest to the recruiter.

Here you can supplement the impression of yourself with personal qualities that correlate with the necessary skills. For example, for a lawyer “attention to detail” and “stress resistance”.

You can also tell us about your work preferences.
For example: “ I prefer to work in a large international company / start-up” or “A flexible schedule is desirable”.

Advice: According to hh.ru research, there is only one regulation: you must summarize your knowledge and skills in terms of the requirements of the vacancy you are applying for.

Incorrect (for a financier):

“I love traveling and taking pictures. I run, I go skiing. Single, no children. Without bad habbits”.

Correct:

“I have knowledge of banking products, I am familiar with the methodology of personal financial planning. Collected, punctual, similar mindset. I prefer to work alone with deep concentration on the task.”

Full article about the “About Me” section at the link.

Cover letter for resume without work experience

Do employers read cover letters?

45 out of 100 recruiters won’t even bother to open a student’s resume unless it has a cover letter attached to it. Therefore, writing a cover letter doubles your chances of getting this interview.

Yes, you read that right. You can’t argue with statistics, can you?

Your task is to demonstrate how diligently and actively you want to gain experience. Therefore, the cover letter here serves exactly this purpose. Bet on energy, perspective, lack of family obligations, willingness to devote yourself to work in the name of acquiring the necessary skills. The decision-making factor is a completed higher education, additional courses, knowledge of foreign languages.

How to write a resume for a student quickly and correctly?

The fastest way is to use a ready-made template for this purpose. The recommended volume is 1 A4 page. You can edit sections and also add your photo.

Select the Smart or Simple template in the CV2you builder. There is no white space for work experience, and the right accents focus the employer’s attention on your education and personal qualities.

How to make a resume for a student: take-away tips

Try to convince the recruiter that you will give the level of return to the company that “fat” candidates have not dreamed of for 5 years already: use details from the life of the company to demonstrate that you already know something about it (look at the website / social networks, google the latest news if it is a large company).
Call by name: Get the hiring manager’s name. Personal appeal captures attention from the very beginning.
Demonstrate that you already “fit” (at least with one foot) into the required circle of knowledge/communication: you can mention what courses you have completed, read literature or a fact from the latest industry news.
Read our article on how to write a cover letter with examples.
It is advisable to give the text for verification to a competent person – perhaps there are errors in it.
Use perfective verbs in your summary:

Wrong:

performed, read, received.

Correct:

did, reached, read, received.

Well, now you know how to write a resume without work experience, and the CV2you template will help you with this!

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Ready-made characteristic for a student

Ready-made characteristic for a student is a documented description of the qualities inherent in a student’s personality – his abilities, skills, qualities of character. Characteristics and feedback on the student’s internship are necessary for presentation as evidence of the actual internship.

What information is indicated in the characteristic

The characteristic is compiled for student interns by the head of the internship taking place at the enterprise. You can issue it on the letterhead of the enterprise or on a regular white sheet of A4 format.

This document is being compiled for submission to the university. The characteristic includes all the personal data of the student and information about the level of training and acquired professional knowledge. A ready-made characteristic for a trainee student, from an enterprise is the level of his specialization and qualification. Based on this characteristic, an assessment is made in the diploma supplement, which is responsible for the student’s specialization.

At the end of the characteristic is the date when the document was drawn up with the signature of the head of practice.

Let’s give examples of characteristics for a student based on the results of passing an educational, introductory, industrial, pedagogical or pre-diploma practice.

The practice took place at the enterprise

Characteristics

Intern student Full name in the period from 06/29/2015 to 07/12/2015, he underwent an educational and familiarization practice at the Tsentralnoye LLC store located at the address: Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, st. Lenina 218 as an assistant manager.

During the entire period of practice, full name was attentive and responsible for the work performed. Studied management methods and basic methods of staff motivation, staff duties, tried to analyze the economic activities of the organization over the past three years, got acquainted with the procedure for maintaining various administrative documents, accounting documentation, studied the organizational structure of the enterprise, participated in various daily work.

He performed all assigned work conscientiously and on time. He strove to acquire new knowledge in order to be even more useful at the place of practice. He has repeatedly provided assistance to the employees of the organization. The management of the organization evaluates the work of F.I.O. perfectly”.

no.

July 12, 2015

General Director

Tsentralnoye LLC

Characteristic

On the passage of qualification practice from 2015. to 06 June 201 5 g.

in Limited Liability Company “Facade”

Student Filip pov Andrey Vitalievich

Based on the work done, the student formulated recommendations for improving the management of personnel development in the organization.

A.V. Filippov perfectly finds a common language with the staff of the organization. Diligence and high efficiency are also the hallmarks of Andrey Vitalievich.

All of the above suggests that the practice of Andrey Vitalyevich Filippov deserves a positive assessment.

Head of organization (signature)

06/06/201 5

CHARACTERISTICS

on the completion of the study practice of a student of the Russian State Technical University

***********************************

Place of internship Victoria LLC

Internship term from 15. 04. 2015 to 04/28/201 5

Head of practice from the enterprise L.P. О rlova

During his internship, *********** showed excellent knowledge in the field of commercial activities. He has independence and a desire to put into practice and increase the knowledge gained at the Russian State Technical University.

*********** is able to demonstrate in life, in behavior, in relationships in a professional team, universal values - respect for work (including someone else’s), for colleagues at work, for knowledge.

In relations with colleagues, ******** showed himself from the best side; attentiveness, the ability to listen and understand, the desire to avoid conflict, resistance to stress, the ability to compromise, all these qualities are indispensable when working in a team.

I would especially like to note the ability to competently plan their activities in accordance with the team development strategy and perform work with maximum efficiency.

In the course of his internship, ************** researched the commercial activities of Victoria LLC. Based on the results of the analysis, he developed proposals for improving the commercial activities of the organization, which are of considerable interest and practical value.

The prepared practice report is a completed research work performed at a sufficiently high level and meets all the requirements for relevance, depth of topic development, validity and reliability of conclusions. The report deserves an “excellent” rating.

Director of Victoria LLC _____________________________ L.P. Orlova

Place of printing

Practice took place at school

Characteristics for a student-trainee

Student Ipatova Elena Ivanovna had an internship from October 01 to October 28, 2015 on the basis of the municipal budgetary educational institution “Secondary General Education School No. 45″ (Krasnodar, Krasnaya Street, 222).

During the internship, Elena Ivanvona got acquainted with the curriculum, plans for extracurricular activities and educational work. The student also observed the history lessons conducted by the teacher T.N. Kozlova. Under the supervision and guidance of this teacher E.I. Ipatova developed and conducted history lessons in grades 7 and 8 according to the curriculum.

In the process of practice, Elena Ivanovna Ipatova showed herself as a well-formed teacher, able to find a common language both with other teachers and with teenage children. The student diligently fulfilled the tasks of practice and was tactful in pedagogical communication.

The practice of Elena Ivanovna Ipatova deserves a positive assessment.

October 28, 2015

Teacher of secondary school №45

Characteristics for a student

Svetlana Sergeevna Lopatina had an internship from November 01 to November 28, 2014 on the basis of the municipal budgetary educational institution “Secondary secondary school, Novosibirsk, st. )

During her internship, Svetlana Sergeevna studied the documentation of the school and administration, got acquainted with the organization of educational work, analyzed the state standard, curricula, and methodological developments. I got acquainted with the work of school teachers. I observed the lessons of the geography teacher T.N. Kozlova. Under the supervision and guidance of this teacher, Svetlana Sergeevna developed and conducted geography lessons in grade 8.

During the internship, the student proved to be a good specialist who understands the problems of children. Easily finds a common language with teenagers, as well as with teachers and school psychologists.

Based on the results of the practice, we can conclude that the student showed knowledge of theoretical and practical material. You can positively assess such qualities as diligence and discipline, responsibility and interest.

The practice of Svetlana Sergeevna Lopatina deserves a positive assessment.

November 28, 2015

Teacher of secondary school No. 36

General characteristics for a student

Characteristics

Characteristics issued ___Full name student ______ ____ of the course based on the results of undergraduate practice in the period from July 4, 2015. to August 15, 2015

The student performed the following tasks:

List all types of tasks that were performed during the practice.

While working, ___FULL NAME____ showed himself as a responsible, diligent, conscientious employee, mastered the specifics of work.

The student showed himself as a competent specialist, skillfully applying his knowledge in practical work, diligently attended and fully completed the established program. During the internship, the student (s) showed (a) a good level of theoretical knowledge, and consolidated (a) their practical skills with a large degree of independence in work, took an active part in the work of the enterprise.

Head’s signature, seal.

The presented examples of ready-made characteristics for a student will help you in compiling your own characteristics, if it is required by the head of practice.

how to write, examples for a student

Students in high school or university are often asked to prepare an essay about themselves. Schoolchildren or students do not always understand what should be included in such an essay about themselves: what information should be presented, and what should be refrained from. We will give some recommendations on how to write an essay on the topic “telling about yourself” and give examples.

You will find more tips on preparing study papers in our telegram channel. And in the second channel, we have collected current promotions and great deals.

Essay-story about yourself: plan and advice

Preparing an essay about yourself, schoolchildren and students usually make one of two mistakes:

provide insufficient information;
write too large a work with unnecessary details.

To avoid these mistakes, here is the structure of a short essay about yourself.

How to write an essay about yourself: the structure and points of the plan

Writing an essay about yourself can cause certain difficulties: students do not always understand what kind of work the teacher wants to see. Usually, teachers give such tasks so that the student or student thinks about his inner world, life goals, principles and priorities.

We offer the following plan for writing about yourself:

Basic personal data (name, age, place of study).
A few words about different parts of life (study, future career, hobbies, family, etc.).
Introspection (positive and negative qualities and character traits).
Principles and values (main life attitudes).
Perspectives (goals and plans for the future).

How to write an essay about yourself: tips

Here are some tips that will make writing an essay about yourself easier: ). If you have a cherished dream or goal, you can also indicate it at the beginning.

Focus on the positives (what you love, what you’re good at, what talents and inclinations you have).

When analyzing your character, try to be objective and not write outright lies (if you are constantly late, you should not mention innate punctuality).

Write about real goals and give reasons for them (not “I want to learn all the languages of the world”, but “I would like to master Japanese and Chinese, because I am attracted to oriental culture”).

Avoid general phrases and clichés in your work: it will be better if the teacher sees your author’s style in the work, and not a copy of examples from the Internet.

Most often, teachers offer the format of a mini-essay about themselves, the optimal size of which is one printed page.

By the way! For our readers, there is now a 10% discount on any kind of work

Usually teachers are asked to write an essay about themselves in Russian or English

Essay about yourself: example

Examples of writing an essay about yourself are easy to find on the Internet. They can be used as a guide, but do not rewrite verbatim those parts that relate to your own principles and goals: teachers often check students’ work for plagiarism.

Essay about myself: an example for a student

I think that a student’s essay about herself is a good opportunity to analyze herself, her character and make a short story. I’ll start with an introduction: my name is Anzhelika, I’m 18 years old and I’m a student at the Faculty of Foreign Languages of the Belgorod State National Research University.

I am a 2nd year student at the Faculty of Foreign Languages, specializing in English, because it is the most popular language of international communication. Since childhood, I have been attracted to the profession of an interpreter, as this specialist helps people of different cultures to communicate and understand each other. I am also fond of theatrical art: I not only attend performances, but also play in amateur productions myself.