What to write on your resume if you have no work experience

People change their profession for various reasons – tired, the boss is not very much or pay little. And you never know what else. It is important that everyone has the chance to one day find themselves in front of an empty resume form with no work experience at all.

I’m not saying that all the tips in this article are suitable for everyone, without exception, but something will certainly come in handy. After all, even the most seasoned of us were looking for a job for the first time, and any signor once pounded a blue-ebony binary flip with a bubble. Together with the HTML Academy Career Center, we decided to help with this and have collected useful tips for you.

Warning: all tips work for jobs in the RF. Recommendations for other countries may differ. If you are considering the possibility of employment in a foreign company, then create a separate resume in English.

Write who you are

If you are looking for a job in Russia, then the first and last name must be filled in Russian.

Indicate your place of residence. This information is important so that the employer understands whether you can go to the office, or what time zone you are in if the job is remote. Explicitly indicate whether you are willing to work remotely or are considering only an office. If you are ready to move – just write.

No date of birth – not approx. The recruiter will still be able to guess your age by the date of graduation or by the length of service and, most likely, will postpone your resume in the “refuse” folder.

Upload a photo

There is a lot of controversy on this point – some say that photography does not affect anything and in foreign companies this is an optional item. Nevertheless, in Russian companies the presence of photographs is most often looked at. Her presence suggests that a person does not hide himself and is ready to declare himself in absentia.

There are several rules for a photo in a resume:

  • there should be no unnecessary people,

  • preferably on a plain background

  • moderately strict and with a smile. When a candidate is friendly in a photograph, it attracts.

Decide on a position

Write on the case and one thing is the best option. After courses on development, quite working versions are as follows:

  • HTML coder

  • Front-end developer

  • PHP developer

  • Web developer

If you are looking for a job as an iron salesman and front-end developer at the same time, then create a separate resume for each position. It is not worth uniting – if the candidate himself cannot understand what he wants to do, then the employer is unlikely to waste time on this.

Write how much money you want

Salary is a good filter, also two-way. A candidate will not apply for a low-paid job, and the company will be suspicious of a candidate who wants much less or much more than average. As elsewhere, there are exceptions, but mostly so.

If you do not know or doubt what to write, look at how many companies offer for the same job in your area, and put the average level for the market and your experience. Sometimes the salary is adjusted already at the interview, but that’s another story.

Remember everything that felt like an experience

If you have experience in the specialty, then indicate it. But since we are here deciding what to do without experience, so let’s understand separately what counts for work experience.

For instance, internship in a real company it is also considered experience, even if no money was paid for it.

If you are starting a career in a new field, indicate only the last place of work and describe in detail your successes and achievements. You can write about irrelevant experiences briefly in the About Me section. For example, that you were herding beavers, and now you want to work as a team lead.

By Ekaterina Novografskaya, HR Manager at iBrush:

Even if there is no experience, the resume needs to be properly formatted. You should not write that you had only A’s at school or university. This is good, of course, but it is not an indicator that you will cope with functional tasks in the intended position. Write in your resume what you can do professionally, what competencies you have for the specialty in which you want to start your career.

And an imperishable classic: choose an adequate photo where you can be clearly seen, add a work email (it is a little strange to send a job offer to kiska94735@mail.ru), list your skills. And do not forget to write a few words about yourself: what are your hobbies, what are your interests and goals. You can also indicate the nuances related to the work schedule, if any.

tell us about yourself

It is important to fill in this section correctly if you have no work experience at all. What you want to achieve is more important here than what has already happened.

Therefore, instead of stories about the inner world, it is better to write here how you came to development (or where you get a job) and how you get new knowledge. Tell us in detail what knowledge you already have, what you have recently studied, and briefly about your development plans for the coming year. Here, write about your hobbies and interests, if you see fit.

Write what you can do about your new profession

Indicate the main technologies that you own and use in your work. Do not indicate what you are just planning to study.

For instance, average vacancy for a layout designer looks like that:

  • Knows how to make responsive cross-browser optimized layout, compatible with modern browsers. Uses SVG for layout.

  • Knows CSS perfectly. Uses the Sass preprocessor. Knows flexes. He knows how to do CSS animations and uses BEM. Knows the Bootstrap library.

  • Knows HTML… In work uses Canvas. Templates HTML using PUG.

  • Uses Git. Knows how to work on GitHub.

  • Can pull the layout on CMS: Bitrix and WordPress.

  • JavaScript writes with jQuerybut does not shy away from ES6.

  • Knows how to automate his work with Node.js, npm scripts, Autoprefixer, Gulp or Webrask.

  • Proficient in Photoshop and Illustrator or knows Figma or Sketch.

  • Has his own portfolio, proactive, ready to go through a trial period

Of course, for a beginner, there are many incomprehensible words and abbreviations here. Nothing wrong. Let’s say you already know HTML and CSS quite well, have worked with SVG, and have a little understanding of JavaScript. This means that these skills need to be indicated, and some points that you have only heard about should be transferred to the development plan (all the more, you still have to learn them).

By Nazir Khasavov, Founder and Art Director of NKH Studio

Layout experience is very important. Even if a person has just completed the course, it is possible to indicate educational projects in the resume. And be sure to include links to GitHub and GitHub Pages so you can look at the code. It’s also important to remember how long it took for a project of this complexity.

It is important for Jun to develop soft skills – the ability to communicate and work in a team. Technical gaps can always be tightened, but if it is difficult to communicate with a person, then you will not go far on such a cart. Therefore, it would be nice to tell a little about yourself. Of course, a short description will not fully reveal the person, but there will already be a small spoiler. Often in interviews, communication is more important than the technical part.

Write where you studied

Indicate education, even if it is not specialized. Perhaps you have acquired a related profession or the knowledge gained for a new field of work will be a plus. Also include any additional continuing education courses with the date of certification. This information will show that you are developing as a specialist, ready for training and new knowledge.

Good volume – two A4 pages

In general, without experience, it is difficult to scrape together so much, but if you suddenly succeed, then keep the following fact in your head.

The completed resume should take no more than two pages (imagine that it needs to be printed on both sides of the sheet on A4, just fits). Try to concisely and succinctly state all the necessary information.

Write at least some accompanying

A good cover letter is superpower. “Hello, please consider my resume for a vacancy” – a dead end.

The cover letter should complement the resume, not copy it. In an ideal world, every company gets a letter. Yes, it takes more time, but it will help attract the attention of the recruiter. Write what the vacancy interests you, and how you can be useful to the company. Just not “I will help bring a bright future closer”, but “I make up landing pages so that they look normal on phones”

Before sending a response, check everything with a spell checker – they are now even built into the browser, so just don’t forget.

95% of HTML Academy graduates get hired for more than just a good resume. They learn professional layout and programming, improve their speed in Accelerator and undergo a paid internship at League A. We also help graduates to find work even in small towns – that is, we do everything so that students can do their new favorite business. Join, start profession “React developer” – April 27.

How to write a resume if you have no work experience

  1. Write honestly who you are – name, age, city

  2. A photo with a smile is power

  3. There should be one position. No “butcher marketer”

  4. Write how much money you want. Even if the amount is from the ceiling

  5. If there is no experience, any similar will do.

  6. The development plan is more important than the fives at school

  7. The more skills match the job, the better. The rest will go to the development plan

  8. Education is more important than it seems, but not critical

  9. No more than two pages for everything (but you don’t need to stretch and pour water either)

  10. The cover letter helps. “Please consider your resume” – no

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