What goes on the page instead
Education, projects, and skills. A first resume isn't a shorter version of an experienced one — it's a different arrangement, where coursework, side projects, competitions and part-time work carry the weight that a job history normally carries.
The common mistake is leaving the empty experience section at the top, so the first thing a reader sees is what you don't have.
Move the strongest section up
Each section in youcanfind.me/resume has up and down arrows next to its title. Use them. If your degree is the strongest thing you have, education goes first. If you've built things, projects go first.
Sections you genuinely have nothing for can be deleted. An empty heading is worse than no heading.
What counts as a project
More than people assume. A course assignment with something to show for it. A club you organised. A competition entry. A repository. An article you translated. A shop you ran over one summer.
The projects section takes a name, a link, a short description and tags, and switches between a list and a grid. If there's something a reader can look at, add the link — a working thing is worth more than a paragraph describing it.
Part-time work is work
A café job, tutoring, a campus assistant post, an unpaid internship. Put them in experience with the real title and real dates. Reliability, dealing with people, and showing up on time are not nothing, and pretending the months don't exist leaves a gap you'd rather not explain.
Skills: name the thing
The skills section takes a name and a list of sub-items beneath it — "Frontend" with React, TypeScript, CSS under it, rather than fifteen loose words in a row.
There's no proficiency slider and no star rating, which is deliberate. Self-assessed levels mean nothing to a reader, and "Python ★★★☆☆" invites a question you don't want in an interview.
Sections that help when experience is thin
Under "Add section": awards, certificates, languages, volunteering. One line each, and they fill a page honestly rather than by padding sentences.
Scholarships, competition placements, a language certificate, a driving licence if the job involves driving — these are facts, and facts read better than adjectives.
Keep it to one page
For a first resume, one page is the expectation nearly everywhere. The single-column Resume Clean layout is the easiest one to keep tight; the two-column layouts are for people with many short items to place.
If it runs to a page and a half, cut sentences before you cut sections.
What to leave out
Objective statements that say you're seeking a challenging opportunity. "References available on request" — they'll ask. High school, once you're in or through university. For applications in English, a photo, an age and a marital status, which many employers there won't look at anyway.