A resume is a means of communication that is very critical in a job application, especially when your prospective employer is inundated with applications galore. Whether you have experience or not often seems to determine whether you will make it to the interview stage. To get a job you need experience, and to gain experience you need a job. A Catch-22 situation? Not really, the job situation isn’t that bad. First-time job applicants have no reason to despair, but they do need to learn to write a résumé that will leave a good impression even if there isn’t a listing of job experiences. Here are some tips on how to write one that shines when you have little or no work experience—a guide to what to include on your starter résumé.

1. Select a simple and standardized format, nothing too fancy. Try one of the samples you may find on the internet.

2. Use heavy weight plain white or off-white paper and avoid flashy fonts

3. Make sure your contact information is accurate and up-to-date. Include a primary contact number, a cell phone number, and an email address. Your email address should be simple and straightforward. The simplest email address would contain your name with or without dots and dashes. If your email address has a nickname or an overly cutesy name, then do not use it in a job application. Open a fresh email account with minimal variation of your actual name. An address such as hunkydude2012@expressmail.com does not belong to formal communication. Remember that an email ID such as this says much about you, and not all of it is flattering if printed on a formal document.

4. In the first paragraph devote, in what is sometimes called an Objective Statement, 2 to 3 sentences to tell the employer about your strongest personality traits that make you suitable for the job. Carefully choose to highlight those traits that are most applicable to the job for which you are applying.

5. Since you do not have work experience to speak of, list your volunteer work or community activities. If you’ve done work experience through a course at school make note of it here. If you’ve held odd jobs, list it here and if at all possible get letters of reference. In the United States it is common for students to have done things like baby sitting or yard work for neighbors, and so they do mention these in their first job application.

6. Next list coursework at school that you think has prepared you in some way for the job. If you have special academic achievements or awards to your credit, list them in some detail. Explain how you think your excellent performance in these areas would benefit the employer or enhance your ability to do the job. If you can, get a letter of reference from a teacher of one of the courses you mention.

7. List your extracurricular activities of a non-volunteer nature such as sports, or youth groups, school committees, etc. If you have held a position of leadership or authority in any of these groups make note of it and describe your duties as if they were a job.

8. Finally, sell yourself by making a list of your skills, special talents, or positive personality traits.

Some Tips:

1. Never pad your first résumé or make it longer than a page; employers aren’t expecting a long work history from a first-time applicant.

2. Remember that this is your first résumé and that once you have couple of years of job experience or a career-oriented education the rules of writing a résumé will change for you. You will then have to focus more on your recent and more relevant  achievements.

3. Be truthful in what you mention and even as you put down reasons why you think you are suitable to the job do always reflect who you are rather than someone you are not. Any deception will be very obvious to an experienced interviewer and will cost you the job.