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What are some strategies to write my resume if I do not have internships and work experiences prior to college graduation?

I couldn't manage both schoolwork and work during college life. After graduation and as expected, it appears to me that lacking these experiences really downplay my resume. I want to know how I can write my resume given my background like this? #resume #resume-writing

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Subject: Career question for you

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Carole’s Answer

You are right in that employers are looking for some experience on your resume. But it you don't have that you can still make your resume look good. Here are some points to think about while trying to make your resume look good:
1. Your EDUCATION should be your focus in that you put your specific degree in writing and any other special awards or certifications you might have received while in school.
2. If you received any awards or competitive scholarships then that would go under the title of AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS.
3. Special projects or extra classes you might have taken aside from your regular curriculum should be noted under SPECIAL PROJECTS.
4. Another topic could be COMPUTER PROGRAMS AND SOFTWARE USED and whether you can use a MAC or PC. If you know some programs such as Word, Excel, Power point you should also not that under this section along with any other programs you might have learned for your particular major. This is important because every employer want to know how computer literate you are and how well you have learned these programs.
5, If you speak a foreign language and can also write it then that should be placed under LANGUAGE SKILLS. These days it is most important to place that on your resume.
6. VOLUNTEER WORK is also important. If you worked after school as a volunteer for such things as tutoring, dog walking, child care, at a hospital or an office volunteer or any other situation you must put this under section called Volunteer work. This is very important if you don't have any other experiences to put on your resume.
7 Committees or Organizations are another important aspect of the resumes. If you belonged to a committee or organization your next area on the resume would be COMMITTEES AND ORGANIZATIONS. if you were an officer or had a title for the committee such as (secretary) then make sure that is on you resume. If you didn't have a title or hold an office put it down as an organization you belonged to. If the job your are applying for needs any of the skills that you might have learned through this organization you can also put that into words on your resume.
8. Any EXTRCURRICULAR ACTIVITIES that you were involved in such as School Newspaper, Writing a columns, editing, doing some artistic work, or helping to organize the monthly paper in order to get published. This is just one example in which activities can become very important to getting a job.
Each of these capitalized areas should be a section on you resume in order to sell yourself. You could also have a section at the beginning of your resume that reads QUALIFICATIONS. This would help the reader of the resume know if you could be a candidate for the job. Read the job description carefully and check to see if there is a qualification that you might have done in your educational classes or that in an activity that you were a part of.


I am not sure what kind of job you are looking for, but even though you don't have much experience in the world of work, you could always volunteer in an job area of interest and sometimes that will lead you into a job if the company like your work. So while you are looking for a job, don't forget to offer yourself as a volunteer so that you can learn the business and that they recognize you have abilities and skills as they watch you work. It is a way to get your foot in the door so people can see you at work. The other way to get experience at working is through a family member that has a business or someone that you already know. Maybe they will ask you to volunteer or even get paid. Just remember show your confidence in that you CAN DO THE JOB THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE!!


I hope these points have helped you and I wish you the best in your future endeavors!

Thank you comment icon Thanks a lot Carole for such a detailed response! I am actually looking at community-based service job. Although I do not have any work experience before, I am starting to do volunteer work in relative sector. I am trying to put my resume together right now. Thanks a tons again! Hollie
Thank you comment icon I am glad it helped, and glad you are starting to look at volunteer work. If you get some work experience soon, whether it is volunteer or paid put it on quickly so the employer can see you are working towards new experiences. Good luck on your resume and possible a volunteer job. Carole Curtis
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Marlene’s Answer

In the absence of work experience, focus on involvement in clubs/organizations. It will also be important to include information on service and volunteer activities.
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Simeon’s Answer

On your resume, list the classes that are most relevant to the position you're considering and write a bullet or two underneath the listed class to describe some of the things you learned in the class that you think would be relevant for the position you're applying for. If you are applying to different types of companies, make sure to have a different version of the resume for each company to tailor it to the specific job opening.
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Theresa’s Answer

I have 2 suggestions. 1) Checkout Muse.com website. They have excellent advice for resume creation. 2) Sign up for job alerts on SimplyHired.com and Indeed.com. The alerts are set up using key words, don't go above 4 key words per alert. These websites will then send you emails with jobs that are available. Review these jobs and look for the responsibilities and experience mentioned in the jobs that you like and then figure out what you have done in any aspect of your life that demonstrates that experience or those abilities. Don't get frustrated, play around with the key words, you'll find there are all sorts of jobs available and there are some talents and abilities that make you a good candidate for any job. Reliability, punctual, organized, dependable, flexible, able to handle multiple requests at the same time are examples you can incorporate into your resume. Just make sure they're true and that you have a story to tell to back up what you put in the resume.

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Mark’s Answer

I would focus on what soft skills you learned from clubs, group assignments and add key projects or key leadership positions from these clubs on to the resume. If you are able to demonstrate similar types of skills thru other means, then that can come out within the resume. Think about the following: Leadership, project management, collaboration and working with key stakeholders, financial (club dependent), strategic, etc.

This will help replicate skills that you would have received as part of internships and be able to speak about these experiences. I would also think about examples you can talk about during your interviews which demonstrates these. From my experience, recruiters just want to hear about the experiences and are less concerned the avenue by which you achieve them.
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