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How to write a resume with no work experience as hiring tightens

Published 28 September 2026 · updated 5 October 2026 · Owtomate research

Australia's unemployment rate rose to 4.6 percent in August [1] but overall there has been cooling of job vacancies around the country [2]. Seasonal hiring stands out though, with retailers recruiting ahead of schedule and strongly compared to recent years [9]. This means that for people new to work or changing careers now is an opportune time.

Wages and the current market

There are indications that the national labor market is softening [1]. In August of 2026, unemployment rose by 0.2 percentage points to stand at 4.6 percent in seasonally adjusted terms [1]. Meanwhile, the trend for employment rate relative to population has held steady at 63.9 percent [1].

Job vacancies have also fallen, falling by 2.1% to 329,500 in the three months to May 2026 [2]. Vacancies for the private sector fell by 1.4 percent to 293,800 whereas there was a steeper reduction of 7.9 percent for public sector vacancies down to 35,700 [2] too. Recent data about advertised jobs paints a somewhat different picture though; national advertising has edged up 0.3 percent in August and this is mainly due to rises in Northern Territory and Victoria [5].

Those looking for high paying jobs in Australia see that wages continue to grow but at a slower rate now compared to before [3]. In the June quarter of 2026 wages grew by 0.8%, which brings annual growth up to 3.2% [3]. Growth was strongest among public administration and safety along with health care and social assistance when measured in original terms [3].

Within technology sectors there has been particular pressure on traditional positions [4]. Recruitment rates for IT were 32% in 2025–26 compared to an overall industry average of 49 percent [4]. Competition is intense with 34 percent of recruiters getting 20 or more candidates for each job opening [4]. While competition generally is high across industries, listings that we looked at recently show dominance by tech jobs; among 3,527 unique listings the most frequent titles were software engineer, senior software engineer, and full stack developer. From our sample of applications sent, 147 were for full-time work, while 23 were for casual or vacation roles.

The early Christmas hiring surge

Retail hiring ramps up seasonally [9]. By the end of August this year there was an increase compared to last year with 1.8 percent of job ads mentioning "Christmas" in their titles; that is up from 1.0 percent at the same time last year [9]. It leads posting levels from both last year 2023 and the year before 2024 when Christmas advertisements comprised 1.6 percent of all job postings [9].

Job seekers have responded much sooner this year compared with previous years [9]; at the end of August 1.4 percent of searches related to jobs for Christmas had risen from 1.3 percent last year [9]. This spike in recent searches seems to be due partly to high levels of unemployment and rising costs of living [9].

Despite strong competition for traditional IT jobs [4] there is rapid growth in infrastructure within technology sectors [8]. Australia forecasts investment worth about $150 billion into new data center capacity by 2030 [8]. About 1 percent of current job ads relate to data centers; this number has risen roughly 2.5 times compared to last year [8]. Employment opportunities are highly concentrated along the eastern seaboard with NSW having 48 operational data centers and Victoria having 38 [8].

What Australians are searching for this week

This week Google Autocomplete data in Australia highlights a strong emphasis on low level employment and stability within government sectors.

Prominence of searches for casual positions and jobs that require little or no previous work experience matches up with the busy time before Christmas when employers hire. Job seekers are looking for accessible roles to counter the rising cost of living [9] and the 4.6% unemployment rate [1].

At the same time, a new interest in state government and remote work suggests a desire for secure employment, even as public sector vacancies fell 7.9% in the three months to May [2]. Job seekers are undertaking broader geographic searches suggesting they are willing to consider opportunities that go beyond local proximity.

How to write a resume with no work experience

This week there's a new search query: "how to write a resume with no work experience". As you enter into employment especially now that casual jobs during Christmas abound, emphasis needs to move away from previous job titles towards highlighting personal skills.

Jobs and Skills Australia promotes a people centered view on skills emphasizing that they develop from learning experiences, life experience and active engagement in communities rather than simply having paid jobs [6]. For resumes where there is no formal employment history, focus on highlighting abilities like communication skills, judgment, teamwork, leadership and flexibility [6].

Employers are now getting more resumes for each job opening [7]. In the June quarter of 2026 there has been an increase nationally both in total qualified candidates and those who fit vacancies compared with 12 months before [7]. To be noticed among this larger pool of candidates one needs to show directly how personal experiences such as volunteer work, leadership on sports teams or community involvement relate closely to the specific human skills that employers require.

Job interview questions to ask employer

This week we have another new search query trending online which is "job interview questions to ask employer". Interviews are about assessing both parties and asking targeted operational questions shows that you are competent and think practically.

In the June quarter of 2026, vacancy fill rates sit at 69.1 percent – an increase from the previous quarter but down 1 percentage point compared with the same period last year [7]. Employers face specific recruitment challenges [7]; you might inquire about how long a position has remained unfilled; the average time required to fill positions decreased slightly both within quarters and years [7].

When you interview for a hot field such as IT where just 16 percent of employers plan to add staff over the next three months [4] because there is difficulty recruiting due to mismatched technical skills [4], you should inquire specifically about what technical skills they require. For roles that are growing fast within data centers, another approach would be to ask about their training pipeline and infrastructure pipelines; searches for data center positions have risen by 160 percent since December last year [8]. Owtomate applies to matching jobs on SEEK and Indeed on a job seeker's behalf.

Key takeaways

Sources

  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Labour Force, Australia, August 2026, 24 September 2026
  2. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Job Vacancies, Australia, May 2026, 25 June 2026
  3. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Wage Price Index, Australia, June 2026, 19 August 2026
  4. Jobs and Skills Australia, Changing recruitment trends in the IT industry, 23 September 2026
  5. Jobs and Skills Australia, Job ads edge up nationally in August 2026, 23 September 2026
  6. Jobs and Skills Australia, Webinar: Defining 'skill' as human in a changing world, 23 September 2026
  7. Jobs and Skills Australia, Occupation Shortage Report now available as the new-look Employer Activity Insights interactive table, 16 September 2026
  8. Indeed Hiring Lab Australia, Data Centres: The Jobs Boom Behind the AI Boom, 16 September 2026
  9. Indeed Hiring Lab Australia, It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas: Job Ads Are Everywhere, 6 September 2026

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