how to write a resume as an undergraduate

• • Won the annual Computer Science 2020 contest for suggesting improvements to the university website
• • Took additional courses on network device configuration management
• • Built 3 mock-up websites in 1 semester
• • Learned how to perform troubleshooting on library computers
• • Focused on building mobile applications and developing interactive websites
• • Helped students aged 7-13 learn how to use a computer
• • Taught students aged 14-17 basic troubleshooting
• • Was part of the Infrastructure team
• • Resolved a total of 17 incident tickets in three months
• • Performed root-cause analyses across various systems
• • Monitored key metrics and produced monthly reports on potential areas of improvement
• • Participated in a 4-week job shadowing program
• • Received one-on-one mentoring from a senior web developer

5 Undergraduate Resume Examples & Guide for 2024

Your undergraduate resume should present a clear outline of your educational achievements. Highlight relevant coursework and projects to showcase your academic strengths. Demonstrate your practical experience, whether through internships, volunteer work, or part-time jobs. Potential employers value this real-world exposure, so make it prominent.

All resume examples in this guide

Traditional

Resume Guide

This undergraduate resume guide will help you:, looking for related resumes, the perfect format for your undergraduate resume, the ideal header for your undergraduate resume, an inspiring objective to keep recruiters’ attention, how to highlight work experience in your undergraduate resume, the volunteering section: a great way to showcase your transferable skills, the top skills your undergraduate resume needs, the education section: your time to shine, certificates - the key to every recruiter’s heart, need more add some of these sections to your undergraduate resume, key takeaways: how to impress recruiters and land an interview as an undergraduate.

What’s the first thing you think about when you hear the word ‘resume’?

If you’re like most people, probably something that instantly comes to your mind is ‘experience’. And that’s quite understandable.

Generally speaking, a resume is one of the easiest ways to demonstrate your experience and skills to potential employers.

But what if you have no experience? What should undergraduate students who have focused their efforts on studying put on their resumes?

Long story short: even undergraduates with no experience need strong resumes.

In fact, the experience section is just one bit recruiters pay attention to. There are many other things they want to learn about you.

For instance, your skills, ability to deal with challenging situations, general approach to conflict, desire to learn and grow, and many more.

And these things can make you stand out from other applicants - regardless of whether you’re looking for an internship or a full-time entry-level position.

If you’re keen to learn how to write an undergraduate resume that makes you stand out - read on!

Median earnings for bachelor’s degree holders are 84% higher than those whose highest degree is a high school diploma.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

• Find out what sections your resume needs to have
• Craft a compelling resume summary that gets the attention
• Highlight your strengths and education without putting emphasis on your lack of experience
• Showcase your college activities in a way that fascinates recruiters
• Separate the wheat from the chaff and focus on what matters.
• Freshers Resumes
• College Resume
• Entry-level Resume
• Law School Resume
• Data Science Intern Resume
• Entry-level Engineering Resume
• Entry-level Sales Resume
• Intern Resume
• Marketing Intern Resume
• PR Intern Resume
• Social Media Intern
• Data Analyst Entry-level Resume
• Entry-level Financial Analyst Resume

When looking for resume advice online, most things you’d find would typically include stuff like “talk about your education”, or “focus on your relevant hard skills”, or even “share why you’re the best applicant”.

But when you’re an undergrad with no experience whatsoever, general advice often sounds irrelevant and even inadequate.

In fact, you might be wondering what your relevant hard skills are and how to describe your education in a meaningful way.

We get that.

But we also know that you want to build a resume that gets the attention of recruiters in the most positive way possible.

And the first thing you should think about is the resume format.

Some of the most popular resume formats include:

• The reverse-chronological format
• The functional format
• The hybrid format.

Now, the reverse-chronological format is not really something you, as an undergraduate, should consider. It’s more suitable for professionals with long years of experience.

The functional format , on the other hand, is great for inexperienced undergraduates who want to emphasize their transferable skills, interests, and activities.

And if you have some experience to mention, go for the hybrid resume format . It’s a combination of the first two that allows you to focus on both your experience and your personality.

Some general tips to keep in mind include:

• Choosing a 12p font
• Using 10” resume margins
• Sticking to a one-page resume format (two-page resumes make sense only if you have over 10 years of experience)
• Saving your resume as PDF .

Once you’ve mastered the formatting, another question comes up: what should your undergraduate resume include ?

Something great about undergraduate resumes is that you can experiment with sections . Here are some worth considering:

Top sections for your undergraduate resume:

• Header - for your name, email address, phone, and a link to your LinkedIn or personal website
• Objective - for your long-term vision and priorities
• Skills section - for your hard, soft, and transferable skills
• Education section - for all your degrees and relevant courses
• Certification section - for your certifications
• Strengths section - for the qualities that make you stand out from others
• Achievements section - for the times your hard work paid off.

When you choose the top sections you want to include in your undergraduate resume, it’s important to add specific information that recruiters value. For instance:

What recruiters love seeing on undergraduate resumes:

• Whether you’ve taken any additional courses that have upskilled you.

The header section is often treated as unimportant by many undergraduates. Probably due to the fact that it’s the shortest part of your resume.

However, if you make even the slightest mistake in your email address or your phone number, recruiters will not be able to get back to you.

So make sure your header section is free from mistakes. Let’s check out some examples:

2 undergraduate resume header examples

Can you spot any mistakes?

Firstly, look at the title - it says ‘Student’. It’s okay, but it’s far from perfect.

Ideally, here you would mention the position you’re applying for or at least your major.

Then let’s look at the e-mail address - it’s very informal. We advise you to stick to the [email protected] , [email protected] , [email protected] format instead.

Then comes the location - it’d be better if Lesley had mentioned the city she currently resides in. That’s especially important if she’s applying for an on-site job.

Last but not least, the link. It leads us to Lesley’s personal Facebook account, and that’s a huge no-no. Especially if Lesley has some wild party photos in there.

Much better!

This resume summary looks much better and paints a much more precise picture of the applicant.

It starts by mentioning the person’s looking to become a journalist. In this way, employers know exactly what position would match the applicant’s wants and needs.

Moreover, this fits well with their link - we can assume that it leads to all articles Lesley has written for the university newspaper.

The email and location also look neat.

Now that’s a perfect header! Time to look at your undergraduate resume’s objective.

Once you’ve decided what positions you want to apply to, it’s time to craft a resume objective .

Regardless of whether you’re in your first or last year of studies, a well-written resume objective can help you land an interview even when you have no work experience whatsoever.

That’s why describing how you’ll add value to the team is mandatory here.

Another thing worth considering is adding relevant keywords. This can help you pass applicant tracking systems that most recruiters use, even if you have little to no experience.

In short, think of your resume objective as a quick way to get recognition for your skills and qualifications from employers.

Let’s look at some good and bad resume objectives examples!

Focusing on what matters: 3 undergraduate resume objective examples

How does that resume objective make you feel?

Not too excited or impressed, right?

This automatically means you should stay away from such short, uninspiring objectives. Otherwise, you risk having your resume tossed in the bin.

Let’s try again:

Although this resume objective looks a bit better, it’s still far from ideal.

It’s a good idea to mention your top skills. However, linking them to the actual area of work or position is what would make you stand out.

Let’s give it one last try:

Now that’s something else!

This computer science undergraduate has done a great job in highlighting their education, interests, and top skills.

What’s more, they have also mentioned the position and field they’re interested in.

If you’re not sure where to start, you can always go to our resume experts for guidance !

It’s now time to move on to the next section, where we’ll discuss what needs to be done if you’re one of the few chosen undergraduates who have some work experience.

We advise you to read through that section even if you have no relevant work experience.

It’s common for undergrads to look for jobs - regardless of whether they’re doing it to get money or to get experience.

In both cases, there are some dos and don'ts when it comes to highlighting your previous experience. Be it relevant to what you’re applying for or not.

Generally speaking, your experience section should always include:

• The name of your previous employer
• The position
• The dates of employment
• A short description of the company
• Your main responsibilities

Let’s look at some examples first and discuss our findings after:

Right and wrong: 2 undergraduate resume experience examples

• • Served food
• • Greeted customers
• • Shift work
• • Always on time

Treat the example above as something you shouldn’t do.

Let’s start from the beginning.

The ‘position’ and ‘workplace’ fields look alright, but the description needs attention. Instead of plainly stating the place is a restaurant, this applicant could have said what kind of food the restaurant serves, for instance.

Also, look at the way they have listed their responsibilities. Do you spot anything wrong?

First off, there is no consistency. Some bullets start with verbs, others - with nouns or even adverbs.

Our advice is to always list your responsibilities using action verbs . They make you look responsible and ready to take action. And to be honest, recruiters love this.

Then, we need to look at the actual wording of the responsibilities.

Serving food requires valuable skills like attention to detail. At the same time, working in shifts means you have to be adaptable and have strong time management skills.

But as you can see, the applicant has not highlighted any of these transferable skills in their experience section.

See how this could have been done differently:

• • Helped customers choose their food according to their requirements and preferences
• • Delivered orders in a timely manner and according to restaurant policies
• • Improved my multitasking skills by covering 6-10 tables at a time
• • Guaranteed 100% customer satisfaction even during night shifts

See the difference?

Using action verbs and describing your responsibilities in detail makes a much stronger first impression than simply stating what you had to do.

What’s more, when you start thinking about the results of your work and how much you have actually achieved, you prepare for one of the most common interview questions - “Tell me about your experience”.

This piece of advice is also suitable for you if you have only volunteer experience.

As mentioned earlier, not all undergraduates have experience.

Yes, those who do are usually considered lucky, but that’s mostly because they can prove they have the required skills.

The same goes for volunteering.

And while the volunteering section is a bit easier to tackle, there are still some things to keep in mind.

Inspiring change: 1 good and 1 bad volunteering section examples

Look at the example above. What do you get from it?

Not much, right? That’s why you should strive to do better.

The aim of every section of your resume should be to add value. So focus on this when describing exactly what you’ve done as a volunteer.

The second example helps you get a clearer understanding of the volunteer role and the skills required for it.

More specifically, it tells us that this person has great people-, event-, and time-management skills.

Speaking of skills, let’s look at the two different types of skills your undergraduate resume needs.

As an undergraduate, you can often lack perspective regarding the skills you have and the skills you need to develop.

Knowing that there are two main types of skills - hard and soft - might make things easier for you.

In general, hard skills depend on your major and your interests. Some of the most popular hard skills for undergraduates include:

Hard Skills for undergraduates' resumes

• MS Powerpoint
• Software development
• Web development
• Linear progression
• Troubleshooting
• Database management
• Proofreading
• Forecasting
• Data mining
• Data engineering
• Data visualization
• Illustrator
• Graphic design
• UX/UI design
• Google Analytics
• Google Search Console
• Project management
• Financial modeling
• Performance tracking

If you’re pursuing a more technical degree (e.g. in Computer Science or Engineering), then you can also go for a section outlining your technical skills .

How to describe soft skills on an undergraduate resume

Recently, recruiters and applicants alike have started to put more and more emphasis on the importance of soft skills .

They are applicable to almost any industry and role, and that’s exactly why some of them are often called transferable skills.

For instance, if you’re an experienced problem-solver, you’d be able to adopt a problem-solving approach as a software developer, accountant, or even translator.

A great way to emphasize your soft skills is by adding a talent section to your undergraduate resume.

Here’s a list of soft skills worth considering by undergraduates!

Soft skills for undergraduates' resumes

• Communication
• Active listening
• Presentation skills
• Positive mindset
• Open-mindedness
• Conflict management
• Cultural sensitivity
• Collaboration
• Encouragement
• Cooperation
• Coordination
• Idea exchange
• Negotiation
• Self-management
• Decision-making
• Self-confidence
• Brainstorming
• Team-building
• Self-motivation
• Lateral thinking
• Logical reasoning
• Persistence
• Observation
• Time-management
• Public speaking
• Responsibility
• Goal setting
• Prioritization
• Stress management
• Organization

And while adding your hard and soft skills to a ‘strengths’ or ‘talents’ section is great, make sure to also include a separate skills section to your undergraduate resume.

This will help you pass applicant tracking systems (ATS) that screen applicant documents for certain keywords.

Since you’re still a student, the education section is something you should devote great attention to.

Make sure that you include the relevant courses you’ve taken and the highest grades you’ve received.

And remember: pointing out how different majors, minors , and projects have helped you develop certain skills and personal qualities will without a doubt impress recruiters.

It will also give them more insight into the industry knowledge you have and the value you can bring to the company.

And if you want to get bonus points, combine your undergraduate resume’s education section with a strong certificates section.

Certificates show you are willing to learn more than what’s expected from you. They also show you know how to put theory into practice.

That being said, they are a great way to stand out from other applicants and land an interview.

If you’re wondering which certificates are worth listing in your resume, think about the impact they have had on your life.

For instance, if you’re applying for a position in finance, a Power BI certificate would be much more relevant than a first aid certificate.

And remember: list only certificates you actually have.

If you’ve not taken any courses, then don’t include a ‘courses’ / ‘certificates’ section. Hiring managers can tell if you make skills and certifications up!

Top #3 undergraduate certificate types for your resume

• Foreign language certificates
• Soft skills certificates
• Technical certifications

Depending on the position, you could also include a section describing your language skills . When in doubt, ask yourself - would you need foreign languages to accomplish your day-to-day tasks?

If you feel creative, you could also add a non-traditional section to your undergraduate resume.

A pie chart of what your typical day looks like or a quote that’s turned into your life philosophy. You decide!

Just make sure to keep things professional. Follow the rule - if you wouldn’t share it with your tutors, don’t share it with your prospective employers!

Looking to build your own Undergraduate resume?

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Undergraduate’s student resume samples

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Sample Résumés

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

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This section offers information on three common résumé styles: skills, chronological, and functional. Each section also contains a sample résumé of the particular style the section discusses.

The Interactive Résumé resource contains a sample résumé on which you can click each section to learn more about the different sections of the résumé and how to write each section of the résumé.

Sample Résumés:

Skills Résumé

Chronological Résumé

Functional Résumé

Interactive Résumé

How to Write a College Resume That’ll Get You Hired (Plus an Example!)

When you’re in college, a strong resume is one of the first things that helps you land an internship or part-time job. It represents you to employers when you can’t be in the room (yet!) and is essential to convincing them to call you for an interview based on your previous experiences and current skills. Whether you have a resume you used for college applications or are starting completely from scratch, putting effort into your resume now gives you a higher likelihood of success and sets a solid foundation, making it a breeze to update in the future as you—and it—evolve.

If you feel like you have nothing to put on your resume, don’t worry. After advising hundreds of students on these documents, I know you have more to offer than you think! I frequently meet first-year college students who believe they can’t include many of the things they did before college on a resume. You absolutely can—and you should—until those get outranked by all the other awesome things you’ll accumulate over the course of your college career. Even if you’re a freshly minted high school graduate, you have valuable skills and experiences employers want, and this guide can help you showcase them.

Read on to learn about what goes on your resume, how to format it, and what else you can do to ensure it makes you shine—and to see our college resume example.

What Goes on a College Resume

In setting up your resume, you should use a few core sections to help you easily lay out all the information a recruiter is looking for when they make quick decisions about whether or not to interview you. (And yes, recruiters do skim, reportedly spending an average of 7.4 seconds making their first pass on a resume, so you want to make a good impression fast).

Contact Info

It’s traditional to start with your basic contact information at the top of your document including your name, email, phone, and the city and state where you live. Use your full name (and maybe bump up the font a point or two because you’re a big deal!), and if you have a nickname you prefer, you can include it in parentheses.

Use your college email as it’s typically professional and establishes your educational brand. Now is also a good time to check that your phone’s voicemail greeting is up-to-date. In case a recruiter calls while you’re busy—or you don’t recognize the number and swipe it to voicemail—this greeting could be their first impression of you. Even recording something as simple as, “ Hello, you’ve reached Christine. Please leave a message and I will return your call as soon as possible, ” can help them feel confident they reached the right person and that you’re able to present yourself professionally.

Your physical location can be based either on your school’s address or your permanent home address. If you’re targeting opportunities in one location or the other, include the most local address so they know you’re familiar with the area (and likely won’t have a problem finding housing).

Pro tip: Save space by listing your email, phone, and location all on one line. If you have a LinkedIn profile , you can add that in your contact information section as well. The result might look like this:

Karla Perez Stillwater, MN ∙ (000) 765-4321 ∙ [email protected] ∙ www.linkedin.com/krperez

For college students, education should be right below the contact information on your resume. This immediately orients your reader to the fact that you’re a current student and conveys important information, like what you’re studying. What you include in your education section can also demonstrate that you’re a good match for the opportunity you’re targeting, increasing your chances of a recruiter call.

The basics you should always include are:

• Your school’s name
• Your expected graduation date
• The type of degree you’re pursuing: For example, you might write “Bachelor of Arts” or “Associate’s Degree.”
• Any majors, minors, or concentrations: If you’re applying to opportunities in these areas, this will help an employer see you already have some knowledge and a motivation for working with them.

Depending on your personal strengths and what jobs you’re applying for, you might also want to include:

• Your GPA: But only if it’s strong. (It’s usually good to include 3.5 and above.) If you stumbled through some of the general requirements you had to take but nailed all the courses in your major, consider adding two GPAs—your cumulative GPA and your major GPA—to show you have stronger grades in your chosen discipline.
• Standardized test scores: If you’re applying to opportunities in quantitative fields, like finance or consulting, you might consider listing standardized test scores like the SAT or ACT.
• Relevant coursework: Selecting and highlighting three to five classes that match closely with the specific opportunity you’re applying to is a really fast way to tailor your resume and make you a more attractive match. For example, if you’re targeting an internship in computer science, you can list your “Introduction to Python” and “Introduction to Algorithms” classes.
• Other colleges or universities you’ve attended: If you’re a transfer student or you studied abroad at another university, adding these schools can signal that you have other strengths, such as cultural awareness or language skills, or give you a chance to highlight key classes you took elsewhere.
• Your high school: If you’re shooting for an opportunity local to your high school or went somewhere well-known, then you may want to keep that as your last entry for educational experience. Otherwise, high school is the first entry to cut when you’re short on space. It has gotten you to where you need to be, but the focus should now be on the higher-level degree you’re working on and you should dedicate as much space as you need to boast about all of your amazing college accomplishments!

Here is an example of what a completed “Education” section might look like:

Candidate for Bachelor of Arts degree ,   St. Olaf College , Northfield, MN Double Major: Political Science and Economics ∙ Expected Graduation: May 2023 ∙ GPA: 3.7 Relevant Coursework: Introduction to Political Theory, Politics and Human Rights, Global Interdependence

The experience section is where the real substance of your resume lives. This is the chance to show a snapshot of the jobs and internships you’ve had (if any), the work you did, the skills you used, and your accomplishments. Let’s talk about what experience you can include, how to pull out skills and demonstrate your value, and what it should look like on the page.

Experience can cover a lot of things. It can be full-time jobs, part-time jobs, internships, or research. Unpaid work—like volunteer and community roles—counts too! Don’t discount the value these other kinds of experiences can add to your resume just because you didn’t earn money. You can leverage all of your experiences on a resume by pulling out transferable skills , or broader talents you’ve developed that will be beneficial even if you aren’t applying to the same type of role.

Take a significant class project, for example. That can be built out as experience as long as you’re clear it was for a class. If you worked on a group project, you probably collaborated on a team, organized, worked under deadlines, completed some independent tasks, presented your work to others, and had some kind of outcome. Even if you were doing something that might not seem widely applicable, like designing a rocket, many of those skills can transfer over to another role. Say you had to do cost comparisons for the materials you selected for your rocket, those same analysis skills could be useful to a business role or for a part-time job where you have to order supplies for a restaurant.

You can also create targeted headers for your Experience section(s) if there are themes that correlate with the internship or part-time job you want. Specific headers—such as “Research Experience,” “Marketing Experience,” or “Software Engineering Experience”—can immediately help your reader see that you’re aligned with the needs they have for their open role.

If you don’t have something that specific, it’s OK. You can still shift your experiences into categories like “Relevant Experience” and “Additional Experience.” For example, if you’re applying to research roles, you’d want to put any research related work under “Relevant Experience,” and your cashier job and website building side hustle would go under “Additional Experience.” These two headers are great for allowing you to bump the best of your experiences up toward the top of your resume.

Once you decide which headers to use, make sure each entry includes basic information—the title of your role, the organization’s name, the location, and the dates you worked there—along with bullet points describing what you accomplished. For example:

Intern , Minnesota State Senate , St. Paul, MN June 2019–August 2019

• Researched prior legislation and current bills, summarized content, and identified alternate actions
• Coordinated the schedule for Senator Harriet Maxwell and kept accurate minutes for all meetings
• Drafted memos for important interoffice updates outside of normal meeting schedule

A skills section is a great way to make your most valuable knowledge and expertise stand out—and be easily spotted by a recruiter. Which skills belong in your own skill section depend on the jobs you’re applying for, so be sure to read the job description carefully to figure out what skills are most relevant for each particular role.

Skills that might appear in this section include (but are definitely not limited to): technical skills; software or other tools you know well; languages you can speak, read, or write; other job-specific skills like using a POS system or cash register; and, for some jobs, even your ability to drive different vehicles.

From this range, you can see why it’s important to change things up based on what job you’re applying to! Some skills—for example, being fluent or conversational in a second language—might be relatively permanent fixtures on a college resume. If you’re looking for a part-time job waiting tables, you might add the fact that you can bartend, whereas you might list your mastery in JavaScript instead when going after that software engineering internship you have your eye on.

Once you’ve decided which skills are most important for this role, you can simply list them on your resume. If you have a few different types of skills, you can separate them into categories. For instance:

Languages: Spanish (Fluent); Russian (Basic) Software: JavaScript, Python, CSS

Note that just listing your skills in a separate section isn’t always enough. You also want to make sure to describe how you’ve used key technical and job skills elsewhere on your resume (usually in the bullet points of your experience section).

Other Optional Sections

There are some other sections you can consider adding depending on your experiences and what your target employer might be looking for. For example, a consumer product firm might be looking for examples of design work. In that case you could add a section called “Design Projects,” which might include significant assignments from some of your academic classes or independent projects that you’ve developed in your spare time. Don’t be afraid to include links to your work if you’re submitting your resume online! (Just avoid hyperlinking out from important words, as this could trip up the online systems that scan most resumes.)

Another popular section is “Leadership Experience” where roles like being the vice president for one of your student organizations or being a co-captain for your athletic team would be a good fit. Employers love to see leadership themes on resumes, as it demonstrates the transferable soft skills they’re looking for like communication, collaboration, and initiative.

An “Activities” section can also demonstrate skills. If you dedicate time to learning more about consulting cases with your consulting club, you likely increased your analytical skills in a team setting, which is valuable for many business roles. If you’re an athlete, you can showcase your ability to manage your time, create or be part of a cohesive team, or organize and motivate teammates during practices. These skills gained as an athlete can be ideal if you’re applying for a heavily collaborative role. Additionally, if the activities that you’re involved in are directly applicable to the job, these are powerful to include as it demonstrates interest and dedication. So if you’re majoring in healthcare administration, adding that you’re a member of the Healthcare Society on your campus can be a major plus for an employer.

Any optional sections like these will usually need to be set up similar to your experience entries. Include the organization (or class), your role, the location, the dates you participated, and your key achievements. Here is an example of an entry you might put under a “Leadership” heading:

Head Delegate , Model United Nations , Northfield, MN September 2019–April 2020

• Researched global topics such as human rights and sustainable energy and developed persuasive positions
• Represented Chile as a delegate in an education simulation at a conference with 2,000+ participants; negotiated with others and collaborated on common goals to deliver resolutions on political issues
• Liaised between the delegation and the Secretariat, serving as a first point of contact and resolving issues

6 Tips for Writing a Successful College Resume

From formatting to crafting strong descriptions, attention to detail can pay off when tackling your resume. Here are six tips to help you develop a great resume:

1. Choose the Right Resume Format for You

Your parents or other family members might share their resume and have you copy it because it has worked for them. But they’re at a different place in their career and their format may not be the best one for you.

There are three main types of resume formats for laying out your experiences, skills, and education—the functional resume , the combination/hybrid resume , and the chronological resume . The chronological format is almost always the best fit for college students.

With a chronological resume, you’ll list your experiences within each category/section in reverse chronological order (most recent to least recent, based on end date). Since this is the most traditional and common resume format, recruiters are familiar with it and can quickly see what you have to offer.

2. Be Clear and Consistent

In terms of resume formatting, there are a lot of small choices to make about things like font, style, and spacing. Whatever you decide, make sure it is easily readable, consistent, and not overly fancy. You could have the greatest content in the world, but if it’s too difficult or annoying to read, a recruiter is going to move on.

In order to make a document easy to scan, use clear headers for your sections. Maybe they’re bold and in all caps, or maybe they’re a couple font sizes larger, but they should be the same throughout your resume. The rest of your content should be consistent as well. For example, all your organization or previous employer names might be in italics, your dates all right aligned, your locations in plain text, and the titles of your roles in bold. Keeping things uniform helps the recruiter easily absorb all the relevant information you want them to have.

3. Make Sure It Can Pass Through an Application Tracking System (ATS)

Formatting is also important because your resume will likely pass through something called an applicant tracking system (ATS), a type of software that helps recruiters organize incoming candidate applications. Recruiters can apply filters or search for keywords, and the ATS will show candidates matching the desired criteria, making it easier to identify good candidates in large applicant pools.

In order for your resume to pass this first round and make it to the human who has the power to get you to an interview, the ATS needs to see you’re a good match. But there are formatting choices that can confuse an ATS—for example, some won’t read the content inside tables, text boxes, or graphics. And if the ATS can’t read your materials, your resume might be filtered out. (Read more about formatting your resume for an ATS here .)

This all means that using one of the fancy resume templates you see online isn’t necessarily the best move . Most basic formatting can be achieved with bolding, italics, and spacing, and you will still end up with a good-looking resume—meaning that starting with a blank document can actually be a better bet. (If you still want to use a template, we’ve curated 41 free ATS-friendly templates here .)

4. Create Impactful Descriptions

Give the descriptions you use for your experiences some TLC, as this is what recruiters will focus on once you’ve caught their attention. I often discover students undersell—or simply forget—all the things they’ve done that might be interesting and of value to an employer (including those transferable skills).

Here’s an exercise that can help. Reflect on an experience (such as an internship you had or volunteer work you completed) and quickly jot down what you did. You don’t need to have much structure for this—try it as a brainstorm. Think about answering some of these questions:

• What was your role?
• What were the goals for that position or experience?
• What tasks did you specifically do?
• What projects did you work on?
• Were there any side projects or tasks you completed?
• Who did you work with?
• What did you contribute?
• What did you accomplish? (Or what did/do you intend to accomplish? This can be a useful way to think about things especially when considering research or longer term projects that are still in progress!)
• Can it be quantified? Numbers can paint a clear and impressive picture of your accomplishments to someone reading your resume. You might write that you fundraised as part of the Student Government Association, and that will generally get your point across, but if you can say you increased SGA fundraising by 30% and were able to create two new social events attended by 100+ students each, that will make more of an impact. Look for ways to quantify your accomplishments wherever possible.

Once you have a good brainstorm, take the information you gathered and try crafting several statements using this formula:

Action Verb + Subject + Outcome/Purpose/Result (i.e. Accomplishment)

So you might say:

Organized a fundraiser event for 70 participants resulting in $1,000 in donations to a local hospital

Your descriptions are most valuable when leading with an action verb that reflects specific skills. For example, swap “Worked on” for “Collaborated on” and “Responsible for” with “Oversaw.” Other verbs I often recommend students use include:

• Communicated
• Facilitated

5. Tailor Your Resume for Each Opportunity

Always tailor your resume to each specific job you apply to. Making it easy for the recruiter to connect your skills to what they are looking for can increase your chances of success. The job description is your blueprint and key to doing this. A couple of these exercises could help you identify what you’ll want to highlight.

• Activity 1: Take the job description and go through and underline everything you’ve had some experience in. This might be specific tasks, software/programs/tools, or qualities. Write a quick note in the margin to highlight when you’ve done that. Underline things where you have transferable skills too. For example, if you’ve used a software that is similar to a software they’re looking for, underline it. A recruiter should be able to see on your resume that you used similar skills and would be a quick study.
• Activity 2: If you aren’t sure which skills to emphasize, take the entire job description and pop it into a simple online word cloud generator, like TagCrowd . It automatically shows you the words most used in the description, which are likely of highest importance to the company or role. If you have those skills, make sure you mention them in your descriptions and mirror the language as exactly as possible (our friend the ATS will be looking for precise keywords!).

These activities can help you identify the right action verbs, keywords, and tools—like software—to weave into your descriptions. They can also help you decide what past experiences to include or which of your college courses are relevant to this role and which direct and transferable skills to highlight to make your resume a stronger fit for your target job.

6. Keep a Few Other Tried-and-True Tips in Mind

Here are a few other parting tips to keep in mind as you build your document:

• Avoid writing in first person (“I,” “we,” “our,” and “my” statements).
• Bullet points will make your document more readable—usually two to three per entry works well. But it doesn’t have to be even: Give more description space to the most relevant entries.
• Attention to detail matters. Proofread—not just for typos, but to make sure formatting is consistent (like date dashes). Employers will use your resume to make assumptions about how detail-oriented you are.
• Review any headers you put in all caps. Some spell checkers are programmed to assume that they’re acronyms and skip them.
• Ditch jargon and acronyms wherever possible. Don’t assume the reader always knows what you’re talking about. Sometimes the first person reading your document is a general recruiter and not familiar with the technical side of a role.
• Be aware of tenses. If you’ve completed an experience, those descriptions will be in past tense, and current roles can be described in present tense. (If you’re still actively involved in a role you can list the role through “Present,” and if more than one entry has the same end date, make a strategic decision to put the most relevant experience first.)
• Acceptable margins are usually between one and 0.7 inches.
• Pick a readable font, like Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman, and try not to go below font size 11.
• As a college student, stick to a one-page resume. However, you should consider keeping a longer version (called a master resume) for your own personal use. That’s where you keep a full record of your experiences to make it easier to pull out the relevant ones each time you tailor your resume for a specific job.

What Does a College Resume Look Like?

A college resume should showcase your education, experiences, and skills (direct and transferable!) in a clear way, while keeping in mind what is most relevant to your target employer. The resume below shows a student highlighting their relevant education and experiences specifically for internship opportunities in government and politics.

Download sample college resume

There are many ways to write and format a resume. Ultimately, you want one that best represents you and your accomplishments to recruiters for the job at hand. Try out some of these tips, and I hope they help you succeed in catching that recruiter’s eye!

College Student Resume Example and Writing Tips

Ellen Lindner / The Balance

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What to Include in Your Resume

Tips for writing a college resume, college student resume template, college student resume example, more college resume examples.

What should you include in your resume when you're a student without a lot of experience? When creating a resume as a college student, it's important to emphasize both your work history (formal or informal) and your education.

For a student resume , you can also demonstrate your skills and abilities by including volunteer work, internships, and other extracurricular activities.

Review what to include in your resume, tips for writing a resume that highlights your qualifications, and download a resume template you can use as a starting point for creating your own resume.

Here's information on what to include when you're writing your resume as a college student or recent graduate.

• Focus on education. Emphasize your academic history. Along with the name of your school and degree, include any achievements, such as a high GPA or any academic awards. If you have taken courses related to the job you’re applying for, list those as well.
• Include relevant jobs. Think about the skills and experiences required for the job you want. Include any internships or jobs where you developed these qualities. Even if your work experiences aren’t directly related, think of ways to highlight experiences you had that are relevant to the job you want. For example, you might include a former job as a cashier if it helped you develop customer service or leadership skills.
• Include extracurricular activities. Because you likely have limited work experience, emphasize any non-work activities. These might include clubs, sports, babysitting, volunteer work, or community service. All of these activities can show your skills and abilities.
• Include leadership experience. Have you held a position in a club, or been a captain on a sports team? Have you had any leadership responsibilities at your previous jobs? Be sure to list these experiences, as they show your ability to lead a team.

Read below for tips on how to write a strong college resume.

• Use action verbs. Action verbs help show your responsibility. When describing your achievements, use action words like led, researched, and created to portray your experiences in an energetic way.

Check out a list of action words for useful examples.

• Quantify when possible. Whenever possible, include numbers to show your achievements. For example, you might say that you worked the cash register at a store that managed $10,000 daily, or that you helped 50 - 100 customers daily at your retail job.
• Showcase the skills that qualify you for the job. Some skills are in high demand for employers hiring college graduates, and there are other skills that specifically relate to the job for which you're applying. Be sure to include the most relevant on your resume.
• Carefully edit and proofread. Proofread your resume carefully before submitting it. A clean, error-free resume will make you look professional. Ask a friend or family member to read the resume for you as well.
• Use a resume example. Use a resume example (like the one below) or template to guide your own writing. A resume example can help you decide what kind of content to include, as well as how to format your resume.
• Get help. If you need help writing your resume, check with your college career services office to see what resume assistance is available for students and graduates.

When you use a resume template, tailor it to fit your own experience and qualifications, and the job for which you are applying.

The following is a sample resume for a college student. It includes education, work, and internship experience, awards, and achievements. Download the college student resume template (compatible with Google Docs and Word Online) or see below for more examples.

Resume Sample (Text Version)

Amanda Student

123 College Street State College, PA 12345 (123) 456-7890 amanda.student@school.edu

ADVERTISING PROFESSIONAL

Developing creative ad campaigns that meet clients’ goals

People person experienced at selling advertising and working on all aspects of successful campaigns.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

ABC COMMUNICATIONS, New York, NY SUMMER INTERN (June 2021—August 2021)

Partnered with design intern to create and execute two sell sheets, one print ad, and one postcard. Wrote radio script submitted with campaign proposal and assisted in other writing assignments.

Notable accomplishment:

• Awarded Best Campaign of competing teams.

123 COFFEE SHOP, State College, PA SHIFT SUPERVISOR/BARISTA (May 2019—Present)

Train new employees, open and close store, handle sales, build positive customer relationships, design promotional fliers for company events, and help maintain store webpage.

XYZ RESTAURANT, Washington, D.C. SERVER/HOSTESS/EXPEDITER/BUSSER (May 2017—August 2018)

Provided prompt service for more than 75 customers per shift.

EDUCATION & CREDENTIALS

STATE UNIVERSITY , State College, PA Bachelor of Arts in Advertising; Minor: Spanish; GPA: 3.35, anticipated in May 2022

Notable Accomplishments:

• Dean's List: Fall 2020, Spring 2021
• Awarded Best Advertising Campaign Proposal for Health Committee, State University, Spring 2019

Certifications:

• Professional in Human Resources (PHR)
• Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)

Information Technology Skills:

• Microsoft Office Suite
• ADP / Workforce Now

Review more resume samples and templates designed specifically for college students and graduates seeking internships, summer jobs, and full-time employment.

How to Get Your Resume Noticed

• Include your achievements. Your resume can include more than the jobs you've held. Include awards, extra-curricular activities, leadership roles, and other activities to boost your candidacy.
• Focus on your most relevant skills. Take the time to tweak your resume for each job you apply to, so the employer can see how you're qualified for the job.
• Get help with your resume. If you need more guidance, check with your college career office for advice on resume and cover letter writing.
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Creating an Undergraduate CV

Your curriculum vitae (CV) is a representation of your scholarly identity and trajectory in your field. 

A CV is used to apply to research roles or other academic positions. It shows your academic credentials and achievements, experience conducting research in your field, and other experience relevant to the opportunity you’re targeting.

Your goal is to convey your interest in the field, as well as the relevant skills and knowledge that will prepare you to excel in the target opportunity.

When might I use a CV as an undergraduate?

You may be asked for a CV when you’re applying to a research position, to a fellowship, or to graduate school in the sciences. If you’re applying to a research position in industry, pay attention to whether they ask for a resume or a CV in their posting, as they may prefer a resume. In your cover letter, you can let them know that a CV is available upon request.

Many faculty may be happy to receive either a resume or a CV from undergrads looking to conduct research with them. Remember that in this case, whichever document you submit should still be tailored toward research in their field! If you haven’t done research before, convey your interest and preparedness by showing the transferable skills and knowledge you’ve built through your coursework and other experiences.

What should my CV look like as an undergraduate?

Unlike your one-page resume, your undergraduate CV can be two pages.

Sections on a CV

The sections on a CV are designed to feature the experiences that academics (like professors or researchers) acquire over time. As an undergrad, the sections on your CV will depend on the experience you’ve had so far—and the professors or researchers interested in hiring undergrads won’t expect you to have graduate-level experience. So, don’t worry if you don’t have information to go in all of these categories!

Start with these mandatory sections:

Contact information.

Include your name, address, phone number, email address, and professional website or profile (if you have one).

Include the degree-granting institution and school, the degree you’re receiving, your major or concentration, and your expected graduation date. If you’re writing a departmental thesis, include the title and the names of your thesis advisers. You can include relevant coursework, which we generally recommend keeping to two lines of text or less.

If you have additional higher education, you can also include it. If you’ve studied abroad, for instance, you can include the institution name, the month and year range you attended, and relevant coursework you took during this program.

Your CV may include some of the following sections: 

Research experience.

Include the name of the lab or department and institution, the position you held, the location, and your dates of involvement. We recommend including a brief description of the project, your role, the primary methods used, and key findings.

Publications

This section includes scholarly publications such as journal articles, book chapters, and published conference proceedings.

Format each bibliographic entry according to your discipline’s style guide, with the article or chapter title, journal name, and publication information. Include authors in publication order, bolding your name.

Include publication status if the piece is not yet published—e.g., in preparation, under review, forthcoming. We recommend listing the DOI if the article has been accepted but does not yet have page numbers.

Presentations

This section showcases scholarly presentations you’ve made, usually at conferences or symposia.

Include the author(s) and title of presentation, the conference or symposium name, and the location and date (or month if a range) of the presentation. Specify the format of the presentation—e.g., poster or oral presentation.

Grants / Awards / Academic Honors

List any academic awards, fellowships, grants, or funding received. In each entry, include the award name, award-granting institution, and year of the award.

If the nature of the award will not be clear based on the award name, you can briefly clarify parenthetically.

Teaching Experience

Include the name of the course and institution, the position you held (e.g., Teaching Assistant, Instructor of Record), the location, and month-year range of the teaching engagement. We encourge you to include a brief description of your role.

Additional Professional Experience

On a CV, you may include recent professional experience that is pertinent to your scholarly trajectory. You can title this section by the job area if helpful—e.g., Additional Engineering Experience, Editorial Experience, Museum Experience.

Include the name of the organization, your job title, and the location and month-year range of the experience. You can include a brief description of your role and accomplishments to highlight relevant transferable skills.

Leadership / Activities / Service / Volunteer Work

Include the organization, your position title, the location, and dates of your involvement. You can include a brief description of your role and accomplishments.

Professional Memberships or Affiliations

List any memberships you maintain to professional organizations in your field. Many scholarly associations have low-cost student memberships.

Certifications

Include any relevant certifications or licensures you hold.

Create categories for your skills, such as languages, technical or computer (software, hardware, coding languages), laboratory, machining, and design. In each category, list the relevant items—e.g., language names, tools, programs. For languages, we recommend indicating your proficiency level. Keep each category to 3 lines maximum.

This includes a list of relevant references, including their name, title, institution, and contact information (phone and/or email).

How should I format my CV?

CVs typically have a much simpler format than resumes. You’ll left-justify the content, use one-inch margins all around, and a size 11 or 12 font. Use bold and italics sparingly, and avoid extra design elements. Include a right-justified header includes your last name and page numbers (#/#).

How should I describe my experiences on my CV?

Typically, undergraduate CVs include short descriptions of your experience that focus on field-related content such as a description of the research project and the methods you used. Remember, your reader is likely another scholar in your discipline who will be able to interpret this technical language. It is more common to display these descriptions in paragraph form, but some people prefer bullet points for clarity.

Learning About CV Conventions in Your Field

Many professors, postdocs, and graduate students post their CVs on their departmental or lab website. Their CVs will be a lot longer than yours—some professors’ CVs run up to 15 pages. You may notice that faculty CVs will be, in most cases, less detailed than your undergraduate one, with fewer descriptions: they may be serving as records of research and teaching conducted, rather than job-search documents. Nevertheless, these CVs can help you understand trends and conventions in your discipline.

Can I see what a CV might look like?

Sure! We’ve created a couple of sample undergraduate CVs for your reference.

• Sample Undergraduate Science CV
• Sample Undergraduate Humanities / Social Science CV

Where can I get feedback on my CV?

You can get feedback on your CV from your previous research mentors (faculty, postdocs, grad students), instructors of relevant courses you’ve taken, career counselors , fellowship advisers , or writing consultants .

We recommend always seeking feedback from mentors in your field, as they will be able to offer discipline-specific insights and tips.

Related Resources

Finding an Undergraduate Research Position

Getting research experience during your time as an undergraduate can aid in your pursuit for graduate school or certain career opportunities. There are many opportunities available to conduct research alongside faculty at Columbia or other universities and research institutes.

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College Resume - Examples & Writing Guides for 2024

You’ve just sat down to write a college student resume.

An A+ resume that converts.

Whether you need a part-time job to cover your bills or a college internship for more experience, we are here to help.

This guide will take you through a simple step-by-step process of creating a college student resume. 

• An example of a finished college resume that works
• How to write a college resume that’ll fill up your interview diary
• How to make your college resume stand out [with top tips & tricks]

For some added inspiration, here’s a college student resume example, created with our very own resume builder :

The above example gets serious results, and yours will too. Simply follow the steps below.

Check out some of these related resume examples that you might be interested in:

• No Experience Resume
• Internship Resume
• Research Assistant Resume
• Students and Graduates Resume
• High School Resume
• Teacher Resume

How to Format a College Student Resume

The first step when creating any resume is to pick the best resume format.

Formatting has a number of benefits, but mostly it allows the hiring manager to read your resume with ease.

The most common resume format for a college student is “functional” or “skill-based”, which allows the hiring manager to immediately see the benefits in hiring you. We recommend college students starting with this format.

Students will usually have stronger skills than their work history, which makes the functional resume a good choice. It’s also ideal for those who have gaps in their employment history.

Now that you have the best format, you need to organize your resume layout .

Use a College Student Resume Template

Before you go ahead with crafting your college student resume, you may want to use a college student resume template.

A resume that is neat and orderly will be a breeze for recruiters to read.

Oh, and it’s the best way to prevent formatting issues.

What to Include in a College Student Resume

The main sections in a college student resume are:

• Contact Information
• Volunteer Experience
• Extracurricular Activities

Want to go a step further? You can also add these optional sections:

• Awards & Certification
• Personal Projects

Interests & Hobbies

But what should you write for each of these sections? Read on to find out.

Want to know more about resume sections? View our guide on What to Put on a Resume .

How to Correctly Display your Contact Information

Now, this section doesn’t require flair, but it must be factually correct. Messing up the contact section can mean the recruiter can’t contact you – oops! 

The contact information section must include:

• Title - In this case, “College Student” or “High-school Graduate”
• Phone Number – Proofread this multiple times
• Email Address – Use a professional email address ([email protected]), not one from your childhood ([email protected]).
• (Optional) Location - Applying for a job abroad? Mention your location.
• Abigail Pearce - College Student. 101-358-6095. [email protected]
• Abigail Pearce - Student. 101-358-6095. [email protected]

How to Write a College Student Resume Summary or Objective

So, this is a job you really want.

This may even be a job you NEED.

However, your competition is fierce. 

And with so much competition, you need to convince the hiring manager within the first few sentences.

To do this, use a resume summary or objective .

These are short paragraphs that go on top of your resume, just under your contact information. They give an overview of your entire resume.

But what is the difference between the two sections?

A resume summary is a 2-4 sentence summary of your professional experiences and achievements.

Dependable marketing sophomore with 1 year part-time experience in a marketing internship to oversee marketing campaigns that maximise profit. Experience includes PPC campaigns, SMM, web design, brand development, and more.

A resume objective is a 2-4 sentence snapshot of what you want to achieve professionally.

Current undergraduate sophomore in marketing with hundreds of classroom hours in marketing and sales related courses. Passionate about maximizing revenue with effective marketing campaigns. Experience includes creating campaigns for my own personal projects in my first term at College X. Skilled in WordPress, Facebook Ads Manager, Photoshop, ClickFunnels, and more.

So, which one is best, summary or objective?

Those with some work experience should go with a resume summary. On the other hand, those who seriously lack work experience should go with a resume objective.

How to Make Your College Student Work Experience Stand Out

Recruiters like to feel confident that you can do the job. There is no easier way to do this than to list your work experience .

Here’s the best way to structure your work experience section:

• Position name
• Company Name
• Responsibilities & Achievements

The Pizza Cabin

03/2019 - 01/2020

• Served food to 40+ people a night and multiple tables at a time.
• Educated customers on menu items and daily specials.
• Received 98% positive customer feedback.
• Engaged customers in a personal, yet professional manner, which helped me to win “Employee of the Month” 4 times.

To separate your resume from the competition, you should focus on your achievements instead of daily tasks. This will allow the recruiter to see the obvious benefits in hiring you.

Instead of saying:

“Served customers”

“Served food to 80+ people a night and multiple tables at a time”

Simply, the first statement is way too vague. There zero chance the recruiter will be impressed by this.

The second statement shows that you were able to serve 80+ people and multiple tables at a time. This tells the recruiter that you are able to work under pressured conditions and to time constraints – impressive!

What if You Don’t Have Work Experience?

Now, not every applicant will have worked in a similar job before.

If this is you, there is a simple way to get around this.

Simply call-upon crossover skills from any previous jobs.

For example, if you held a customer service role at a local pizza restaurant, you can talk about any crossover skills and experiences. Just like a sales associate, you would be able to show you used strong communication and sales skills.

As a student, make sure to check out our student resume guide!

How to Correctly List your Education

Next, it’s time to talk about your education.

Whether it’s a college junior resume or college sophomore resume, your education section is crucial.

There’s nothing too complicated with this section, just simply enter the information for your in-progress degree in the following format:

• Degree Type & Major
• University Name
• Expected Graduation
• GPA, Honours, Courses, and anything else you might want to add

Majoring in Marketing

University of Chicago

2019 - Present

• Relevant Courses: Principles of Marketing, Managerial Communications, Quantitative Methods, and Macroeconomics.

Now, you may have some questions on this section. If so, here are the answers to some of the most frequent questions that we get:

• What if I haven’t completed education yet?

As we mention above, you should still mention your current place of education, despite not finishing yet

• Should I include my high school education?

If you have not yet finished your college degree, you should also include your high school education

• What do I put first, my education or experience?

Experiences are the priority, so those go first

Want more information? Check out our guide on how to list education on a resume .

Top 10 Skills for a College Student Resume

You’ve got all the skills.

But here’s the thing –

Your competition is well-skilled too!

Show the hiring manager that you’re the top candidate by listing your best skills.

But what are the best skills for a college resume?

Create a list of hard skills and soft skills that you have developed so far in life, such as the following:

Hard Skills for a College Resume:

• Microsoft Office
• Typing Speed
• Copywriting

Soft Skills:

• Creative Thinking
• Communication
• Time-Management
• Team Player
• Decision-Making

Tailor your skills to the job description. You can have the best skills in the world, but the recruiter won’t appreciate them if they’re not relevant to the job.

Here’s a more comprehensive list of 100+ must-have skills this year.

What Else Can You Include?

We’ve now covered every essential resume section .

But the school bell hasn’t rung just yet.

You need your resume to stand out!

Acing the above sections should be enough to get you shortlisted, but adding the following sections could give you a further advantage over the other applicants.  

Awards & Certifications

Have you ever won an award?

Have you completed any third-party courses?

Do you hold any specialized certifications?

Regardless of what it is, if there is anything that you’re proud of, be sure to include it here.

Here’s an example:

Awards & Certificates

• Food Handlers Card & Food Safety Manager Certification 
• “Critical Thinking Masterclass” – Coursera Course

Need to speak multiple languages at your new job?

Yes or no, being able to speak a second language is impressive.

And with so much competition, this could be the difference.

Add a language section if you have space. 

Rank the languages by proficiency:

• Intermediate

Now, you may be wondering, “why would a recruiter want to know that I’m a part of the football team?”

Well, it allows the recruiter to get to know who you are on a personal level.

But it doesn’t stop there…

Certain hobbies demonstrate that you have soft skills, like teamwork and communication. 

Here’s which hobbies & interests you may want to mention.

Include a Cover Letter with Your Resume

Your resume should now be ready to send.

No application is complete without a convincing cover letter.

In opposition to a generic resume, a personalized cover letter shows that you care about working for this specific company .

Here’s how to structure a winning cover letter:

You should complete the following sections:

Personal Contact Information

Your full name, profession, email, phone number, and location

Hiring Manager’s Contact Information

Full name, position, location, email

Opening Paragraph

It’s no secret that recruiters skim through their pile of resumes. As such, use concise language to mention:

• The position you’re applying for
• Your experience summary and best achievement to date

With the recruiter intrigued, you can get deeper into the following specifics:

• Why you chose this specific company
• What you know about the company
• How are your top skills relevant for the job
• Which similar industries or positions have you worked in before

Closing Paragraph

Don’t just end the conversation abruptly, you should:

• Conclude the points made in the body paragraph
• Thank the recruiter for the opportunity
• Finish with a call to action. This is a good way to keep the conversation going. A simple “At your earliest opportunity, I’d love to discuss more about how I can help you achieve X” will work

Formal Salutations

End the letter in a professional manner. Something like, “Kind regards” or “Sincerely.”

For more inspiration, read our step-by-step guide on how to write a cover letter .

Key Takeaways

Building a college resume doesn't have to be hard.

Follow the tips in this guide for a college resume that is head & shoulders above the competition. 

Here are our best tips on how to create a college resume:

• Make your resume easy to read by formatting it correctly. Prioritize the reverse-chronological format, and then follow the best practices on content layout
• Use a resume summary or objective to hook the recruiter
• In your work experience section, highlight your most notable achievements to date
• Include a convincing cover letter to separate you from the competition

Suggested Reading:

• How to Make a Resume with No-Experience [21+ Examples]
• 21+ Essential LinkedIn Profile Tips For Job-Seekers
• Use Resume Keywords to Land the Job [880+ Keywords]

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Undergraduate CV example

So you want to secure a good job and kick-start your career, but you’re struggling to write an undergraduate CV?

Use our Undergraduate CV example and writing guide to learn exactly how you can create an effective CV and make the right impression on recruiters

Guide contents

Undergraduate CV example

• Structuring and formatting your CV
• Writing your CV profile
• Detailing work experience
• Your education

CV templates 

Before you start writing your CV, take a look at the example Undergraduate CV above to give yourself a good idea of the style and format that recruiters and hiring managers prefer to see.

Also, take note of the type of content that is included to impress recruiters, and how the most relevant information is made prominent, to ensure it gets noticed.

Undergraduate CV structure and format

Recruiters and employers are busy, and if they can’t find the information they’re looking for in a few seconds, it could be game over for your application.

You need to format and structure your CV in a way which allows the reader to pick out your key information with ease, even if they’re strapped for time.

It should be clear, easily legible, well-organised and scannable – check out some simple tips and tricks below:

Formatting Tips

• Length: Whether you’ve got one year or three decades of experience, your CV should never be more than two sides of A4. Recruiters are busy people who’re often juggling numerous roles and tasks, so they don’t have time to read lengthy applications. If you’re a recent graduate or don’t have much industry experience, one side of A4 is fine.
• Readability : By clearly formatting your section headings (bold, or a different colour font, do the trick) and breaking up big chunks of text into snappy bullet points, time-strapped recruiters will be able to skim through your CV with ease.
• Design: While it’s okay to add your own spin to your CV, avoid overdoing the design. If you go for something elaborate, you might end up frustrating recruiters who, above anything, value simplicity and clarity.
• Avoid photos: Don’t add photos, images or profile pictures to your CV. Not only do they take up much-needed CV space, but they’re actually completely unnecessary and won’t boost your CV at all.

Build your CV now 

Structuring your CV

Divide your CV into the following major sections when writing it:

• Name and contact details  – Head your CV with your name and contact details, to let the reader know who you are and how to contact you.
• CV profile – A brief paragraph which summarises your skills and experience and highlights why you’re a good match for the role.
• Core skills list – A snappy, bullet-pointed list of your most relevant skills.
• Work experience – A structured list of your work experience in reverse chronological order.
• Education – A summary of any relevant qualifications or professional training you’ve completed.
• Hobbies and interests – An optional section, which should only be used if your hobbies are relevant to the jobs you’re applying to.

Now I’ll guide you through exactly what you should include in each CV section.

CV Contact Details

Write your contact details in the top corner of your CV, so that they’re easy to find but don’t take up too much space.

You only need to list your basic details, such as:

• Mobile number
• Email address
• Location – Don’t list your full address. Your town or city, such as ‘Norwich’ or ‘Coventry’ is perfect.
• LinkedIn profile or portfolio URL – Remember to update these before listing them on an application.

Undergraduate CV Profile

Your CV profile is basically a short introductory paragraph, which summarises your key selling points and highlights why you’d make a good hire.

So, write a well-rounded summary of what you do, what your key skills are, and what relevant experience you have.

It needs to be short, snappy and punchy and, ultimately, entice the reader to read the rest of your CV.

Tips for creating an impactful CV profile:

• Keep it brief: The best CV profiles are short, sharp and highly relevant to the target role. For this reason, it’s best to write 3-4 lines of high-level information, as anything over might be missed.
• Tailor it: No matter how much time you put into your CV profile, it won’t impress if it’s irrelevant to the role you’re applying for. Before you start writing, make a list of the skills, knowledge and experience your target employer is looking for. Then, make sure to mention them in your CV profile and throughout the rest of your application.
• Don’t add an objective: Avoid discussing your career goals in your CV profile – if you think they’re necessary, briefly mention them in your cover letter instead.
• Avoid cliches: Focus on fact, not fluff. Phrases like “Committed and enthusiastic thought-leader” and “Dynamic problem solver” might sound fancy, but they’ll do nothing for your application. Not only do they sound cheesy, but they have no substance – stick to real skills and facts

What to include in your Undergraduate CV profile?

• Summary of experience: To give employers an idea of your capabilities, show them your track record by giving an overview of the types of companies you have worked for in the past and the roles you have carried out for previous employers – but keep it high level and save the details for your experience section.
• Relevant skills: Highlight your skills which are most relevant to Undergraduate jobs, to ensure that recruiters see your most in-demand skills as soon as they open your CV.
• Essential qualifications: Be sure to outline your relevant Undergraduate qualifications, so that anyone reading the CV can instantly see you are qualified for the jobs you are applying to.

Quick tip: If spelling and grammar are not a strong point of yours, Use our quick-and-easy CV Builder to add pre-written content that has been created by recruitment experts, and proofread by our team.

Core skills section

In addition to your CV profile, your core skills section provides an easily digestible snapshot of your skills – perfect for grabbing the attention of busy hiring managers.

As Undergraduate jobs might receive a huge pile of applications, this is a great way to stand out and show off your suitability for the role.

It should be made up of 2-3 columns of bullet points and be made up of skills that are highly relevant to the jobs you are targeting.

Work experience/Career history

By now, you’ll have hooked the reader’s attention and need to show them how you apply your skills and knowledge in the workplace, to benefit your employers.

So, starting with your most recent role and working backwards to your older roles, create a thorough summary of your career history to date.

If you’ve held several roles and are struggling for space, cut down the descriptions for your oldest jobs.

Structuring your roles

Lengthy, unbroken chunks of text is a recruiters worst nightmare, but your work experience section can easily end up looking like that if you are not careful.

To avoid this, use my tried-and-tested 3-step structure, as illustrated below:

Start with a solid introduction to your role as a whole, in order to build some context.

Explain the nature of the organisation you worked for, the size of the team you were part of, who you reported to and what the overarching purpose of your job was.

Key responsibilities

Follow with a snappy list of bullet points, detailing your daily duties and responsibilities.

Tailor it to the role you’re applying for by mentioning how you put the target employer’s desired hard skills and knowledge to use in this role.

Key achievements

Lastly, add impact by highlight 1-3 key achievements  that you made within the role.

Struggling to think of an achievement? If it had a positive impact on your company, it counts.

For example, you might increased company profits, improved processes, or something simpler, such as going above and beyond to solve a customer’s problem.

In your education section, make any degrees, qualifications or training which are relevant to Undergraduate roles a focal point.

As well as mentioning the name of the organisation, qualification titles and dates of study, you should showcase any particularly relevant modules, assignments or projects.

Interests and hobbies

This section is entirely optional, so you’ll have to use your own judgement to figure out if it’s worth including.

If your hobbies and interests could make you appear more suitable for your dream job, then they are definitely worth adding.

Interests which are related to the industry, or hobbies like sports teams or volunteering, which display valuable transferable skills might be worth including.

Writing your Undergraduate CV

When putting together your Undergraduate CV, there are a few key points to remember

Always tailor your CV to the target role, even if it means creating several versions for different roles.

Additionally, remember that the structure and format of your CV needs just as much attention as the content.

Good luck with your job search!