What to Put on Your Resume If You Don’t Have Job Experience

Graduating from college is a wonderful accomplishment. You’ve been learning about and training for your new career for years now, and you’re ready to head out into the real world and land that job!

You feel unstoppable! Your momentum may come to a screeching halt, though, when you review resume templates or resume examples and come across the “job experience” section.

When using a resume builder, what are you supposed to put under “job experience” if all of your experience comes from what you learned in college? Can college experience be considered job experience?

What to Put on Your Resume If You Don’t Have Job Experience

Building Your Resume – Academic Experience Counts Up to a Point

After spending years in the classroom learning your trade, it would seem like that should count for something, right? In some cases it does – but not all of them. School can only teach you so much. What you learn there is basically an outline. Getting a job in your industry will start to fill in the details. In other words, you will come across situations on the job that were never even touched upon in school. Going through those experiences and dealing with on-the-job issues successfully are what employers are looking for when they review the “job experience” portion of a resume. So, if you come across a job you’re interested in and the company wants someone with four years of job experience, you’re likely not going to get the job if all you bring to the table is your education. However, if, in addition to your education, you have a list of extracurricular activities, charity work, or internships within the field where you’re looking for a job – these might count toward job experience. Another way you might get a job that requires a lot of experience is to work at an entry level position for at least one year. At the end of that year, if you have one year of job experience and four years of college experience, employers who want years of job experience may consider you. The important thing about your resume is to put down all relevant job experience: internships, volunteer work, etc. Though you may not have the exact amount of job experience required, your combined years in school and experience may very well intrigue potential employers.

A Resume Builder Makes Creating Your Resume So Much Easier

While you may not have the job experience you wish you had at this point, that doesn’t mean that you’re doomed to failure. There is a very good chance that you can make a great first impression with a stunning resume. Some employers will skip down to the “job experience” section and base their decision solely on that one aspect of an applicant’s resume. Others, though, are willing to dig a little deeper. They want to see what an applicant has been up to, how they use their time, what extracurricular activities they’ve been drawn to, and what they were able to achieve during their college career. Using a resume creator to build a thorough and eye-catching resume is a great way to attract a potential employer.