New Grad Resumé, No Experience (2026)

Short answer: You have more experience than you think. Co-op terms, internships, part-time jobs, course projects, research, clubs and volunteering all count. Put a two-line profile tied to the job at the top, then your education, then a Projects or Experience section written as results, not duties. Keep it to one page and match the words in the posting.

This guide works for new grads in both Canada and the US. For country rules such as spelling and personal details, see our Canadian resumé format guide or our American resumé format guide.

Step 1: List everything that counts as experience

“No experience” usually means “no full-time job in my field yet”. Career centres and government job sites count much more than that:

Co-op, internships and work-integrated learning. The University of Waterloo’s career centre says the work experience section is one place to highlight internship, co-op and work-integrated learning experience, as well as research and teaching assistantships (University of Waterloo, Experience section).
Projects. The same page describes a project experience section for research, a thesis, major course projects and student club projects.
Part-time jobs. Serving, retail, tutoring and campus jobs show reliability and how you deal with people, even when they’re unrelated to your field.
Volunteering and unpaid work. Job Bank says to include unpaid work that shows off your skills, under “Work experience” or “Volunteer work”, especially when it relates to the job (Job Bank, How to write a good resume).
Clubs, teams and campus roles. Alberta’s alis career site suggests school or community projects that show your skills and leadership, which it says is especially useful if you don’t have much work experience (alis, Resumé checklists).

Write all of it down first, in one long list. You’ll pick the best pieces for each job later.

Step 2: Use a layout that leads with your strengths

For most new grads, this order works:

Contact details: name, city and province or state, phone, email, LinkedIn (and a portfolio or GitHub link if it’s relevant).
A two-line profile tied to the job.
Education.
Projects, or co-op and internship experience.
Work and volunteer experience.
Skills and certificates.

CareerOneStop, sponsored by the US Department of Labor, says new grads can place Education near the top (CareerOneStop, Resumes). Move it below your experience once you have relevant work experience since graduating (CareerOneStop, Education).

One page is enough. CareerOneStop’s youth resumé advice is to limit your resumé to one page (CareerOneStop GetMyFuture, Resumes).

A note on “functional” resumés. alis notes that a functional resumé (skills first, little or no work history) can suit first-time job seekers, but also says not all employers like them because employers may prefer to see the details of your work history (alis, The functional resumé). For new grads, a short reverse chronological resumé with a Projects section usually gives you the same benefit without hiding your dates.

Step 3: Write a two-line profile for the job

Your profile tells the reader what you’re applying for and why you fit, in two lines. Copy the job title from the posting into the first line.

Sample (fictional): “Recent Business Administration graduate applying for Junior Marketing Coordinator roles. Two co-op terms in retail marketing, plus a capstone social media plan built for a local business.”

In the US, CareerOneStop suggests new grads with little experience can use an Objective instead: one to three sentences on your degree, key skills and the role you want (CareerOneStop, Special tips). Either way, keep it specific to the job.

Step 4: Make your education section work harder

List your program, school, city and graduation date. If you haven’t finished yet, CareerOneStop suggests an expected date, such as “anticipated graduation 2027” (CareerOneStop, Education).
Add two or three relevant courses, a thesis or a research project if they match the job. CareerOneStop suggests this, and warns against a long list of activities.
GPA and honours: include them only when they help. CareerOneStop says students usually list a GPA if it’s 3.5 or higher. If your school doesn’t use a 4.0 scale, a dean’s list or scholarship line is often clearer.
Drop high school once you have a college or university credential. CareerOneStop says to list a high school diploma if you’re a recent graduate, or if it’s your highest level of education and you have limited work experience, and to leave high school off once you have education beyond it.

Step 5: Write projects like jobs

Treat each project as a role: what you did, how you did it, and what came of it. The bullet formula from our before and after bullet points guide works here too: Action + Scope + Result.

All examples below are fictional samples. The numbers are for illustration only. Use your own real numbers, or honest scope such as team size, how often, or who used the work.

Capstone project

Before: Final-year capstone project on inventory.
After: Built an inventory tracking spreadsheet with a 4-person team for a campus food outlet, which the manager now uses for weekly orders.

Group project

Before: Did a group project on marketing.
After: Led a 4-person team to build a social media plan for a local business, and presented the results to the owner at the end of term.

Lab or research

Before: Research assistant in a biology lab.
After: Prepared and logged samples for a 3-person research team twice a week, and kept the shared data file up to date for the term.

Club role

Before: Was treasurer of a student club.
After: Managed the club’s yearly budget as treasurer, tracked every expense and presented the year-end report at the annual meeting.

Step 6: Show what your part-time jobs prove

Job Bank’s advice is not to simply list job responsibilities, because your duties are obvious from your job title. Instead, show what you achieved with specific examples (Job Bank). For a first job, the strongest signals are reliability, volume and trust.

Fictional samples:

Before: Worked at a grocery store.
After: Served customers at a busy checkout for 2 years while studying full time, and trained new cashiers on the till.
Before: Camp counsellor.
After: Supervised a group of 10 campers each week of the summer, and planned two activities a day with a co-counsellor.

If you held the same part-time job for years, say so. Staying with one employer through school is a reliability signal on its own.

Step 7: Name your skills, don’t describe them

List tools and software by name: Excel, Google Sheets, Canva, Python, AutoCAD. “Computer skills” tells the reader nothing.
Add certificates that the job asks for, such as First Aid or a food handler certificate.
List languages you speak, read or write, and how well. alis suggests this in its checklist (alis, Resumé checklists).
Don’t rate yourself. alis advises showing how you made a difference instead of evaluating yourself (alis, Functional resumé outline). A bullet that proves teamwork beats the word “teamwork”.

Step 8: Match the posting, every time

Job Bank says an employer takes an average of 30 seconds to skim a resumé, so the match needs to be easy to see (Job Bank). CareerOneStop says to use terms that match the posting and put your qualifications near the top (CareerOneStop, Resumes).

A simple routine:

Keep one master resumé with every bullet you might use. alis recommends this as a starting point (alis, How do I write a resumé?).
For each job, copy it and change the profile line, the order of your projects and the skills line to use the posting’s own words.
Only use keywords that are true for you. Job Bank warns against overstating your skills.

What to leave off

A photo, your age or birth date, marital status and your SIN or SSN. Job Bank advises leaving out personal details like age and marital status, never including your Social Insurance Number, and not including a photo in Canada (Job Bank).
References, and the line “References available upon request”. Keep references on a separate sheet.
“I”, “my” and “me”. Job Bank says not to use personal pronouns.
Long lists of hobbies, unless they relate to the job.

Sample one-page outline (fictional)

Jordan Lee Hamilton, ON | 905-555-0142 | jordan.lee@example.com | linkedin.com/in/example

Profile Recent Business Administration graduate applying for Junior Marketing Coordinator roles. Two co-op terms in retail marketing.

Education Bachelor of Business Administration, Example University, Hamilton, ON | 2026 Relevant courses: Consumer Behaviour, Digital Marketing, Marketing Research

Projects Social Media Plan for a Local Business (Capstone) | Winter 2026 Two bullets: what you built, for whom, and what happened next

Experience Marketing Assistant (Co-op) | Example Outfitters | May 2025 to Aug 2025 Cashier | Example Grocers | Sep 2022 to Apr 2026

Volunteer Experience Event Volunteer | Example Food Bank | 2023 to 2026

Skills Canva, Google Sheets, Excel, Meta Business Suite | English and French (conversational)

For a US application, use a city and state and US spelling. See our US format guide.

New grad resumé checklist

Already have a resumé and just need to tighten it? Use our new grad resumé checklist.

Want help with yours?

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More for students: Students and new grads resumé help.

Related guides

Sources

All accessed 2026-10-23.

Job Bank (Government of Canada). How to write a good resume. https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/findajob/resources/write-good-resume
Government of Alberta, alis. Resumé checklists. https://alis.alberta.ca/look-for-work/resumes-and-references/resume-checklists/
Government of Alberta, alis. The functional resumé: focus on what you can do. https://alis.alberta.ca/look-for-work/resumes-and-references/the-functional-resume-focus-on-what-you-can-do/
Government of Alberta, alis. Functional resumé outline. https://alis.alberta.ca/look-for-work/resumes-and-references/functional-resume-outline/
Government of Alberta, alis. How do I write a resumé? https://alis.alberta.ca/tools-and-resources/questions-and-answers/how-do-i-write-a-resume/
University of Waterloo, Centre for Career Development. Experience section (CareerHub). https://uwaterloo.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CCDCH/pages/44230378219
CareerOneStop (US Department of Labor). Resumes. https://www.careeronestop.org/JobSearch/Resumes/resumes.aspx
CareerOneStop (US Department of Labor). Resume Guide: Education. https://www.careeronestop.org/JobSearch/Resumes/ResumeGuide/education.aspx
CareerOneStop (US Department of Labor). Resume Guide: Special tips. https://www.careeronestop.org/JobSearch/Resumes/ResumeGuide/special-tips.aspx
CareerOneStop GetMyFuture (US Department of Labor). Resumes. https://www.careeronestop.org/GetMyFuture/Employment/resumes.aspx

Resumé help for your field: Students and New Grads.