The market new grads are walking into is tougher than it looks from the outside. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s tracking of the college labor market put the underemployment rate for recent graduates — working in jobs that don’t typically require a degree — at around 42% in the second quarter of 2026, with unemployment for 22-27 year-olds holding near 5.6%. A template alone won’t close that gap, but a weak one makes it wider than it needs to be.
What Employers Say They’re Actually Screening For
NACE’s 2026 Job Outlook Spring Update found that 70% of employers now use skill-based hiring for entry-level roles, up from 65% the year before — and that when they review Class of 2026 resumes, they’re specifically looking for evidence of teamwork, problem-solving, and communication, not just a job title. Employers responding to the same survey said the way to demonstrate those skills is to name specific examples and situations where you actually used them — which is exactly what a project, an internship, or a volunteer role can provide, even without a full-time job title attached to it. That’s good news if your work history is thin: the resume’s job is to prove specific skills, not to justify a career timeline you don’t have yet.
Turning a Thin Work History Into a Real Case
- Lead with a 2-3 line summary naming your target role and your strongest proof point — a project, an internship, a relevant course — not a vague statement of enthusiasm
- Treat coursework and class projects like work experience if you don’t have much of the real thing: name the project, the tools used, and the outcome
- List internships and part-time jobs with the same bullet structure as a full-time role — title, dates, 2-3 achievement-focused lines
- Put education above experience while your GPA, relevant coursework, or honors are still your strongest credential
- Add a skills section employers can scan fast — tools, software, and languages relevant to the role, grouped clearly
A summary that leads with proof, not enthusiasm, looks like this:
Marketing graduate with hands-on experience running a 4-person capstone campaign and a 10-week social media internship, looking to bring data-driven content planning to an entry-level marketing role.
Turning Volunteer Work and Class Projects Into Real Resume Content
Coursework, volunteer work, and class projects only read as legitimate experience when they’re written with the same structure as a job — what you did, what you used to do it, and what happened as a result. Left as a title alone, they read as padding; framed with specifics, they carry real weight.
Coordinated logistics for a 200-guest fundraiser as volunteer lead, managing a 6-person team and a $3,000 budget that raised $18,000 for the organization.
Volunteered at a local nonprofit fundraiser.
The same rule applies to class projects: name the tools, the scope, and the measurable outcome, not just the assignment title. A capstone becomes resume content the moment it reads like something a hiring manager could ask you follow-up questions about.
Looking New to the Field vs. Looking Unprepared
A thin work history isn’t the problem recruiters flag — it’s expected at this stage, and NACE’s own data shows employers are actively screening for potential over tenure. What actually reads badly is different from what simply reads as junior.
Normal signals of being new — not a red flag
- A one-page resume with more education content than work history
- Internships and part-time jobs instead of full-time roles
- A GPA, relevant coursework, or academic honors listed
- Fewer bullet points per entry than a mid-career resume
These, on the other hand, are the habits that actually cost interviews — not the thin history itself:
Mistakes that read as unprepared, not just new
- Listing responsibilities instead of results, even for a small role — “Assisted with social media” says less than “Scheduled and published 20+ posts weekly, growing followers by 15%”
- Using an email address that isn’t professional — a first name and last name (or a close variant) beats a leftover handle from high school
- Skipping the skills section because it feels premature — it’s often the fastest way for a recruiter to match you to a role’s requirements
- Listing every club or activity from freshman year instead of the 3-4 most relevant ones with real substance behind them
A Different Format Might Do More Work Than a Different Template
If your work history is genuinely thin, the format matters as much as the design. A functional or combination format puts your skills ahead of a short timeline, which is usually a better structural fit at this stage than a strictly chronological layout. Keeping everything on a single page matters more here than at any later career stage — see our note on length in the FAQ below.
What Counts as Proof at This Career Stage
| Weak | Strong |
|---|---|
| Participated in a group project for marketing class | Led a 4-person team to design a social media campaign that earned an A and was praised for its data-backed strategy |
| Worked part-time at a retail store | Handled 50+ customer transactions daily while training 3 new hires during peak season |
| Completed a coding bootcamp | Built and deployed a full-stack web app during a 12-week bootcamp, using React and Node.js |
None of these examples require years of experience — they just require naming specifics instead of categories.
Who Designs These Templates
Wensa’s templates are designed by our founder and product design team — Artur Lopato has 9+ years of experience designing digital products. Every Wensa template is shaped around what hiring managers and recruiters actually look for when scanning a resume in seconds.
- Entry-level CV templates for international applications
- Simple resume templates for a clean, distraction-free layout
Whichever template you go with, it’s worth testing the finished file — our ATS resume checker is free and gives a full breakdown, not just a score.
FAQ — Entry-Level Resume Templates
I have no formal work experience at all — what do I put on my resume?
Coursework, class projects, volunteer work, and campus involvement all count, as long as you frame them with the same structure as a job: what you did, what tools or skills you used, and what the result was.
Should I include my GPA?
Include it if it’s 3.5 or above, or if the employer specifically asks for it. Below that, leave it off and let your coursework and projects do the talking instead.
One page or two for an entry-level resume?
One page, almost always. With limited experience, a second page usually means padding rather than genuinely new information.
Should I use an objective statement since I don’t have much to summarize?
A short summary that states your target role and strongest qualification still works better than an objective — frame it around what you bring, even if what you bring is potential backed by specific coursework or projects.
Is it bad if my resume looks like a student’s resume?
No — looking new to the workforce isn’t the problem. Looking unprepared is. A resume that’s mostly education and a couple of well-framed projects or internships reads as exactly what it should for this career stage. If you haven’t graduated yet, our student resume templates are built for an even thinner work history.
