How to Write a Recent Graduate Resume
Moving from student to professional means changing how you present yourself. Here is how to turn your degree, internships and projects into a resume for your first full-time role.
As a recent graduate, you compete with other people who have similar degrees. The difference is in the detail: what you did in internships, the projects you led, the skills you developed and the results you achieved. A graduate resume should read like a professional resume, just with more emphasis on education and projects.
Education first or experience first?
Put education first if…
- Your degree is your strongest qualification
- You graduated in the last year
- Your internships are unrelated to the target job
- The job requires a specific degree
Put experience first if…
- You have one or more relevant internships
- You worked in the field during your studies
- You are applying to roles that value practical experience
Recommended structure
- Contact details, with a LinkedIn profile and portfolio link if relevant
- Short professional summary focused on your target role
- Education (or experience, see above)
- Internships and relevant experience
- Projects, capstone or thesis
- Skills
- Certifications, awards, languages or leadership
Present internships like real jobs
Internships are professional experience. Give each one a title, employer, dates and two to four achievement bullets. Focus on what you produced and who used it.
- MarketingWrote 12 blog posts for a B2B software company, 3 of which became top-10 traffic pages for the quarter.
- FinanceBuilt an Excel model to compare supplier pricing, used by the procurement team to renegotiate 2 contracts.
- EngineeringTested and documented 40 circuit board components, reducing rework for the hardware team.
- HealthcareCompleted 600 clinical hours across medical-surgical, pediatric and emergency rotations.
Use projects to fill gaps
If you have limited work experience, a strong project section helps. Include your capstone, thesis, significant class projects, hackathons, competitions or personal projects. Describe the problem, what you did and the outcome.
Capstone: Campus Mental Health Awareness Campaign
Planned and ran a 6-week campaign for the university counseling center that increased appointment requests by 14%.
What to remove from your student resume
- High school details and achievements
- Most general coursework. Keep only a few highly relevant courses, or none if you have internships
- Club memberships without a role or accomplishment
- A low GPA (below 3.0), unless the employer asks for it
Write a professional summary
Swap your student objective for a short summary that names your degree, your most relevant experience and your target role. See the graduate examples in resume summary examples.
Next steps
- Tailor your resume for each type of role you apply for
- Write a short cover letter that explains why you want this job. See the cover letter guide
- Update your LinkedIn profile to match your resume
- Ask your university career center to review your resume
The Student template puts education, projects and skills first.
Use the Student TemplateFrequently asked questions
How long should a recent graduate resume be?
One page.
Should I include part-time jobs from college?
Yes, especially if you have few internships. They show reliability and transferable skills.
How long can I call myself a recent graduate?
Usually up to about two years after graduation, or until you have a year or more of full-time experience in your field.
Build a resume that represents your best work
Create your resume in minutes with ATS-friendly templates. No signup required, and your resume stays on your device.