how to write a resume 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

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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.
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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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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