Free Entry-Level Resume Templates: Complete Guide for 2023

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Resume Help
Whether you have years of volunteer experience, are leaving an internship for your first full-time job, or are applying to your first job role, you’ll need a little advice to write the best entry-level resume. Here’s a detailed writing guide, downloadable templates, and a useful online tool to help you craft an interview-snagging resume.
Premium Entry-Level Resume Templates
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Customer Service Representative Resume
This example helps showcase the strong people, problem-solving, and communication skills that define excellent customer service representatives. -
Customer Service Manager Resume
This example can help demonstrate how to showcase your years of management, scheduling, and staff training skills. -
Camp Counselor Resume
It’s one thing to be good with people, it’s a whole other skill to be good with children. This resume can help demonstrate your activity scheduling, first aid skills, and bubbly social skills.
Explore our diverse collection of resume templates and create your perfect resume.
Free Entry-Level Resume Templates
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Accounting assistant
Resume for position of accounting assistant. Can also be modified for general office positions like secretary, back office, or customer service. -
Internship resume sample 1
Easy to read and organized to emphasize skills and education for college students or recent graduates. -
Bare-bones minimalistic
A traditionally styled chronological resume with plenty of white space that makes it easy to read. This clean resume is perfect for students, recent graduates, and other entry-level individuals. -
Shoe store cashier
This resume is good for most cashier jobs but is also appropriate for someone with a lot of skills, education, certificates and other details to list. You can also tailor the large skills section to create a functional-style resume by replacing the work history with accounting and business coursework. -
Entry-level customer representative
Great resume sample for a recent college graduate looking for an entry-level position. Instead of focusing on previous work experience, it focuses on volunteer experience, internships and college/training curriculum. -
Administrative assistan
Another sample for different types of office jobs: administrative assistant, secretary, customer service, sales. -
Dentist assistant entry level
Resume sample for medical position for a recent graduate. -
Recent college graduate
For a college graduate, it is understood that there is very little experience or none at all, so the format highlights education, skills, and training. -
Volunteer resume
Sample teen resume for full-time or part-time volunteer job for a candidate with previous volunteer work.
How to Write an Entry-Level Resume
You may have noticed that entry-level doesn’t always mean no experience: most entry-level job openings ask for three to five years of experience for openings. However, that experience can be pulled from both formal experience from previous jobs as well and practical experience pulled from schoolwork, volunteer work, internships, and extracurricular activities.
We’ll teach you how to format your resume to boost all of your experience, as well as how to tailor your personal experience to align with an open job position.
Choose the right format
Most resumes follow one of three common resume formats: chronological, functional and combination. These resumes differ because each showcase different aspects of your experience.
As an entry-level applicant, you’ll want to use a format that prioritizes your skills, training and certificates over your lack of formal experience. Your best options are one of the following two formats.
1.
Functional resume: This is also known as a skills-based resume. This format features multiple sections dedicated to your general and specialized skills as well as your education, certifications, and job-related interests while reducing the amount of information related to your previous employment. This resume is best used for one-on-one opportunities from in-person job fairs or small businesses. Avoid using this format if you’re applying for online jobs. Each section will follow this page structure:
- Contact Information
- Professional summary
- Summary of qualifications
- General skills
- Technical/digital skills (Optional)
- Language skills (Optional)
- Work history
- Education
2.
Combination resume: The combination resume is a marriage between functional and chronological resumes. Although this format only features one skills section, your skills sit above your formal experience section and are some of the first details employers learn about you. This format follows a traditional resume structure and is best for online applications that can scan and eliminate functional resumes. Each section will follow this page structure:
- Contact information
- Professional summary
- Skills
- Work history
- Education
Alternate format:
.
Chronological resume: This format is the most used and recognized resume. Although it’s considered a resume standard, you should avoid using this for entry-level jobs. This format works best if you have over 10 years of experience and want to showcase promotions and steady career advancement. Its sections include:
- Contact information
- Professional summary
- Work history
- Skills
- Education
Include the important sections
1.
Contact information
Thankfully, your contact information includes the same information regardless of what format or experience level for which you apply. This section will include the following mandatory and optional information:
- First and last name (mandatory): Mary Hloomsburg
- General location (mandatory): San Francisco Bay Area
- Phone number (mandatory): 555.555.1234
- Professional email (mandatory): mary.hloomsburg@email.com
- Professional website (optional): www.maryhloomsburgworks.com/portfolio)
- LinkedIn and/or professional social media handles (optional): www.linkedin.com/maryhloomsburgworks
2.
Objective statement
Although most resume writers recommend that you write a summary statement, where you explain how your former experience aligns with the open job needs and how you plan to utilize that experience and accomplishments to the potential employer’s benefit, an entry-level resume lets you use the traditional objective statement.
An objective statement allows you to inform a potential employer what you hope to gain or accomplish if you are hired. As an entry-level applicant with minimal experience, you’re allowed to take this approach.
For example, if you’re entering a marketing position after a few years of part-time retail experience, you can write:
“After years of retail customer service and offering localized fashion advice to frequent shoppers, I’m excited to learn how to expand and adapt my marketing experience for a national market. I hope to better understand global marketing trends and learn how to adapt my intimate understanding of our customer to a larger demographic.”
3.
Experience
Let’s continue with our retail associate looking for an entry-level marketing position. We’ll theorize that they have two years of store experience and three years of volunteer experience. Once you’re ready to write your work history section, you’ll format it in one of two ways, depending on the resume format you choose.
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Work history for a functional resume: This section is simple and focuses on your job title, employer and place of employment, and general range of dates worked. Avoid talking about specific responsibilities related to each position –– you’ll dive into these details under your “Summary of Qualifications” section. Your work experience should follow this simple structure:
Cashier: Grain Goods
Atlanta, GA. 2020 - PresentFitting Room Attendant:Target
Atlanta, GA 2020 -
Work history for a combination or chronological resume: This section follows the same structure for these two formats, but they’re placed in slightly different places. You’ll add your job title, employer and place of employment, dates of employment, daily responsibilities and accomplishments under each role. Follow this simple structure:
Cashier: Grain Goods
Atlanta, GA May 2020 - Present- Encourage customers to shop from our aisle add-ons during checkout
- Promoted store loyalty program and registered 12-15% of customers a day
- Rapidly learned the store’s POS program and increased average checkout time from 6 minutes a customer to 4 minutes.
- Sanitized station after every customer.
Fitting Room Attendant:Target
Atlanta, GA 2020- Successfully added one or two items to every customer
Volunteer Salesperson:Kiwanis Club
Atlanta, GA September 2018 - January 2020- Supervise quarterly fundraiser
- Collect and manage cash payments
- Calculate and submit daily profits”
4.
Education
Your education follows the same structure across all three formats. Include your high school graduation information if that’s your highest degree, if you’re in the midst of pursuing an associate or bachelor degree, or if you’re pursuing work immediately after graduation.
Stonybrook High School
May 2020, GPA 3.4
5.
Skills
Functional resumes differ from chronological and combination resumes by creating several skills sections based on the professional skills you want to highlight. As an entry-level applicant, you may want dedicated sections for “general skills,” “language skills” “digital skills,” or “social media skills.”
Your skills section should feature about six to eight featured skills. If you add more than eight skills, you risk overcrowding this section and describing your strengths without the context of the work history or summary of qualifications. We researched and compiled a list of the most commonly requested skills in the job market to help you craft this section
- Strong communication skills
- Eager team player
- Process 20+ transactions per hour
- Point-of-sale (POS) systems training
- Positive mention on review sites
- Sales
- Flexibility
- Positive attitude
6.
Summary of qualifications
This section is only found on functional resumes. A summary of qualifications is like a detailed skills report. You pick two or three skills most relevant to the open entry-level job for which you’re applying and lend credibility to them by listing relevant responsibilities and accomplishments related to those skills. For example:
Cash Handling
- Supervise quarterly fundraiser
- Collect and manage cash payments
- Calculate and submit daily profitsRapidly learned the store’s POS program and increased average checkout time from 6 minutes per customer to 4 minutes.
- Sanitize station after every customer.
Customer Service
- Encourage customers to shop from our aisle add-ons during checkout
- Promote store loyalty program and registered 12-15% of customers a day
- Assist customers with finding the correct size and styles to boost self-confidence
- Quickly sort, fold, and process go-backs for return to the sales floor.
Add certifications to boost your resume
Although you may have limited practical experience, you can pursue specialized training and certifications that can strengthen an entry-level application. Here are some examples of additional training you can pursue to add to your entry-level resume:
First Aid Certificate:
First Aid and CPR Certification via Red Cross
Infant First and CPR Certification
Emergency Medical Response Training via Red Cross
State-Approved First Responder Course
Translation:
Language certifications
Inventory:
Forklift operator license
Commercial Driver’s License, Class AB
Commercial Driver’s License, Class C
Boost Your Resume With Our Online Tool
There’s no harm in finding additional help during the start of your career. If you have less than three years of experience, our Resume Builder can suggest entry-level resume templates to boost your skills and certifications along with pre-written experience suggestions to help you land your next job.
This simple layout features a traditional font and the clever use of section borders to help each section of your resume stand out.
This distinctive two-column resume template identifies your name and professional experience in a bold color and clean presentation.
A clever design that breaks each of your professional accomplishments into distinct sections while following a format that will pass applicant tracking systems.
The elegant initials, simple header and strategic use of bullet points in this template help keep your professional accomplishments well-organized.
The bold use of a colorblocked heading paired with an elegant resume layout helps your name and contact information stand out.
This structured design combines a two-column approach with bullet points to highlight your key accomplishments and professional history.
A traditional template uses a crisp combination of dark text and thin borders to radiate professionalism. Your name sits prominently above your professional history.
This template’s design features plenty of whitespace neatly divided by gray bars to make the information on your resume easy to read for employers.
This two-column resume conveys a very clear breakdown of its sections that allows a hiring manager to quickly scan your resume.
The subtle color accents in this template add visual pizzazz in a classy way, a great option for most traditional industries.
This resume’s modern design and bold use of color make it pop. Its uniqueness is well-suited to those seeking jobs in creative industries.
Everything about this template is assertive from the boxy layout to its all-caps heading text that gives the impression that you’re all about business.
The understated contact information at the top puts attention front and center on your professional summary, skills, work experience and education sections.
The subtle use of red alongside black gives this template a bold feel while still featuring plenty of white space to make it easy to read.
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Entry-level FAQ
How should a teen make a resume for the first time?
If you’re a teen writing a resume for the first time, don’t worry. Most employers know that you may not have formal experience, but appreciate it if you can share practical experience related to time management, customer service, or leadership. Here are some examples of skills related to common job titles:
Babysitting siblings/neighbors
- Time management
- Food preparation
- Academic tutoring
After-school clubs
- Planned and managed fundraising events
- Cash handling
- Product delivery
- Leaderships skills developed as president/vp/secretary/treasurer
- Team-building skills
- Time management
School sports
- Teamwork skills
- Collaborative skills
- Time management
- Personal and academic balancing skills
How do you put skills on a resume if you haven’t graduated college yet?
Although you haven’t graduated from college yet, you have probably developed practical skills and experience that you can showcase on your resume. For example, you can feature all of the following high school coursework and extracurricular activities on your resume:
- Technical skill labs related to biology, chemistry or statistics
- Leadership role in clubs
- Resident advisor
- Part-time jobs
- Work study position
What is a good entry-level job?
A good entry-level job can vary depending on your interests and level of experience. If you’re looking for a white-collar job, you can identify an entry-level opening if it asks for three to five years of experience. This experience can include your college-era accomplishments.
If you’re looking for a blue-collar job, you can start with part-time and seasonal work that can extend to full-time work with enough experience and training. Here are some examples of entry-level jobs that you can pursue:
Child care
- Babysitting
- Camp counselor
Customer service
- Cashier
- Sales associate
Administration
- Receptionist
- Personal assistant
Finance
- Bank teller
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Gabriela Barcenas
Gaby is Hloom’s resident writer, a certified professional resume writer (CPRW), and a baking enthusiast. She likes to defend the use of the functional resume to her friends in HR. She graduated from the University of San Francisco with a B.A. in English and Creative Writing and wrote about career growth, tech startups, education, fashion, travel and lifestyle culture throughout her career.
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