A first-job guide
How to make a resume for your first job.
Your first resume does not need a work history, it needs a clear picture of what you can already do, and most of that picture is sitting in school, home, and the things people ask you to help with.
Draft my first-job CVThe structure
What a first job resume should include, in order.
- 01
Contact details
Name, city, phone, email, and a LinkedIn link if you have one. No full address, no date of birth.
- 02
Profile
Two or three sentences: who you are, what work you are looking for, and what you bring. Rewrite it for each application.
- 03
Skills with proof
Three to five skills, each followed by one line that shows it in action, for example how you calmed a queue at a school event or kept a group project on schedule.
- 04
Education
School or course, dates, and anything relevant you studied, built, or presented.
- 05
Activities and projects
Volunteering, part-time help in a family business, sports, clubs, creative work. Write them like jobs, with what you did and what changed.
- 06
Languages and tools
Languages with an honest level, and the software or tools you can actually use.
An example
First job resume example you can adapt.
Sam Taylor, Leeds
Final-year student looking for a weekend role in retail, calm with customers and quick to learn new systems.
Serving people. Ran the welcome desk at the school open day, directing around two hundred visitors and answering questions from parents.
Organising. Kept the football team's kit and match schedule for two seasons, so no game started short of players.
Handling money. Managed the till at a charity bake sale and balanced it at the end of each day.
Education, languages, and tools follow underneath.
How Ember helps
When you cannot think of anything to write.
Advice articles tell you what a first resume should contain, but they cannot ask you the questions that bring your own examples to the surface. Ember does that in a short conversation, one question at a time, and turns your answers into a skills-first CV you can download.
Your first two CVs are free, and if you have little to go on yet, the guide to making a resume with no experience covers what counts as experience in more depth.
Questions about first job resumes.
How do I make a resume for my first job?
Start with a two-line profile saying what kind of work you want, then a skills section where each skill carries one concrete example, then education, then activities such as volunteering, projects, sports or caring for family. Keep it to one page and tailor the profile to each job.
What should a first job resume include?
Your name and contact details, a short profile, three to five skills backed by evidence, your education, any activities or projects, and languages or tools you use. References can be offered on request rather than listed.
How long should a first job resume be?
One page is enough. A hiring manager reading entry-level applications spends little time on each, so a focused page with clear evidence reads better than two pages of padding.
Do I need a cover letter for my first job?
When the application allows one, a short letter helps, because it lets you explain why this role and why now, which a resume cannot do on its own.