How to Write a Super Resume: A Beginner-friendly Guide

Writing your first resume can feel like a challenge, but once you know what to do, it will make each resume that comes after a lot easier!

Even if you don’t have much work experience yet, you can write a resume that shifts focus to your skills, education and extracurricular activities.

Start by reviewing the job description. Then make a list of your skills that match those listed in the job ad. By doing this, you are tailoring your skills and qualifying yourself for an entry-level position.

Next, you will organize your skills, education and any extracurricular activities. The way you organize your credentials is called format, and there are three of them to choose from. However, for recent graduates or candidates that lack work experience, using a functional format is ideal because it shifts the focus to your skills rather than work experience.

If you’re nervous about the process or want an expert to guide you through it, JobHero features a Resume Builder that provides step-by-step guidance to help minimize the stress of writing and maximize the impact of your resume.

It truly is the fastest and easiest way possible to create a resume!

1. Avoid long blocks of text. Use bullet points and keep your sentences concise and easy to read.

2. Do not use generic words. Stick to industry terminology.

3. Do not be off-topic. Only include skills, keywords and employment history relevant to your current job search.

4. Keep it professional. Don’t use an unprofessional email address or add a picture of yourself on the resume (this is only appropriate for models, actors and performers).

5. Don’t include unflattering information. Don’t ever include employers who fired you for poor performance or personal issues; The recruiter might get the wrong impression about you.

6. Don’t include your high school education or anything prior if you have graduated from college.

In general, you want to keep your resume concise, featuring the best information you can gather about why you would be good at handling the tasks of the new job that you’re applying to.

Stand out from competing candidates with these simple and effective tips:

Quantify your accomplishments. When listing your accomplishments, use numbers or data that demonstrate the results you’ve achieved. This action will show how you impacted the company’s growth. Provide examples of how you may have helped save the company time and money or how your customer service helped boost ratings and satisfaction.

An example would be, “Initiated a new system that allowed me to track inventory during the transportation and delivery of all donations. Avoided losses and eliminated over $25,000 on yearly expenses for security equipment.”

Show that you deliver results. When highlighting your duties and responsibilities, use action verbs. This guarantees that your sentences will be clear, concise and straight to the point.

Using active or engaging verbs throughout your resume provides insight into how you accomplish your tasks. When choosing which words and phrases to use, think of ways that your actions would benefit the employer. Perhaps you saved time and improved productivity or reduced costs. For example, “Spearheaded a new service that included American Sign Language interpreters.”

Be direct. Research the job description and company culture to craft a targeted resume that will address their goals and needs. Combining action words with measurable results are proven strategies that can help you market your most distinctive features and leave recruiters intrigued about you.

If you lack experience, it might be a good idea to choose the functional resume format. This format will spotlight your skills and education rather than your lack of experience by emphasizing your skills, knowledge and abilities first.

To make your skills noticeable, list a mix of hard, soft and technical skills. Make sure that they align with the job that you are applying for. These can range from communication skills to technical capabilities.

Even though functional resumes may emphasize your skills, they include a work experience section.

Try to find any experience you can list here: internships, volunteer and unpaid experience can also count if you’ve never had a real job before.

You could talk about a bake sale that you helped plan, the cash-handling skills you used volunteering at a concession stand, or the sanitary protocol that you followed assisting in a soup kitchen.

Students or recent graduates should include internships and extracurricular activities relevant to the job they are applying for.

Organizing your information this way provides key aspects of your background. Even though you may not have professional experience, your skills and education give you a better chance at landing your interview.

Whether you’re a high school or college student, you may be wondering: How do I write a resume with no work experience?

Make a list of your skills, education and any volunteer or extracurricular work you may have done. From this list, you’ll then need to narrow down what to actually include on your resume by matching your information with the job description.

Then be ready to write your objective statement instead of a professional summary. In a few sentences, write the career goals you wish to achieve. You want to focus on what you can do for the employer and how your studies have prepared you for this job.

Instead of writing out about your experience, you will focus on your education, skills and internships. Always include any extracurricular activities or volunteer work that highlights your talents or where you learned a new skill on your resume.

However, only include extracurricular activities and hobbies if they are relevant to the position and have equipped you with transferable skills that would be useful for the job.

A summary of qualifications is also known as a skills summary. It starts off your resume with valuable information about your skill set. Packing relevant keywords and key phrases into your summary of qualifications or resume profile creates a higher chance of being noticed by the employer and passing the applicant tracking system (ATS).

When writing a compelling summary of qualifications or resume profile, your goal is to convince the employer that you are the best candidate for the job by writing about your most impressive achievements.

Use bullets to describe your most significant accomplishments, like shown in this tour guide qualifications summary example:

1. Managed three trips a day totaling 240 passengers in an outdoor setting, requiring quick thinking, efficient planning, and strong people skills.

2. Provided historical information with story-telling abilities that generated up-sell of other tours with around $150 in additional profit daily.

3. Consistently received 5-star reviews from Trip Advisor, with accompanying praising comments about the service provided.

4. Earned “Employee of the Month” four times in the first year.

A resume profile is a few sentences that will showcase an applicant’s skills, experiences and goals that are relevant to the job they are applying for. In short, it creates an opportunity to highlight the candidate’s goals and top accomplishments.

In a brief overview, you will outline your related experiences. Keep your sentences strong by including metrics, keywords, soft and hard skills, and any certifications or training that are relevant to this position.

An example would be:

“Graduate with a master’s degree in French and four years experience teaching college-level translation and interpreting. Certified in teaching English as a Second Language.”

Another example:

“Expert in marketing and advertising with 20 years of experience. Successfully created and implemented marketing policies, increasing sales by 30%. Excellent interpersonal and team management skills.”

Both summaries of qualifications and resume profiles are a great way to show a hiring manager, at a glance, why you are the best candidate for the job.