What Employers Are Looking For On A New Grad’s Resume

The entry level job market can feel impossible right now. And in some ways, it is. The National Association of Colleges and Employers surveyed over 183 employers. Half of them reported the Class of 2026 job market as poor or fair. Here’s the good news: Employers are still looking for great candidates just like you. And they don’t require you to have decades of experience before you submit your resume. According to the same report by NACE, you just need to show evidence of specific skills backed by examples.

You don’t need a list of skills. You need measurable proof.

For example, let’s say you’re applying to work as a coding associate for a tech company in The Research Triangle. If you have years of acting experience, then play to your strengths. Find ways to highlight your ability to communicate, work under pressure and function as a team for the greater good of the project. Then, tailor everything to fit the narrative of the role.

Most experience can be an asset. It’s your job to prove that your experience added to the success of the end goal. A weak resume offers vague skills, but a strong one actually proves how those skills impacted the results.

Whether you worked on your college production of Fiddler on the Roof or coded for your high school robotics team, the framing is what matters most. The main point is to figure out how to show evidence of your contribution and tie your strengths into the open position.

How To Structure A Resume For Your First Job

Structure is essential, especially if you’re a first-time job seeker. Before you even think about content, you should nail down your format. Just remember this acronym: C.A.T.

• Clarity is key. Keep the formatting clean and scannable. Format your resume so that it’s easy to read, organized and everything fits on one page.
• ATS-friendly structure is essential. Your personality doesn’t need to be center-stage on your resume. Less is more. Keep your resume as boring as possible. Remove the fluff and keep the design formatted for the Applicant Tracking System (ATS). Skip photos, graphics and references entirely. Also, avoid adding your age or marital status to your resume. There’s no need for these details. You want to keep everything as simple as possible for ATS.
• Tailor the resume so that the right skills shine. You can copy and paste a great template that’s ATS-friendly. But if you want to stand out, it’s essential that you customize the skills section. Employers want to make sure that you read the job requirements and you’re the best person for the job. Make sure that each resume is tailored to the specific company’s mission, role and even voice.

What else should you keep in mind when it comes to formatting? The length of your resume is essential. No one is looking for a thesis. So, keep it concise and to one page.

Every first job resume should include the same sequence: your professional summary, education and experience, and your skills. Also, don’t forget about font style and size. You should use either Calibri or Arial and keep the size between 10-12 for visibility. Remember, make your resume as scannable as possible. Keep the page basic, don’t add any colors and save your vibrant personality for your interview phase.

Sample Resume For A First Job

Here’s a well-structured sample resume for a first-time job seeker. It’s clean, clear and carefully formatted for ATS, according to Jobscan’s 2026 formatting guidelines:

Name LastName Raleigh, NC | (111) 111-1111 | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | linkedin.com/in/example

Professional Summary Marketing graduate with hands-on experience in social media strategy, event coordination and brand storytelling. Developed content that reached 15,000+ followers during a year-long internship. Excited to bring creative ideas backed by data to a fast-moving marketing team.

Education Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in marketing | University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, May 2026 | GPA: 3.7 | Dean’s List (4 semesters)

Relevant coursework: Consumer Behavior, Digital Marketing, International Business, Brand Strategy and AI Search Optimization

Experience Marketing Intern | Lenovo Center, Raleigh, NC | Jan 2025 - Jan 2026

• Managed Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn content calendars, increasing average post views by 50% in the first 12 weeks
• Collaborated with a 10-person team to produce concerts, sporting events and conferences for an average of 500 to 2,000 attendees
• Researched keywords and competitor positioning contributing to a 26% increase in new sales at the Lenovo Center

Brand Ambassador | UNC Chapel Hill Marketing Department | Aug 2024 - Aug 2025

• Represented UNC Chapel Hill at 8 events, increasing admissions by 35%
• Created all marketing material and social media graphics, grew social followers by 55% in the first 6 months
• Trained 5 new students per semester on brand messaging and event setup

Activities and Leadership

• Vice President, Undergraduate Marketing Club | UNC Chapel Hill (2025 - 2026)
• Volunteer, Raleigh Parks Volunteer Program | 40+ hours of park cleanup (2023 - 2024)
• Volunteer, American Red Cross | 10+ hours per week on the marketing team (2024)

Skills Canva | Microsoft Copilot | Meta Business Suite | HubSpot (certified) | Claude and ChatGPT | SEO/SEM | Spanish and French (conversational)

First Job Resume Template

Copy and paste this template into Google Docs and fill in each section with your own information. This formatting is already structured for ATS. So, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. The only thing you need to do is customize the skills section to match the job description. Also, when you’re ready to send out your resume, download it as a docx file not a PDF. This will work better for ATS compatibility.

[First Name] [Last Name] [City, State] | [Phone Number] | [Email Address] | [LinkedIn URL]

Professional Summary [This should be two to three sentences. Sentence one includes your degree and top two or three relevant skills. Sentence two includes one measurable achievement you’ve accomplished during an internship, class project or previous job. Sentence three should talk about what exactly you bring to the team and the type of role you’re targeting.]

Education [Degree] in [Major] | [University Name], [Graduation Month and Year] | GPA: [X.X] | [Honors, if Applicable] | Relevant Coursework: [List out courses that are most relevant for the open position and showcase your degree at work.]

Experience [Job Title] | [Company Name], [City, State] | [Start Date - End Date]

• [Action verb] + [What You Accomplished] + [Quantifiable Result] ● [Action verb] + [What You Accomplished] + [Quantifiable Result]
• [Action verb] + [What You Accomplished] + [Quantifiable Result]

[Job Title] | [Company Name], [City, State] | [Start Date - End Date]

• [Action verb] + [What You Accomplished] + [Quantifiable Result]
• [Action verb] + [What You Accomplished] + [Quantifiable Result]

Activities and Leadership

• [Role], [Organization] | [Chapter or Location] [Start Date - End Date]
• [Volunteer Role], [Organizations] | [Hours and Description] [Start Date - End Date]

Skills [Tool/Software] | [Tool/Software] | [Certification] | [AI Tool(s)] | [Secondary Language, if applicable]

How To Highlight Experience Even If You Have None

You have more experience than you think. Internships, volunteer work, school organizations and even class projects all count. You just need to find ways to connect them to transferable skills that match the job description. The key is knowing how to reframe the past, highlight the mundane and make your experience pop.

Take a moment right now and write down everything you’ve ever done in your professional and personal life. Then, have a friend help you sort it out into categories. From there, select your three top accomplishments that include some form of measurable results.

For instance, let’s say that you became an Eagle Scout and led your troop to victory during the jamboree. You can take this experience and talk about how you increased the output of your scout troop by 15% by investing in your teammates and fostering a culture of camaraderie. Or, let’s say you won Chopped Junior during high school. Talk about how you achieved your goals by learning the tastes of your judges, pivoting when necessary and keeping your thoughts organized during hectic moments.

Not everything can go into your resume. It still needs to come across professionally and meet the needs of the job description. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t get creative. Employers aren’t solely interested in your past title; they want to know that you are capable of handling the work ascribed to that role. That means that transferable skills can come from everywhere.

What To Focus On And Avoid To Make Your Resume Stand Out

In the age of AI, recruiters spend about 11 seconds on a resume and notice if you paid attention to the job listing and stand out as an applicant. So, if you want your resume to stand out, then you need to be intentional, strategic and show measurable results. And one of the best ways you can do that is by using AI to proofread your work and align to the job description.

Forty-two percent of hiring managers filter out resumes that don’t align with the job description, according to Resume Genius’ 2026 Hiring Insights Report. Thirty-three percent also remove applicants from the pile that don’t provide a complete work history or are unclear in their background, and 28% of them refuse resumes that are overly generic and AI-heavy. Now, that doesn’t mean that you should avoid AI entirely, but it’s important to understand that many managers are leery about AI in the workplace.

The Resume Now AI Confidence vs Reality Report found that 74% of those surveyed say that they can identify AI content, but when tested, 48% of them failed. AI-generated content is hard to distinguish. Most employers don’t want to play the guessing game when it comes to new hires or current workers.

So, how do you use AI to benefit your resume; and not flag it? Here’s a quick summary of what to do and what to avoid.

Do this with AI on your resume:

• Use AI to identify any keyword gaps between your resume and the job posting
• Ask AI to break down vague skills into more specific categories to add clarity
• Prompt AI to rewrite your bullet points with action verbs and measurable results
• Ask AI to pretend to be a hiring manager and ask it to find areas of improvement
• Ask AI to make sure that your resume is ATS-friendly and is formatted correctly

Avoid doing this with AI on your resume:

• Expecting AI to do everything for you and create a resume that’s 100% in your voice
• Copying and pasting AI output without customizing it to match the job posting
• Asking AI to improve your resume without giving it the right prompts
• Using AI to fabricate your past experiences and/or education
• Giving AI general prompts without enough detail to create a strong output

Your resume is your business card and it can either make your career. So, keep it ATS-friendly, tailor it to every role and lead with results.