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How do you build a resume without any work experience?

post #1 of 19
8/5/09 at 11:35pm
Thread Starter 
I haven't held a job and I am preparing to apply for internships soon. I don't have any work experience. ZERO. I don't know what I'm going to do here. However, I have a handful of community services activities I have participated in. But I don't think that is a substitute for work experience. Help
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post #2 of 19
8/5/09 at 11:43pm
You can only use what you have. The good thing is that your competition is probably in the same boat.

Rather than a regular chronological resume, you should divide it into functional areas, e.g. management, analytical, creative, etc., depending on the type of internship you applying for, and organize your community service activities that way.
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post #3 of 19
8/6/09 at 2:14am
Volunteer.
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post #4 of 19
8/6/09 at 4:25am
Honestly, just try to shove as much BS into as possible. It might sound wrong, but that's what everyone does, you just need to do it better. I'm sure you have a ton of transferable skills that you've gained at your volunteer activities that will help you.
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post #5 of 19
8/6/09 at 7:07am
Assuming you're still in school, that should go at the top and can take a lot of the space (put in courses you took, awards you won, etc.)

Volunteer experiences can definitely go under a "work experience" category

Put in languages you speak and clubs you're part of in school... especially if you held leadership positions
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post #6 of 19
8/6/09 at 10:09am
Thread Starter 
What about certain programs I've participated in?
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post #7 of 19
8/6/09 at 10:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by RetroFlow View Post
I haven't held a job and I am preparing to apply for internships soon. I don't have any work experience. ZERO. I don't know what I'm going to do here. However, I have a handful of community services activities I have participated in. But I don't think that is a substitute for work experience. Help

Without work experience, anything else beyond playing with yourself can be an adequate substitute. Talk about any extra curricular activities, community service, classes and projects you have been involved in. Within 3-6 bulletpoints (less for lamer activities, more for the good ones) discuss your role, how you contributed (cooked soup for 300 homeless people per hour, led Tax Accounting project on determining impact of income taxes on soup kitchens...etc.) and what you learned.

Keep it to a page. Don't fill it up with trash - provide details on 2-3 courses you took and notable projects/papers you completed, details on 2-3 extracurricular/community service acitivities and if you've studied abroad discuss your experience. Again keep within 2-6 bullet points depending on the depth of the experience. As long as it isn't half a page you'll be fine - and if it is play with the spacing a little bit.

Edit: Oligarch said what I wanted in less words. Bravo.
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post #8 of 19
8/6/09 at 2:14pm
Thread Starter 
Alright, thanks.Now it isn't so much of a worry building a resume, I think I should be worried about getting an internship without any work experience.
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post #9 of 19
8/6/09 at 3:30pm
Same problem. Most places accepting interns will understand a weak resume or absent of job experience. A resourceful applicant with such a problem will be capable of substituting other activities to show they have some of the skills the workplace is looking for. Firms accepting interns don't expect much expertise, they want people with an interest who are eager to learn. So they will want specific skills (leadership, hard work, resourcefulness) and someone with potential. Work experience per se isn't necessary.

For example, working two years as a server at Applebees is work experience. but does it necessarily provide a better experience than working as a volunteer (say helping with blood drives) with the American Red cross for the same amount of time? Some will argue either way but someone with creative thinking (not lying) will be able to spin either experience into something very promising.

That, my young men, is the skill in writing a resume.
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post #10 of 19
8/13/09 at 2:35am
That's not a problem if you don't have any experience. Mention the things that you have rather than giving vague info about you.
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post #11 of 19
4/24/10 at 5:58pm
Bump for a helpful topic. I'm just a freshman in college, and I need to have a resume done by next Wednesday. How exactly do I do this, considering I only have 1 solid resume (e.g. bank internship in 2008 etc.) from high school? PS - Anybody willing to look at it, however noob-ish it is?
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post #12 of 19
4/24/10 at 6:07pm
It isn't hard, you just need a quick, professional, one page resume for most of these situations.
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post #13 of 19
4/24/10 at 7:26pm
Are we talking no seemingly relevant work experience or no work experience, ie, never had a paycheque in your life? I had no work experience in the field I am entering, but have had many jobs. And many interviewers commented on my jobs- asphalt paving, water and sewer construction, etc... even though this has nothing to do with my degrees.
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post #14 of 19
4/24/10 at 9:06pm
school paper, internships, volunteer, kibbutz
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post #15 of 19
4/24/10 at 11:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by HEWSINATOR View Post
Are we talking no seemingly relevant work experience or no work experience, ie, never had a paycheque in your life?

Well, for me, I've only had 2 legit paid jobs, 1 being a paid internship.

I haven't had anything besides that^ and volunteer experience.

I'll send Career Services an e-mail. If anybody's willing to look at my resume, I would gladly appreciate it.
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