Writing your first resume with no formal work history feels harder than it needs to be — the trick is treating school, university, sport, and volunteer experience as real evidence of the same skills employers look for in any candidate: reliability, teamwork, and initiative.
Professional Summary
Motivated Year 12 student seeking part-time retail or hospitality work, with strong communication and teamwork skills developed through school leadership roles and volunteer work. Reliable, punctual, and available on weekends and school holidays, with a strong work ethic and willingness to learn quickly.
Example Achievement Bullets
This is an illustrative example, not a real applicant's resume — use it as a guide for tone and structure, then build your own from your real experience.
Leaving the resume mostly blank because you think you don't have "real" experience — school projects, sport, volunteering, and family responsibilities all count as evidence of transferable skills.
Writing generic statements like "hard worker" without a specific example — even a school group project or a babysitting commitment can demonstrate reliability if you describe it specifically.
Forgetting to clearly list your availability, since for casual and part-time roles this is often as important to an employer as your skills.
Start from your own experience and let AI tailor it to the job you want.
Build My Resume — FreeBrowse All ExamplesCommon questions about writing a student / first job resume.