I’ve often heard young job seekers complain that most jobs require an applicant with experience – and yet they can’t obtain the requisite experience if no one will take a chance and give them a position. Hand-in-hand with this problem is another well-known dilemma faced by new graduates and those new to the workforce: how can an applicant create an impressive resume when they have little or no experience? Below are a few tips that an inexperienced applicant can use to spruce up a sparse-looking resume and demonstrate their skills to a potential employer – even if they haven’t been previously employed.

1. Reduce white space.

Your resume won’t look quite as sparse if you reduce the amount of glaring white space it contains. One way to do this is to take a two-column approach to your resume. Try creating a vertical line two to three inches from the left margin. On the right side, you resume should appear in a standard format. On the left side of the page, neatly spaced, create a list of your skills. If you have absolutely no job experience, you can include soft skills here, particularly those that pertain to the job for which you are applying. Soft skills include the ability to be a team player, the ability to communicate effectively, and leadership ability. If you include these items on a resume, be certain that you can back them up in an interview by referring to your experiences in school, clubs or volunteer activities.

2. Include more information about your education.

For experienced applicants, resumes usually include the name of the school you attended, the name of the degree conferred, and the date of graduation. Younger applicants may also include a grade point average and any special honors received at graduation, such as Summa Cum Laude. However, for those who are brand new to the workforce, details from school may help applicants to demonstrate abilities that they haven’t yet had the opportunity to prove in a place of employment.

While your entire class schedule should not appear on a resume, it is perfectly appropriate to include the names of a few selected classes if they pertain directly to the prospective position, especially if the classes were elective and not required for graduation. For example, if you took extra finance classes, these may be of interest if you hope to work for an accounting firm.

Special, long-term projects that you completed in school can also be mentioned on a resume. For instance, a semester-long project that you completed in a group demonstrates the ability to manage your time, the ability to work in a collaborative group environment, the ability to organize and delegate tasks, and the ability to meet long-term deadlines. These are all qualities that employers look for in prospective applicants.

Also, in addition to listing your extra curricular activities, consider listing particular accomplishments that you completed as a part of your extra curricular activities. For instance, if you belonged to a group that successfully completed a fundraising activity, this experience can be included on a resume.

3. Include any volunteer work.

Think about any activities you’ve completed in the past few years that could be considered volunteer work. Did you run a church festival or help build houses for the homeless? Did you volunteer at a local animal shelter or work in a soup kitchen? Although these time commitments came from the heart, they can also help you in your job search. Volunteer experience can develop your workplace skills just as much as any paying job, so be sure not to leave these experiences off of your resume.

4. Include any self-employment.

Think about any activities you’ve performed to make money. Did you provide babysitting services in your home, walk dogs in your neighborhood, or provide piano lessons for children? If you did so regularly, you weren’t unemployed at all – you were self-employed instead. Under these circumstances, it is entirely appropriate to list yourself as your own employer on your resume as job experience, as long as you are sufficiently detailed in your description of job duties so that this addition to the resume does not seem disingenuous.

Creating a resume can be stressful work, especially when you have little or no work experience and seemingly little information to include. However, by giving careful thought to your experiences while in school and while you were out of the general workforce, useful experiences may be uncovered that can convince a hiring manager of your skills. By using some of these strategies, you can create a resume that will increase your chances of catching the eye of a hiring manager and landing that all-important interview.



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For some excellent examples of well-written resumes, check out Resumes That Get Jobs on Amazon.com.