Resume With No Experience: Australian Guide

Print on A4 and expect two to three pages; the one-page rule you may have read comes from the United States. Order: contact details including a mobile number, a short career objective, education and qualifications, employment (casual and volunteer work included), skills, then referees. Leave out a photograph, date of birth and marital status – Australian recruiters treat them as unnecessary and potentially discriminatory.

• Casual and part-time jobs – hospitality, retail and delivery shifts show reliability and rostering discipline.
• Volunteer roles – surf lifesaving, community sport coaching, op shops and food relief services.
• TAFE, VET and university placements – industry placement hours count and should be dated.
• Study achievements – ATAR, certificate and diploma titles, units relevant to the role.
• Licences and checks – driver licence class, first aid, Working with Children Check where the role requires it.

Australian resumes normally list two or three referees on the document itself. Give each one's name, job title, organisation, phone number and email address, and ask their permission before you apply. If you are going through a recruitment agency, write “Referees available on request” instead so their contact details are not circulated without their knowledge.

Australian Public Service and state government advertisements often ask for a separate statement addressing the selection criteria. Answer each criterion in its own short paragraph using the STAR structure – Situation, Task, Action, Result – and keep one criterion to roughly half a page. Draw the examples from study, volunteering or casual work when you have no career history; the assessors score the evidence you supply, not the job title attached to it.

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