Early career

Recent Graduate resume example

With little paid experience, build the page on projects, coursework outcomes and part-time work, honestly.

Below: what to put in the summary, six sample bullets with numbers, the skills worth listing, and the mistakes that show up most. The sample resume is a fictional person.

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Sample recent graduate resume for Jordan Ellis, a fictional person, in the Campus layout. The names, employers and numbers are invented.

What to put in the summary

Name the degree, the direction you want and one or two proof points such as a project, internship or leadership role. Do not pretend to have experience you do not have. A confident, specific two-line summary beats a long objective.

Recent computer science graduate looking for an entry-level software role. Built and deployed a scheduling app used by 120 students, and completed a 10-week internship fixing bugs in a production codebase.

Example summary, written for a fictional recent graduate.

Sample bullets with numbers

Use any real number: users, teammates, hours, grade changes. Part-time jobs count; they show reliability.

  • Interned for 10 weeks on a three-person team, fixing 22 bugs in a production codebase and closing 9 of them in the first month.
  • Added a CSV export that the support team had asked for, removing about 15 manual data requests a month.
  • Wrote regression tests for each fix; the tests caught two repeat failures before the next release.
  • Presented the work to the engineering team and documented the export for the support handbook.
  • Worked 15 hours a week at the campus library while studying full time, keeping a 3.6 GPA and training five new student assistants.
  • Tutored 12 first-year students in programming fundamentals; 10 improved their grade by a letter or more.

These numbers are invented to show the shape of a good bullet. Use your own, and leave a number out rather than guess.

Key skills to list

  • Python
  • JavaScript and React
  • SQL
  • Git
  • Testing basics
  • Problem solving
  • Teamwork
  • Technical writing
  • Public speaking
  • Time management

List the skills you can demonstrate with a project. Leave out anything you cannot discuss for five minutes.

Common mistakes

  1. Putting education first and then leaving everything else blank.
  2. Padding with unrelated activities.
  3. Listing a GPA below 3.0, or mentioning it only if asked.
  4. Writing a vague objective like “seeking a challenging role”.

A layout that suits this resume

Starter is built for a first resume: it gives education, projects and part-time work room without padding or fake experience. See the Campus template, or compare all 22 layouts.

Recent Graduate resume questions

Should I include my GPA?

Include it if it is 3.5 or above or the employer asks. Otherwise leave it off; it is not required.

What if I have no internships?

Use projects, coursework with deliverables, volunteering, and part-time jobs. Describe what you built or improved and for how many people.

Related resume examples

Write your recent graduate resume

Start from this layout, swap the sample facts for yours, and check the result against the job post before you download.

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