First resume with no work experience: a template, a full example and what actually counts

A first resume with no work experience is one page with five sections: contact details, a two line summary, education, experience (volunteering, sports, clubs, babysitting, anything you did for someone else) and skills. Employers hiring for a first job expect no paid history. They are checking that you can show up, communicate clearly and follow instructions, and a tidy resume is your first proof of all three.

What employers want from a first resume

A manager reading a resume for a cashier, dishwasher or camp counsellor spends well under a minute on it; Job Bank's guidance puts it at about 30 seconds. They want four answers: can I reach this person, when can they work, have they been responsible for something, and is there a glaring error. Leave off anything that does not help: objective paragraphs, photos, your birth date, your SIN, references, unrelated hobbies.

The five sections, in order

1. Contact details

Your name in larger text, city and province (no street address), a phone number you answer, and an email address built from your name.

2. Summary

Two lines: who you are, what you are applying for, and your availability. Availability goes here because it is the first thing a manager wants and the thing most first resumes bury.

3. Education

School, city, grade or program, expected graduation year, plus two or three relevant courses or certificates: a food safety course for a kitchen, a business course for retail, First Aid for camp work.

4. Experience

Two to four entries, most recent first, each with a title, the organisation, dates and two or three bullets that start with a verb and include a number where possible. The next section covers what qualifies.

5. Skills

Six to nine short items mixing practical skills (cash handling, Google Workspace, basic French) with work habits backed by your experience section. Only list what you could talk about for a minute if asked.

What counts as experience when you have never been paid

Experience means someone depended on you for something. Payment is irrelevant. All of these count:

• Volunteering of any kind: food bank shifts, community cleanups, tutoring, school events.
• Babysitting, pet sitting, lawn mowing and snow shovelling for neighbours, listed as "self-employed".
• Sports teams, especially as captain, scorekeeper, organiser or referee.
• Clubs, student council, yearbook, robotics, drama productions, with your role named.
• Helping in a family business, paid or not.
• Regular care of younger siblings.

The trick is work language. "Played soccer" becomes "Team captain, U16 soccer: led warm-ups for 18 players, relayed schedule changes between coach and team, attended every practice for two seasons." Name the responsibility, then put a number on it.

A complete sample resume

A Grade 11 student applying for a part time grocery role. Replace the bracketed placeholders and keep the structure.

[Your Name]

[City, Province]. [Phone number]. [firstname.lastname]@[email provider]

Summary

Grade 11 student seeking a part time cashier or stock position. Available weekday evenings after 4 pm and all day Saturday and Sunday. Food Handler certified, comfortable with cash and customers.

Education

[Your High School], [City]. Grade 11, expected graduation June 2028. Relevant courses: Business Principles, Applied Math. Certificate: provincial Food Handler Training, 2026.

Experience

Volunteer, [local food bank] (September 2025 to present, 4 hours a week)

• Sort and pack donated food into hampers for about 60 families each shift, following date and safety rules.
• Greet clients at the pickup window and record pickups on a tablet.
• No missed shifts in twelve months.

Babysitter, self-employed (2024 to present)

• Regular evening and weekend care for children aged 5 to 8 for three neighbourhood families.
• Manage meals, bedtime routines and homework; parents rebook every month.

Treasurer, [Your High School] Student Council (2025 to 2026)

• Tracked a $3,200 events budget in a spreadsheet and reported totals at weekly meetings.
• Ran the cash table at two school dances and reconciled the float with a teacher.

Skills

Cash handling, Google Sheets, customer greeting, time management, teamwork, basic French, lifting up to 20 kg, punctual.

That fits easily on one page and every line answers one of the manager's four questions. Prepare two references (a teacher, a coach, a parent you babysat for) on a separate sheet for the interview.

Build it with the free Resume Builder

You do not need to fight with Word margins. YouthBoard's free Resume Builder walks you through these five sections, keeps everything to one page, and exports a clean PDF for applications or walk-ins. It is built for exactly this situation.

Formatting rules

• One page, one font at 11 or 12 point, black text, no graphics, no photo.
• Save as PDF named Firstname-Lastname-Resume.pdf.
• Start every bullet with a verb: sorted, led, tracked, greeted, organised.
• Read it aloud, then have someone else read it. A single typo is the most common reason a first resume gets skipped.
• Match the posting: if it says "weekend availability" and "lifting", both appear in your summary or skills.

Tailoring for the three most common first jobs

For food service, put food safety certification and any serving or kitchen experience near the top. For retail, lead with cash handling and customer contact. For warehouse or labour roles, lead with sports, lifting and the shifts you can do. If you are under 18 and limited to school-week hours, say so in the summary; our minimum working age by province guide explains those limits.

Browse live youth jobs on YouthBoard (free, wages shown on every listing).

Once the PDF is ready, the Campus Atlas shows live openings near your school so you can apply to several in one sitting, and how to get a first job with no experience covers what happens after you apply.

Frequently asked questions

What do you put on a resume if you have no work experience?

Contact details, a two line summary with your availability, education with any certificates, an experience section built from volunteering, sports, clubs, babysitting or family business help, and a skills list. Give each experience two or three verb-led bullets with a number. Leave off a photo, birth date and references.

How long should a first resume be?

One page, always. Employers hiring for first jobs read resumes in well under a minute, and a second page signals padding. If you are running over, cut the summary to two lines, trim each experience to two bullets, and remove any skill you could not talk about for a minute.

Does babysitting count as work experience on a resume?

Yes. Babysitting is paid work with real responsibility, and managers hiring for retail, food service and camps treat it as evidence of reliability. List it as "Babysitter, self-employed" with the years, number of families, ages of the children and what you handled. Repeat bookings show people trusted you enough to ask again.

Should I include references on my first resume?

No. References take space and employers only check them after an interview. Prepare a separate sheet with two or three names, their relationship to you and contact details, ask each person's permission first, and bring it to interviews. Add "references available on request" only if the posting asks.

Sources

• Job Bank (Government of Canada): How to write a good resume
• Government of Canada Youth Digital Gateway: Job search tips
• Job Bank (Government of Canada): Stand out to employers

Disclaimer

This article is general information for young job seekers, not legal, financial or employment advice. Minimum wages, minimum working ages, hours limits and program rules change, often on April 1 or October 1, and they differ by province and territory. Always confirm the current rules with your provincial or territorial government, the employment standards office, or the relevant federal department before relying on them. YouthBoard makes every effort to keep articles accurate, but they may contain errors or be out of date, and we accept no liability for any loss or decision made based on this content. If you spot something wrong, tell us and we will fix it.