How to write a resume when you have no experience.

The number one thing students say when they sit down to write a resume is: "I don't have anything to put on it."

That's almost never true.

You've taken courses, completed projects, volunteered, worked part-time jobs, participated in clubs, led student organizations, done group presentations, tutored classmates, managed events, played sports, built things, organized things, helped people. All of that counts.

The problem isn't that you have nothing. The problem is that nobody taught you how to translate what you've done into resume language. That's what this guide is for.

Whether you're a high school student applying for your first part-time job, a college student looking for internships, or a recent grad entering the job market, this guide will show you exactly what to include, how to format it, and how to stand out — even without years of work experience.

Class projects are legitimate resume material, especially when you don't have internship or work experience. The key is writing about them the same way you'd write about a job — focusing on what you did, how you did it, and what the result was.

Formula: Action verb + what you did + context/result

Examples:

Weak: "Completed a group project for Marketing 301"
Strong: "Led a 4-person team to develop a go-to-market strategy for a local coffee brand, presenting a $15K digital campaign plan that received the highest grade in a class of 32 students"

Weak: "Built a website for my web development class"
Strong: "Designed and coded a responsive e-commerce website using React and Node.js, implementing user authentication, shopping cart functionality, and Stripe payment integration"

Weak: "Did research for my psychology thesis"
Strong: "Conducted a 6-month longitudinal study on social media use and anxiety among 120 college students, analyzing data in SPSS and presenting findings at the university research symposium"

Types of projects worth including:
- Capstone or senior projects
- Case competitions
- Hackathon projects
- Research papers (especially if presented or published)
- Group projects where you had a specific role
- Independent study or honors thesis
- Personal projects (apps, websites, blogs, YouTube channels with measurable metrics)

Label the section "Projects" or "Academic Projects" and format each entry like a job: Project Name, course or context, date, and 2-3 bullet points describing what you did and the outcome.

High school students have even less experience to draw from, but the same principle applies: you've done more than you think.

What high school students can include:

- Part-time or summer jobs: Babysitting, lifeguarding, retail, food service, lawn care. Even informal work shows responsibility.
- Volunteer work: Community service hours, church groups, food banks, animal shelters, hospital volunteering. Many high schools require community service — list what you did and what you accomplished.
- Extracurriculars: Sports teams, drama club, debate team, student council, yearbook, newspaper, robotics, music, art. If you held a leadership position, highlight it.
- Academic achievements: Honor roll, AP courses, academic awards, spelling bee wins, science fair placements.
- Skills: Computer skills (Excel, Google Suite, coding languages), social media management (if you've run an account with followers), language skills, first aid / CPR certification, food handler's certification.

High school resume example structure:

1. Contact information (name, city, phone, email)
2. Education (school name, expected graduation date, GPA if strong, relevant courses)
3. Experience (any jobs, even informal ones)
4. Activities & leadership (clubs, sports, volunteer work)
5. Skills (computer skills, certifications, languages)

Keep it to one page. High school resumes should always be one page. Use a clean, simple format — no colors, no graphics, no photos.

Things high school students don't need:
- Professional summary (your application context speaks for itself)
- References on the resume (have them ready separately if asked)
- Middle school activities (unless they're truly exceptional)
- Grade school awards

As a college student, you have access to richer experience: internships, research, teaching assistant positions, meaningful clubs, and more specialized coursework. Here's how to level up from your high school resume:

Lead with your university education
Include your degree program, minor (if relevant), expected graduation date, GPA (if 3.0+), relevant coursework (pick 4-6 courses that relate to your target job), and any honors or scholarships.

Prioritize relevant experience
Internships, co-ops, research positions, and TA roles go in your "Experience" section. Part-time jobs go here too, but position them below more relevant experience. If your retail job taught you customer service and the role you're applying to values that, include it and write strong bullets.

Include a projects section
This is your secret weapon. Class projects, hackathons, case competitions, personal projects — anything where you built, created, analyzed, or solved something. See the section above on turning projects into resume bullets.

Leadership and activities matter
Club president, event organizer, orientation leader, Greek life chair, sports team captain — these roles demonstrate leadership, time management, and teamwork. List the organization, your role, dates, and 1-2 bullet points about what you accomplished.

Tailor for each application
Even as a student, you should adjust your resume for each job or internship. If the posting emphasizes teamwork, lead with your team projects. If it emphasizes technical skills, lead with your projects section and skills list. Use the ATS checker at /ats-check to verify keyword alignment.

What college students don't need:
- High school information (drop it after freshman year unless the achievement is exceptional)
- "Objective: To obtain an internship..." (replace with a professional summary if you include one at all)
- Every course you've taken (only list relevant ones)
- GPA below 3.0 (leave it off; if asked, provide it)

1. Listing duties instead of accomplishments
Don't write "Responsible for greeting customers." Write "Greeted and assisted an average of 80+ customers per shift, consistently receiving positive feedback in quarterly surveys." Every bullet should answer: "What did I do, and what was the result?"

2. Including an objective statement
"Objective: To obtain a position where I can utilize my skills and grow professionally." This tells the employer nothing. Either skip it entirely or write a brief professional summary: "Computer science student at UBC with hands-on experience in Python and React through 3 course projects and a summer internship at a health tech startup."

3. Using a multi-page resume
One page. Period. If you're a student with less than 5 years of professional experience, your resume should be exactly one page. If you can't fill a page, that's okay — a half-page of strong content beats a full page of filler.

4. Including every job you've ever had
If you worked at a pizza shop for two weeks in 10th grade, leave it off. Only include experience that's relevant to the role you're applying for, demonstrates transferable skills, or shows sustained commitment.

5. Forgetting to quantify
Students think they have nothing to quantify, but they do. How many customers did you serve? How many people were in the club you led? What grade did your project receive? How many hours did you volunteer? How much money did the event you organized raise? Numbers make everything more credible.

6. Using an unprofessional email address
Create a simple email: firstname.lastname@gmail.com. Not partygirl2004@ or gamerking99@. This seems obvious but it costs people interviews.

7. Skipping the proofread
One typo on a student resume is more damaging than one typo on an experienced professional's resume, because you have less experience to make up for it. Read it backward, word by word. Have a friend or career counselor review it.

If you truly have minimal experience, here are strategies that work:

1. Build experience now (it's faster than you think)
- Volunteer at a local nonprofit this weekend
- Start a small project in your field (a blog, a website, a social media account, a YouTube channel)
- Offer to help a professor with research
- Join a club and volunteer for a leadership role
- Take a free online certification (Google, HubSpot, Coursera, AWS)

Even 2-3 weeks of intentional activity gives you something concrete to put on your resume.

2. Emphasize transferable skills
The skills you develop in part-time jobs, school, and extracurriculars transfer to professional settings:
- Retail → customer service, conflict resolution, multitasking, cash handling
- Food service → working under pressure, teamwork, time management
- Tutoring → communication, patience, subject matter expertise
- Sports → discipline, teamwork, goal-setting, performance under pressure
- Student government → leadership, public speaking, budget management

3. Use your coursework strategically
If you took a class that's relevant to the job, include it. If you did a project in that class, describe it in detail. If you got a strong grade, mention it.

4. Get feedback before applying
Use SteepedResume's free roast tool at /roast to get honest feedback on your resume. It's specifically designed to help identify weak spots and suggest improvements — and it's free for 3 uses. Sometimes an outside perspective reveals strengths you didn't know how to articulate.