Resume Template Free Download - Entry-level Focus + Blue Underline

Purpose of the résumé template

For this particular resume template, the focus is really on entry-level candidates. If you’re in this camp, you don’t have several years of work experience to share but know you do have valuable skills to offer an employer.

Objectives

As you advance in your career, you’ll likely want to shift from “Objectives” to “Professional Summary.” An objectives section can be viewed as outdated. It also often focuses too much on what you want out of the role for your career, and not what you bring to the job for your employer. But when you’re newer to the workforce, you don’t have a lot of that long-term experience to draw upon. Instead, tailor your objectives to the job ad so that your skills clearly match up to what they’d hire you to do.

Academic focus

If you’re an entry-level candidate, you need to focus on the strengths and accomplishments you already have. Don’t sell yourself short! You have certainly accomplished many things by going to school, volunteering, and completing internships.

Put your most important assets first (i.e., your biggest selling points):

If you’re an academic guru, focus on special achievements as a student
If you’re the volunteer superstar, focus on events you’ve organized or positions you’ve held that show you can handle direction and responsibility
If you’ve completed internships, whether focused on your major/career interests or something else, focus on the career development (computer skills, office management, team leadership, project planning).

References

When you’re just starting out, your references should be fresh, with each person knowing you’re planning to list them as a reference. Listing the references can also help to fill a complete page when you’re uncertain what else you can add to your résumé.

When you build up years of career experience, you will likely be better off removing the references from the actual resume. You can wait until a hiring manager or recruiter asks for them. If you start to upload your resume to online job boards, you don’t need to put your references out there for everyone else to see. Also, when you get to the senior level of experience in your industry (often considered 7+), you may need to change your references so that the right people can vouch for you for each type of role you apply for.

Of course, as with any of our templates, you can add or remove any sections as needed to match your skills and desired job.

Grab the matching cover letter template, too!