How to Build a Resume With No Work Experience in 2026 (With Free Templates)

The format is: Action verb + what you did + result or context

Weak: "Responsible for managing social media accounts."

Strong: "Managed three social media channels (Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn), growing combined following by 1,200 in four months through a targeted content calendar and weekly analytics review."

Weak: "Helped with data entry and report preparation."

Strong: "Compiled and cleaned weekly sales data across four product categories, producing a summary report used by the marketing manager in monthly strategy meetings."

The strong versions say what you did, how you did it, and why it mattered. Every bullet point on your resume should be able to pass this test: if you deleted it, would the reader know less about what you can do? If the answer is no, delete it.

What to do if you have no formal experience at all: Reframe what you have. Every candidate has something. Consider:

• A part-time retail or food service job demonstrates reliability, customer interaction, time management under pressure, and team coordination — all of which are genuinely valuable and transferable
• Helping a family member run a small business is business experience, even if it was informal
• Tutoring classmates or younger students is instructional design and communication experience
• Running a WhatsApp group for a significant event is coordination and communication
• Any creative work you have done and put into the world — writing, photography, graphic design, music, YouTube — is portfolio-building and demonstrates initiative

Frame it honestly, describe it specifically, and focus on the skills it developed.

Section 5: Projects

For recent graduates, the Projects section is often the most valuable section on the entire resume — because it shows what you can actually do in a way that a list of modules cannot. This is where academic final year projects, personal technical projects, portfolio pieces, competitions, and any independent work that demonstrates applied skill should live.

For each project, include: the project name, a one-line description of what it was, the technologies or tools used, and one to two bullet points describing your contribution and any measurable outcome.

Example — Software Developer:
JobMatch Platform — Final Year Project | Django, PostgreSQL, REST API, Render
• Built a full-stack job matching web application connecting 150+ beta users with verified listings across three sectors
• Designed database schema, developed REST API endpoints, and deployed to cloud server; achieved 94% in faculty assessment

Example — Marketing Graduate:
Lagos Street Food Campaign — Student Marketing Project | Instagram, Canva, Google Analytics
• Led a team of four in developing and executing a three-week social campaign for a fictional street food brand
• Grew the test Instagram account from 0 to 847 followers organically; campaign placed first in the faculty competition

Three to five strong project entries will do more to demonstrate capability than almost anything else on a graduate resume. If you do not have projects yet, building them is one of the highest-value activities you can do before sending applications.

Section 6: Skills

The Skills section is where you list your technical competencies in a scannable format. Hiring managers and ATS systems both use this section as a quick reference, so it should be complete, accurate, and keyword-rich.

Organise skills into clear categories:

Example Skills Section:
Technical: Python (intermediate), SQL (intermediate), Excel (advanced), Google Analytics, Tableau, HTML/CSS (basic)
Marketing Tools: HubSpot, Mailchimp, Hootsuite, Canva, Google Ads (basic)
Productivity: Notion, Slack, Trello, Google Workspace, Microsoft Office
Languages: English (native), Yoruba (fluent), French (conversational)

Do not list vague soft skills like "strong communicator" or "team player" in this section — those belong in your summary or experience bullet points where they can be evidenced. The skills section should contain specific, verifiable competencies.

Be honest about proficiency levels. "Python (beginner)" is more credible than "Python" with no qualifier, because it tells the reader you understand the difference between knowing a language and being an expert in it. Claiming expertise you do not have will be discovered quickly and damages your credibility significantly.

Section 7: Additional Sections (Optional but Valuable)

Certifications: Any professional certifications you hold should be listed with the issuing organisation and the year obtained. Google Digital Marketing Certificate, HubSpot Content Marketing Certification, Coursera Python for Everybody, AWS Cloud Practitioner, SHRM-CP — these are all worth including. Free certifications from reputable organisations are legitimate credentials.

Volunteer Work: If you have done meaningful volunteer work, include it. It demonstrates community engagement, often involves transferable skills, and shows that you take initiative outside of formal requirements. Treat volunteer entries the same as paid experience entries — role, organisation, dates, and bullet points describing what you did.

Awards and Honours: Faculty prizes, national competitions, scholarships, dean's list recognition — anything that signals external validation of your ability belongs here.

Publications or Presentations: If you wrote something that was published — even a student journal, a blog with a real audience, or a conference presentation — include it. It signals writing ability, subject knowledge, and the confidence to put your thinking into the world.

Interests: The interests section is optional and often skipped by candidates who do not realise it can serve a strategic purpose. Specific interests — not "reading, music, and travel," which describes almost everyone — can demonstrate personality, skills, and talking points. "Marathon running" demonstrates endurance and goal-orientation. "Open source contributor to [specific project]" demonstrates technical initiative. "Competitive chess" signals strategic thinking. If your interests are genuinely specific and potentially relevant, include them. If they are generic, skip this section.

Resume Formatting Rules That Hiring Managers Actually Care About

Length: For a recent graduate with no significant professional history, one page is the correct length. Fill it well. If you are genuinely struggling to fill a page, you need to work on building more experiences and skills before applying rather than padding the resume with filler. If you have extensive experience from internships, major projects, and extracurricular leadership, two pages can be acceptable — but every line must earn its place.

Font: Use one of these: Calibri, Georgia, Garamond, Helvetica, or Arial. All are professional, readable, and ATS-compatible. The body text should be 10.5 to 12 points. Section headings can be 13 to 14 points. Do not use anything decorative, condensed, or unusual.

Margins: 1.9cm to 2.5cm on all sides. Narrower than this makes the document feel cramped. Wider and you are wasting space.

Colour: Minimal to none. A single accent colour used sparingly for headings or dividers is acceptable. Multiple colours, gradients, and decorative elements confuse ATS systems and often look unprofessional to human readers.

File format: Always save and submit as PDF unless the application specifically requests Word format. PDFs preserve your formatting perfectly across all devices and operating systems. Word documents often reflow and look different when opened on a different system.

File name: FirstName-LastName-Resume.pdf. Not "CV final FINAL v3 (1).pdf." The file name is the first impression before anyone opens the document.

The ATS Optimisation Checklist

Before you submit any application, run through this list:

• Read the job description carefully and identify the top five to eight keywords — specific skills, tools, qualifications, or role-related terms
• Check that each of those keywords appears in your resume where it is accurate and honest
• Make sure your section headings are standard: Summary, Education, Experience, Projects, Skills
• Remove all text boxes, tables, columns, headers, footers, and images
• Make sure your contact information is in the body of the document, not in a header or footer
• Check that all dates are consistent in format (Month YYYY or MM/YYYY throughout)
• Run it through a free ATS checker — Jobscan (free tier) or Resume Worded both offer basic scanning and will flag common ATS compatibility issues

Free Tools to Build Your Resume

Google Docs: The simplest and most reliable option for an ATS-compatible resume. Google Docs offers several clean resume templates accessible from File → New → From Template. The advantage is that it is free, accessible from any device, and saves automatically to Google Drive. The output is clean, parseable, and professional.

Canva: Excellent for visually polished resumes but carries ATS risk if you use the multi-column or graphic-heavy templates. If you use Canva, choose the simplest, single-column template available and avoid text boxes. Download as PDF.

Notion: Some candidates build their resumes in Notion and export as PDF. This can work well for clean, simple layouts but has similar multi-column risks to Canva.

Overleaf (LaTeX): Preferred by many engineering and computer science graduates because it produces exceptionally clean, precise formatting. Has a steeper learning curve but produces the most professional-looking output of any free tool. The Jake's Resume template on Overleaf is particularly well-regarded.

Resume.io and Zety: Both offer free tiers with limited templates and paid tiers for full access. They are more polished than basic Google Docs templates but the free versions have significant limitations. Worth considering if you want a more structured building experience.

The Most Common Resume Mistakes That Get Applications Rejected

Using a generic objective statement. "Seeking a challenging position in a dynamic organisation where I can contribute my skills" is a sentence that adds nothing. Replace it with a specific professional summary as described above.

Listing duties instead of achievements. "Responsible for managing social media" describes a job description, not your performance. "Grew the Instagram account by 1,200 followers in four months" describes a result. Every bullet point should, wherever possible, be a result.

Applying the same resume to every job. Your resume should be tailored for each application — at minimum, the skills section and summary should reflect the specific requirements of the role you are applying for. Keyword matching is not optional if you want to pass ATS filters.

Including irrelevant personal information. Your marital status, religion, date of birth, nationality, and physical description have no place on a resume in most markets. They are legally unnecessary and in many jurisdictions their inclusion creates discomfort for hiring managers who are required to evaluate you without considering them.

Typos and grammatical errors. Every single word on your resume should be correct. A typo tells the hiring manager that you either do not care about quality or you do not notice errors — neither quality is desirable in any role. Read your resume aloud. Then read it backwards sentence by sentence. Then ask someone else to read it. All three passes.

Using an unprofessional email address. As mentioned above — if your email is not a variation of your name, create a new one before you apply anywhere.

Including a photo unless specifically required. In most English-speaking markets and most global technology companies, photos on resumes are not expected and introduce unnecessary bias risk. Leave it out unless the role specifically requests one.

Exaggerating or fabricating experience. Background checks are standard practice at most employers above a certain size, and references are regularly contacted. Any exaggeration that cannot be substantiated will eventually be discovered, and the consequences — from offer withdrawal to termination to reputational damage — are far worse than simply not having the experience.

A Note on Cover Letters

Your resume and cover letter work together. The resume is the evidence. The cover letter is the argument for why that evidence makes you the right person for this specific role. A strong resume attached to a generic cover letter is a significant missed opportunity. For a complete guide to writing a cover letter with no experience, see our post: How to Write a Cover Letter With No Work Experience in 2026.

Your Resume Is a Living Document

The version of your resume you send today is not the final version. Every new project you complete, every certification you earn, every piece of feedback you receive from applications and interviews should inform updates to your resume. The graduates who develop strong careers tend to be the ones who treat their professional documents — resume, LinkedIn profile, portfolio — as ongoing projects that get better over time rather than documents that get finished once and forgotten.

Start with what you have. Build it carefully. Apply. Get feedback from the market. Improve. Repeat.

Browse all currently available entry-level roles at Job Foundry Hub — every position on our platform is verified for candidates with 0 to 2 years of experience. Use the search filters to find roles that match the skills you have built.