I would recommend the Chase Sapphire Preferred for travel points and benefits with a low annual fee of $95 (compared to other travel cards). Unfortunately, it's highly unlikely to be approved without a credit profile, but since we're starting clean and fresh (I'm assuming), we can build to get that nice credit score much faster than someone who had to rebuild their credit from disaster (like myself).
For a person with no credit score/profile, I would recommend Capital One's QuicksilverOne card (my personal hero). $300 - $500 Limit / 1.5% Cashback / $39 Annual Fee / Automatic Credit Limit Increases. If you never miss a payment and play the utilization game right, after a year or so, ask to upgrade to the QuickSilver with no annual fee. You should be at $1300 - $1500 in automatic CLIs. Then you can request higher limits online without any further hard inquries.
Honestly, you can start with any card you can qualify for. I'd just suggest a low or no annual fee card with good benefits to kick start your credit profile.
I would also suggest being an Authorized User on someone's account. Ask Mom or Dad, or a friend, to place you as an authorized user on one of their credit cards which are "current" and have never missed payments (they need to use your social for this to work, so choose your friend wisely). Let them know that you don't want to use their card - you're just borrowing their reputation with the credit bureaus.
If you use these two methods with patience, you'll have a clean profile, a nice credit score, and the oportunity to qualify for some serious credit.
Last tip: stick with the major cards like Chase, Amex, Capital One, etc. Stay away from the store credit cards, and the cards you never heard of that may show up in your mail (CreditOne, Premier, 'Insert Weird Name Here', etc). Your gut instinct will tell you "this card looks fake as heck." They work, but they're terrible (high and instant interest, bad customer service).
Personal cards:
As has been hinted by others, the answer really depends on whether you have any credit history prior. This could be from being an authorized user on someone else's account, or maybe being in school you had to take out student loans which adds to your history. Anyway if you have a score/some history, you can do better than so-called "starter cards" like the Capital One Journey. The Discover it card, often an early card for most, actually is useful for a lifetime so I'd suggest you get it. You might also be interested in travel rewards cards since you'll be flying at least a good 5 or 6 times a year on top of anything you're going to be doing later on such as traveling for interviews, etc. I'd suggest once you establish a relationship with Discover for a few months you can move your way to up to one of the no-AF UR-earning Chase cards like the Freedom or Freedom Unlimited, and then shortly after that you apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred/Reserve and start using that to pay for your travel and food.
