// FOR STUDENTS
A student resume with no experience is not empty. It is just organized differently.
You have projects, coursework, part-time shifts, society roles, and volunteering. That is real material. This page shows you how to arrange it so both the ATS and a human take you seriously, plus a free Word template with the guidance already inside.
The mistakes that filter you out
Apologizing for no experience
Lines like 'seeking to gain experience' waste your best space. Lead with what you have built and done. Nobody expects a second-year student to have a career.
Burying projects at the bottom
Projects are your experience section. A course project with a real outcome ('built an app used by 200 students') belongs right under Education, not below your hobbies.
Leaving out part-time work
Retail shifts, tutoring, and delivery jobs prove reliability, customer handling, and numbers ('50+ customers per shift'). Employers hiring juniors read them as work ethic.
A fancy two-column template
Design templates scramble in ATS parsers: columns read out of order and skills tables glue together. Single column, plain text, standard headings. Boring wins.
Listing every skill ever touched
Eight real skills beat twenty vague ones. Match the exact wording of the job posting for the skills you genuinely have, and drop 'MS Word' unless the posting asks.
No numbers anywhere
Students can quantify too: team sizes, event budgets, grades, users, followers, funds raised. One number per bullet changes how seriously the whole page reads.
One bullet, rewritten
How to structure it
Order: Education first, then Projects, then Experience
Until you have a full-time job, your degree is your headline. Education at the top with expected graduation year, GPA if strong, and the exact coursework that matches the role. Projects next, jobs and activities after.
Write projects like jobs
Name, date, then bullets: what you built or researched, the tools, and one outcome number. 'Built attendance app in Flutter used by 200 students' tells an employer more than any objective statement.
Make every activity earn its line
Society roles, volunteering, and part-time work stay only if they show responsibility, initiative, or numbers. 'Member of five societies' says nothing; one real contribution says everything.
Keep the format machine-safe
Single column, standard headings (Education, Projects, Experience, Skills), real text bullets, contact details in the body of the page. Most large employers parse your file before anyone reads it.
Free student resume template
The structure above, already laid out in Word with the guidance written into every section. Single column, ATS-safe, edit and go.
Summary · Education · Projects · Experience & Activities · Skills · Languages
Frequently asked questions
What do I put on a resume if I have no work experience?
Education with relevant coursework, projects written like jobs (what you built, the tools, one number), part-time or volunteer work, society roles, and a short skills list matching the posting. A student resume is judged on evidence of initiative, not job titles.
How long should a student resume be?
One page. Recruiters expect it and the ATS does not care either way, but a student resume padded to two pages signals filler. Two or three strong projects beat a long list of weak ones.
Should I put my GPA on a student resume?
Include it if it is strong (roughly 3.5+ on a 4.0 scale or the local equivalent) or if the employer asks. If it is lower, leave it off and let projects and activities carry the page.
Do employers really run student resumes through an ATS?
Large employers and graduate programs do, which is why the format rules matter: single column, standard headings, plain text. Run your finished resume through our free scan to see exactly what the software extracts before you apply.
When it is written, verify it. Upload your finished resume to the free ATS scan and read the exact text a parser extracts. Free, no signup, and no invented score.