Things to Remember:
This is one opinion. Tweak it. Get a second opinion. This isn’t my first rodeo, but it doesn’t mean I know everything either.
This guide is built with a first job in mind, and is aimed at teenage applicants - but can be for anyone. You don’t have to be super qualified to get a job.
Don’t stress yourself out. This isn’t your last resume - it only gets easier and looks more professional looking after your first job.
Ask for help if you need it. Not knowing things is amazing - it gives you the chance to learn something new. Get a parent or teacher or friend to proofread if you think you need it.
It’s your first job. There is no need for this thing to be more than 1 page when you’re finished. But we can make it pretty at the end - so don’t let that stop you getting thoughts out while you’re working on it.
Run spell check over it. I beg of you.
AND - Don’t forget to write a cover letter too.
Step 1:
Let’s start easy. Make a new google doc, or word doc, and name it
“first name last name - Resume”
Nothing is more annoying to an employer than being handed 200 documents that are all just named “resume”. Tell them who you are before they have to open it.
Step 2:
You're trying to get pretty simple information out to these people. Start by clicking on your header and adding your name. Worry about formatting everything else last.
Step 3:
Add your most second most important info. Add a heading that says
Contact
Under that, write and fill out your
Phone number.
Email address.
Don’t add your address, birthday, or random ice breaker fact here. Cringe.
Now take a breather - you're already crushing it just by starting. This is a new thing, so it’s okay if it’s scary and hard. It won't always be.
Also, I apologise, the rest will actually require a few of those brain cells you’ve got bouncing around.
Step 4:
Most resumes start with skills or work experience. For the purpose of us being on this page, you have none.
So instead you're going to write a basic introduction to you. In the working world we call this a ‘Professional Summary’ - but you don’t need to give it a title on the page, but you can if you want to. It should read something like
I am a young person looking to enter the workforce and am interested in an entry level role that will teach me essential skills that I can build over time.
Or
I am looking to get my first job, and am enthusiastic to get a role that will help me learn new skills and build my abilities for the future.
Probably tweak it a little so it sounds like how you would write it. But I beg you, check your spelling.
Step 5:
This is where you tell them what you do have that might be relevant to the working world. We call those transferable skills.
Add another heading. This one says
Skills
Ultimately, most employers want the same things.
- Reliability - showing up when you’re expected to and doing what you’re meant to do.
- Effective Communication - being respectful, and being able to get the point across.
- Good Attitude - willingness to try new things.
- Resilience - being able to adapt to change, even if it sucks or happens quickly.
- Kindness - no one likes an a**hole. Okay?
- Growth - aiming to keep growing and learning more.
- And, it's a bonus if you have leadership abilities. Think school rep, or team captain for a sport.
You can easily get away with 3-5 skills. If you get to the end of your resume and think it needs more words, feel free to come back and add an extra one or two to fill it up.
How you describe your skills really depends on what you’re good at. I’ve got some examples for you. Remember these are super quick dot points, they don’t need to be paragraphs.
- Reliable - I enjoy keeping my planned timetable.
- Reliable - always happy to lend a hand when needed.
- Effective Communicator - Able to work with people with differing opinions and reach agreements
- Effective Communicator - not afraid to ask questions or ask for help
- Effective Communicator - polite and courteous to all people, even if they’re challenging
- Good Attitude - Willing to try new things and step out of my comfort zone
- Good Attitude - Always looking for positives and maintaining a happy demeanour
- Resilient - Able to handle changing of plans at short notice
- Resilient - Takes on feedback and works to improve performance
- Kind - professional attitude and a positive outlook
- Kind - always there to listen and help out when asked
- Growth - enthusiastic to learn new things.
- Growth - always looking for a new challenge.
- Growth - I enjoy setting goals and reaching them.
And some other great ones
- Leadership - able to assign tasks to the right people
- Team player - working alongside others to reach a common goal
- Adaptable - will change how I approach tasks based on their needs
- Flexible - I have free time and am able to jump in at short notice to help out
They might also be interested in your specific skills, if the job needs them. Usually, if it does, the job ad will say it. Things like;
- Familiar with using Google Docs and Sheets
- Confident following a rotating roster or schedule
And if you want to, don’t be afraid to throw in a party trick here. If your future boss is a real person and not a robot, they’ll probably laugh and keep your name in mind, or use it as an ice breaker.
- Able to juggle 5 items at once
- Can walk 3 dogs without getting leads tangled
- Crocheted a king sized blanket in a month
Be yourself, don’t let the professional world be too serious.
Step 6:
So, you have no previous job. No drama. But you definitely have other things you’ve done that are full of those transferable skills. Here, we’ll call that your experience.
And, sorry in advance, this is the hardest part of the operation.
add a heading which says
Experience
Add subsections. You’ll need at least one, but aim to add two or three. Any more than that is too wordy, so pick the highlights if you’re lucky enough to have more than that.
When adding your experience, add the newest thing first, and the oldest thing last. And if it’s more than 5 years old, probably don’t add it - you’ve learned a lot since then, so it’s not really relevant any more.
Great things you can use as experience for entering the work force are things like extra curricular activities. Think about sports, clubs, scout groups, or volunteering. If you haven’t been lucky enough to have any of that kind of stuff - don’t stress. You’re brand new to this - good employers will understand that.
If you have work experience from school, or volunteer work - I’d say put that in first, because it’s probably the most relevant.
Start each of your subsections here with a title. Lay it out with what it was, who it was for, and when it happened.
Point Guard. Local Basketball Team Name. 2023-2025
Bold it or underline it so we know it’s a title. (If you had more than one title or role - put the highest level one, or the most recent)
Then we’ll go on and add a simple introductory sentence about how great an experience it was, before diving into about 4 or 5 dot points with what skills you learned there that might help you with a job. I’ll add a few more points in each example below, so you have lots of ideas to work with.
You can phrase things however you want here. It’s your resume. I have set things out a little differently in each example.
Work Experience Example:
Work Experience. Sally’s Clothing Shop. 2024
Through my schooling I was able to undertake work experience at Sally’s Clothing Shop in 2024. While here I volunteered my time as a retail assistant to learn essential working skills, such as:
- Cash handling, providing accurate change, and processing EFTPOS transactions
- Communicating with customers in person and on the phone
- Maintaining store cleanliness and organising stock on shelves and clothing racks
- Handling deliveries of items and checking them off against delivery receipts and invoices
- Maintaining personal timekeeping by filling out daily sign in sheets
- Completing mandatory workplace health and safety training
- Working with a diverse group of employees and managing differences in culture, opinion, and work ethic
- Working alongside the team to reach goals such as setting up new displays or reaching sales targets
Volunteering Example:
Volunteer. Lions Club. 2022
As a volunteer for the Lions Club in 2022, I spent each Saturday at the local market taking donations for the organisation. These donations helped the club provide essential help to the community. Some things I learned are;
- Confidence talking to strangers and explaining the groups values
- Ensuring the safety of cash donations and preventing theft or fraud
- Offering kindness to strangers encouraged them to be kind in return
- Working with a small team can still provide big results when you share a common goal
- Being resilient when facing rejection and differing opinions is essential to achieve tasks
Team Sport Example:
Point Guard. Some Basketball Team Name. 2023-2025
For Some Basketball Team I played for 3 seasons in 2023, 2024, and 2025. In the team I spent time in lots of different roles, but mainly centre and point guard. As part of my team I;
- Trained weekly throughout the season and off season to maintain fitness
- Communicated professionally with my team through call outs on the court, and while in breaks
- Learned to read my teammates body language to help determine strategic options
- Aimed to lift the teams performance by collaborating with each person
- Worked to increase my personal statistics to promote myself as a player
- Participated in events in a rotating roster of locations throughout the season
Don’t forget to add bonus dot points for things like if you were a captain, or won an award, or had the best statistic for something. Like
- Coordinated my teammates when I Captained the team for the season in 2025
- Assisted the coach as Team Captain by assigning training routines and communicating
- Held the team record in 2024 season for most points in a single game (21)
Independent Sport Example:
Figure Skater. The Ice Rink. 2021-2024
As a figure skater I attended weekly training sessions at The Ice Rink throughout 2021 until 2024. While in these training sessions I;
- Maintained my personal equipment and uniform to make sure it was in working order
- Set personal goals and held myself accountable to achieve them
- Worked to improve my performance by trying new routines and learning new movements
- Shared my training space respectfully with other independent athletes whenever scheduling required it
- Competed in events and competitions to display my skills against my peers
Scouts/Guides Example:
Troop Leader. Scout and Venturer Group. 2018-2023
I spent 7 years in Scout and Venturer Group and aged through different groups within the Troop. Some of my skills learned here are;
- Managing personal property and equipment maintenance while on camps and excursions
- Participating in a wide range of activities which focussed on multiple different disciplines, such as athletic skills like rock climbing, or intellectual challenges like learning a new language (French).
- Working with my group to make sure everyone is getting a chance to learn, and gets help when needed.
- As Troop Leader, I spent time assisting the Group Leaders in designing activities and designating tasks to others.
- While with the group in 2023 I earned my First Aid badge through a joint program with the Australian Red Cross, and have a certificate in administering general First Aid.
Club Example
Reader. Library Book Club. 2023
In 2023 I spent 2 afternoons each week with a small group in the school library reading and discussing books. This was valuable to me, as I;
- Learned to collaborate in decision making with a group of people with diverse opinions
- Enjoyed the opportunity to read about subjects I previously ignored, which widened my world view
- Engaged in conversations with differing opinions and challenged myself to think outside the box
- Set aside personal time to complete reading outside of the group to prepare for upcoming discussions
- Provided short written reviews on various books for the library to encourage others to read the book
I hope these were helpful examples for you.
Got something similar but not listed here? Fantastic. If it has any of the kind of vibe as above, add it. All transferable skills are great.
And if you haven’t gotten to do anything like that, I wrote you a different post on what to write here instead.
Step 7:
Time for another heading.
Education.
I think the best part of this section is that retail and hospitality employers aren’t all that interested in your grades. So it can be short and sweet, and outline your basics.
I know you spend a lot of your schooling life being told this is the most important thing - and if you keep going and get to university and have degrees, it might be. But for a simple first job in school, when the job doesn't specifically need you to have a degree, it’s really not that high up on the list.
That being said, for legal reasons, school is important. As much as we all hate quadratics, I promise there’s a reason everyone harps on about being in school when you’re young - it’s about your social development and ability to learn things. But I’ll rant about that another time.
Start with the obvious one:
Name of your school - What grade, what year.
For up to year 10 - Just add the grade you're in. If you’re in college, add your college first, and year 10 after.
Now add in points underneath each place you went to school and anything noteworthy. For example if you’re a student rep, or represent your school in the state band. And if nothing you're really proud of happened, just write the school.
A Totally Real College - Year 12, 2025
That Local High School - Year 10, 2023
- Student Representative Council - Year 10 Leader - 2023
Now we’ll add anything else you might have that is education based. Usually, this is if you have a Certificate in something.
Format would be something like:
Certificate name - nationally recognised course number - where you got it, what year.
For example:
Certificate II in Retail (SIR20216) - TAFE NSW, 2023.
We’re so close to being finished now - you're doing great.
Part 8:
This is completely optional. But I want to add it for those who need it - the 'Other' category.
This is anything else you have that might make you stand out from the crowd. For example, your “other” category might be
Qualifications
- Provisional Licence, and access to a vehicle.
- First Aid Certificate, Red Cross, 2023
Or it might be
Achievements
- Guinness World Record holder for Most Balloons Popped in 60 seconds (2024)
- Best In Show - Baking award at the SmallTown Show 2022, 2023, and 2024.
- ‘Whitest Sneakers’ Dundie award 2019
This is a great space filler, but not at all essential. And remember if you’re adding school related things to put them under Education, and not here.
Don’t double up on anything that you used in a section above - we want to show you have good attention to detail, not good ability to repeat yourself.
Part 9:
Lucky last, we’re going to add references.
These are people who will vouch for you and tell your future boss that they think you’re worth hiring. Once you’ve had a job, they’re normally your managers or supervisors.
Writing “references available on request” is not an option. Either leave the whole reference section out completely, or add people and their contact info. Employers know they can ask for references. And most of them will. But adding that sentence is painful from the employer point of view. It’s basically like going over the bottom of your resume in highlighter and writing “I let AI write this”.
Now that you have my extreme opinion on that, it’s simple to lay this one out.
Add your title
Referees
Who’s the person? How do they know you? How can the boss contact them?
Name
Relationship
Phone number
On your next resume, I recommend two professional references and a personal one. But for your first resume it’s important that they’re just reliable and worthwhile people.
I regret to inform you that your best friend of 8 years is not a good choice for a reference here. Employers would rather talk to an adult, or at least someone who has a relevant point of view.
Your best choices are teachers, coaches, team leaders, or even your family members.
They’re all people who have seen you grow in a way an employer might care about.
Just make sure your references know you want them to be references for you. No one gives a good job reference when they get a phone call about you without being asked.
And if you’re going to stretch the truth on your resume, make sure your references know and agree to go along with it. I don’t recommend lying anyway, because you’ll be found out pretty quickly when you’re not able to do something you’ve said you can - but I’m also not your mother, so proceed with caution.
You did it! It’s a resume. Well done!
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Now, it probably looks a little groady so spend a bit of time making it pretty.
Are all fonts the same size, style, and colour?
Titles can be sized up if you like. Arial, Cambria or Times New Roman are the “most professional” but as long as it’s not Comic Sans or Wingdings I think you’d survive.
Side note, if you’re using anything other than black text colour throughout this piece of paper - You're fired.
Okay. Good. Now run it through a spell check, and reread the whole thing. Make sure your grammar makes sense. You have no weird slang words hiding in there. Nothing that says “blah blah” or “come back to this later”.
Make sure you haven’t repeated chunks of info. I went over this already.
And does it all fit on one page?
If it does, awesome! That’s a wrap. If not, maybe cut out a dot point here or there. Or add multiple columns so it fills out the page differently.
I’m not a google docs expert or a graphic designer, and everyone has their own style. If you want to take your name out of the header and put it on the page and make it huge and in pink font, go for it!
Thanks for making it through this whole thing - I hope it helps you! And keep a look out for other posts about getting your first job that might help.
