How to make a resume for your first job, step by step

A first resume is short, and that is fine. Nobody expects a work history from someone applying for their first job. What the manager wants to see is that you turn up, can be trusted, and have done something on a regular basis. The seven steps below give you a page that shows that, in the order the sections print.

Step 1: Put your contact details at the top

Four lines are enough: your name, your city and state, your phone number and an email address you check.

Use an email made from your name. If yours is a nickname from middle school, make a new one for job applications. Leave off your full street address, your age, a photo and your social media.

Step 2: Write a two-line summary

The summary sits under your name and says what you want and why you would be good at it. Two sentences. Pick the one closest to you and change the details:

Skip the word "objective" and skip lines like "hard-working team player". Say something a manager can picture.

Step 3: Add your school

With no jobs yet, school is your strongest section, so it goes right after the summary.

Add your GPA if it helps you (usually 3.0 or higher). Name two or three classes that fit the job: a business class for retail, a cooking class for a restaurant. If you have already finished school, write "High school diploma, 2025". If you are not sure whether high school belongs on your resume at all, here is the answer for each case.

Step 4: Turn what you have done into experience

This is the step people get stuck on. You have more than you think. Anything you have done more than once, for someone else, counts. Give it a title, dates, and one or two lines about what you did.

Write each line the same way: a verb, what you did, and how often or how many. Use a number only when you know it. "Raised $400" is good if it is true; "increased sales by 50%" is not something a first resume needs.

Call this section "Experience" if you have a paid gig like babysitting, or "Activities and volunteering" if everything is unpaid. Both are normal.

Step 5: List skills you can back up

Pick four to six skills, and choose ones your experience above already shows.

• Customer service (from volunteering at the front desk)
• Cash handling (from a club fundraiser)
• Childcare (from babysitting)
• Google Docs and Sheets (from school)
• A second language, and how well you speak it

Leave out "hard worker", "team player" and "fast learner". Every applicant writes them, so they say nothing.

Step 6: Add the extras that count

These short sections fill a thin page with things a manager actually checks for:

• Certificates: first aid and CPR, a food handler card, a lifeguard certificate.
• Awards: honor roll, a sports award, perfect attendance.
• Availability: when you can work. For a first part-time job this line matters more than you would guess.

If you are 14 or 15, the hours you list need to fit the federal limits on teen work, and your state can be stricter. The resume for teenagers page has the rules for each age, and jobs for 15 year olds lists the jobs that hire at that age.

Step 7: Check it, keep it to one page, save it as a PDF

Before you send it:

• Your phone number and email are right. Call yourself and send yourself an email to check.
• Every entry has a month and year, like "June 2025 to present".
• Each line starts with a verb, and all of them use the same tense (present for things you still do).
• It fits on one page.
• Someone else has read it for typos.
• It is saved as a PDF named after you, like Maya-Brooks-Resume.pdf, so it looks the same on the manager's screen as on yours.

If you would rather not format any of this yourself, the builder at the top of this page asks for each section one question at a time and lays it out for you.