Building a resume when you have never written one

Everything counts as a job

Part-time work, summer jobs, volunteering, helping run a family business, coaching a team: if you showed up, were trusted with something and got it done, it belongs. List every one you can think of before you decide what to keep.

For each one, answer four plain questions

• What did a normal day or week look like?
• What were you responsible for, or trusted to handle on your own?
• Was there a moment you were proud of?
• About how many people, customers, orders or projects were involved?

Answer the way you would tell a friend. Skip any that do not fit. You are collecting facts, not writing yet.

Turn the answers into lines

Each line on a resume starts with what you did, then adds what it involved or how it turned out. "Opened and closed the store on weekends" is a good line. "Trained three new cashiers on the till and returns" is a better one, because a reader can picture it. If you know a number, use it. If you do not, leave it out rather than guess; you may be asked about it.

Two to four lines per job is plenty. Put the most recent job first.

Then the rest, in this order

• Your name and how to reach you: email, phone, and your city. No street address.
• Education: where, what, and the year you finished or expect to.
• Skills: only ones that show up in what you wrote above, plus anything you can genuinely do, like a language.
• A short summary, last: two sentences at the top that sum up what is below. It is easier to write once everything else is there.

Read it out loud

If a line does not sound like something you would say, change it until it does. In an interview, every line is a question you may be asked, and the easiest ones to answer are the ones in your own words.