resume examples college freshman

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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The Complete Guide to an Irresistible College Student Resume (Resume Examples Included)

• Martin Poduska , 
• Updated November 5, 2023 9 min read

Are you a college student looking for your first internship? Or perhaps a fresh graduate who’s about to apply for her first real job?

If so, then you’ve probably already tried to write your first resume — and became painfully aware of your lack of work experience.

Yet, even if you had a few moments when you felt useless (even the best soon-to-be graduates feel that way), you should remember that every person has skills and knowledge to show off.

The main challenge is discover and transcribe these skills and experiences into words in the right way.

In case of a college student resume, you can look to relevant courses or volunteering experiences. Or perhaps you were wise enough to do an internship during your studies.

In any case, we’ll show you how you can write a fantastic college student resume even if you’ve never worked a day in your life.

Table of Contents

Click on a section to skip

CHAPTER 1: Before You Start Writing

Chapter 2: how to write a great college student resume in 6 easy steps, 1. personal details, 2. professional summary / objective statement, 3. education summary, 4.  skills summary, 5. work history, 6. testimonials.

• Final tips to consider before you press "Send"

Like all things, a good resume starts with having the right mindset. The mindset you adopt during writing will reflect in the impression your resume will give off once it's finished.

Yet, the most important thing about writing powerful resumes might sound a bit counter-intuitive at first: Your resume shouldn’t be about you, it should be about the employer.

Instead, it needs to present you as a capable candidate who'll be an asset to the company you're approaching. Do you still have no idea how can you be an asset to a great company with your current skill level?

Why would anyone want to hire a fresh graduate?

There’s no reason to feel intimidated. Even if you have no experience under your belt, there are people out there who’ll be glad to employ you.

Still, you might be asking, why exactly would an employer want to hire someone who has next to no experience?

There are several reasons. Keep these things in mind and make sure at least some of them reflect in your resume.

• Quick learning and adaptability. You’re a blank canvas. Since it’s probably going to be your first work experience, your employer will be able to shape you role however they see fit within the business.
• Saving on employee salaries. As an entry level employee, you’re probably willing to work for significantly lower salary than seasoned professionals.
• Comfortable with new technology. Recent graduates have grown up around technology and have developed the ability to pick up new tools rapidly.
• Investing into someone who shows potential. Talented people are scarce and far in between. If you invest into someone who shows potential early, your investment will return later.
• Enthusiasm. Everyone is excited about their first job and will work their hardest in order to make a good impression. Graduates bring bounds of creative energy and are more competitive than employers later in their career.

6 Tips to Remember Before You Start Writing Your Resume

Managers are expected to solve hundreds of tiny problems every day. Making the decision as for whether to hire you or not is going to be one of those problems.

You want to help them solve it as painlessly as possible.

• Be relevant. A hiring manager wants to know whether you’re going to bring value to the company and be a good fit for their company culture. Your resume should give them a clear answer to that question. Asking the ‘so what’ question witch each bullet point will help you achieve that.
• Follow the 6 seconds rule. Most recruiters only spend about 6 seconds reading each resume. Make sure your strongest points immediately discernible to make a recruiter give your resume a second look.
• Pack your resume with keywords. Take a closer look at the job advertisement and scan it for a number of words that best describe the position. Include them in your resume. Incorporating keywords will help you get through these applicant tracking systems so your resume gets to a hiring manager.
• Avoid using buzzwords. Some phrases have been used so much in resumes they became meaningless. Avoid words such as “thinking outside the box”, “creative” or “problem solver.” For a more complete list, check this article .
• Use action verbs. While buzzwords are highly discouraged, there are some power words you might want to use. These include expressions such as “achieved”, “advised”, “delegated” and others. Check out this list  for more.
• Fit your resume on a single page. As a college student, you certainly don’t have enough experience to fill 2 pages.

The format of your resume will heavily depend on the information you have to work with. If you have a lot of of internship experience, you’ll want to highlight it just bellow your summary and education sections.

On the other hand, if you didn’t have any jobs related to your desired career, you can play up your education.

If the job requires technical skills like C# or Ruby, consider putting it just below the education section and right above your work experience.

In any case, always make your resume revolve around your greatest strengths and adjust its structure accordingly.

Looking for your first job?

Stand out from your peers with a cool resume.

You don’t have to fret too much about this section. It only becomes relevant once your resume catches an employer’s attention. For this reason, you also don’t want to give it too much space on the page.

Insert it into the header of your resume and follow these simple guidelines:

• Contact details. Put your name at the beginning of your resume. Don’t forget to include your email address and telephone number. Make sure your email address sounds professional. It’s nigh impossible to be taken seriously with an email address like [email protected].
• Address. If your address is close to the workplace you’re applying to, include it in your resume as it could be seen as a positive. This can be an address of your student accommodation , college, or home address. Just put the one that’s closest to the job. Usually, it’s enough to provide your city and state, e.g. Kent, Washington.
• Links to your online profiles. This includes your LinkedIn profile, personal website and/or your web portfolio. Don’t forget to customise your public LinkedIn URL so it looks something like this: “www.linkedin.com/in/yourname” (default version is pretty difficult to read or transcribe as it contains special characters and numbers). Just click the “Edit your public profile” button in the top-right corner of the page.
• Don’t include your photo. Be careful with this one! In some countries, including your photo is a common practice, in most others just an awkward faux pas . A great majority of experts agree that it’s better not to include a photo on your resume (and a college student resume is no different) unless you’re explicitly asked otherwise.

Example: Personal Details

YOUR NAME Email:  [email protected]  |  Phone:  +1-202-555-0157 LinkedIn:  linkedin.com/in/yourname  |  Portfolio:  behance.net/yourname

Your resume should never focus on what YOU want. On the contrary, it should tell a potential employer why THEY want to hire you. What’s the best way to do it?

Write a professional summary that clearly summarises the key qualifications you have to offer a potential employer. Also, don’t forget to include any relevant experiences or skill that can set you apart from other candidates.

Let’s say you worked your way through college financing your own education. This demonstrates your dedication and work ethic. Receiving a scholarship proves your academic excellence. Or perhaps you had a great internship experience. Take your time to pick those accomplishments that are closely related to the job you’re applying for. Most importantly, keep it short and relevant . Avoid anything vague.

Example: Professional Summary

• MA English graduate with five years of experience in academic and creative writing.
• Superior skill in communicating complex ideas in a clear and concise manner. 
• Achieved high academic honours while maintaining part-time employment.
• ICT background and closely familiar with SEO and the intricacies of writing for the web . 

As a fresh graduate or college student, you should put the education section above your work experiences . After all, your degree is probably still one of the strongest cards you can play at this point.

Therefore, every college student resume should list academic distinctions such as summa cum laude, scholars hips, honours such as dean’s list and other awards. Only list your GPA if it’s higher than 3.0 on a 4.0 scale . If your overall GPA is lower than that, mention your major GPA. Highlight your accomplishments and consider adding those of your courses that are related to the job you’re applying for. If you’re yet to graduate, include your graduation date.

Example: Education Summary

University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland BA in Business and Marketing, Expected Graduation June 2017

• Academic accomplishments: GPA 3.8 / 4.0, Dean’s list, Received second place in the university’s business plan competition
• Relevant coursework: Marketing Management, Survey Research, Strategic Internet Marketing, Integrated Marketing Communications, Marketing Analytics

Depending on the information you have to work with, it will be either the work experience or the skills section that will take up most space. If you’ve done several internships and have acquired some experience to speak of, you can simply follow regular resume guidelines .

Yet, the approach that most experts recommend in case of a college student resume is to focus on your skills . This is what they call a “functional resume.”

Read through the job description again and select skills that are crucial for the position. See how they overlap with your own skills and group your experience under each of the respective skills headings.

Notice that no company names or job titles are mentioned here. These will be listed in the work history section. However, don't hesitate to mention any class projects, volunteer work or extracurricular activities that demonstrate your ability and are related to your target job.

Example: Skills

Writing and Communication:

• Degree with an emphasis on clarity and structure in written and oral communication.
• Wrote blog posts, news features, technical documents and marketing copies. 
• Former editor-in-chief of the university newspaper.
• Experience writing business and grant proposals, pitch documents and advertising copy.
• Translated documents and interpreted conversations in Spanish, German and English.

Creative and Analytical Thinking

• Analysis of audience, purpose and style of documents. 
• Strategic choice of wording, tone, format and source of information.
• Ability to take fact-based materials and make them interesting.

Software and Social Media

• Knowledge of social media, blogging and digital marketing.
• Experience with Google Wave, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, WordPress and Blogspot. 
• Managed social media accounts with more than 30.000 followers in total.

In the end, employers want to see those dates and positions. Now that you’ve done most of the work in the previous section, all there’s left to do is to list your work experiences chronologically. Include dates, company names, and job positions.

Don’t forget to list your volunteering positions too. It might not be a paid work experience but it’s an experience nevertheless.

At the same time, volunteering looks insanely good on any college student resume. It speaks volumes about your character, work ethic, and social engagement.

Example: Work History

• Marketing Intern — Wayne Enterprises, Inc., Gotham City — Summer 2014
• Editorial Assistant — Daily Planet, Metropolis — Summer 2013
• Cleaning Officer — LexCorp, Metropolis — Dec 2012 –  Jun 2013
• Soup Kitchen Volunteer — Martha Wayne Foundation — 2010 – Present

Don’t be afraid to insert testimonials at the end of your college student resume. They say more about you than you could ever explain yourself. First, when you describe yourself, it can easily sound like bragging. Second, as a student, you have no authority yet. Let your mentors, supervisors, and professors do the bragging for you.

Witch each testimonial, include the person's name, title and position. If they only gave you a full-blown recommendation letter, extract 1-3 sentences and make sure you don’t take them out of context.

Example: Testimonials

• “Sally was always well organised and punctual with her work and her intelligence was evident. I hope you will consider giving her a place.” —  Professor John Doe, University of Gotham City
• “I have no hesitation in recommending Sally for the job. She is a very good student, a hard worker, and will, I am sure, be an asset to your company and team.” — Dr Suzanne Smith, University of Gotham City

Final tips to consider before you press "Send"

• Use off-peak hours for maximum attention , especially if you’re reaching out to an employer directly. Hiring managers are busy people and you want them to receive your resume when they have enough time to read through it.
• Always follow-up. If you receive no answer within several days after submitting your resume, don’t hesitate to send a follow-up email to remind the company of your application.
• Break some rules. Don’t be afraid to adjust the resume structure we’ve outlined above. Always think about how can your college student resume best communicate your strengths.
• Tailor your college student resume for every role. A generic resume will always miss the mark. It’s impossible to keep your resume relevant if you don’t consider particular demands of every job. Review the job description and modify your resume accordingly.
• Your formatting needs to be consistent. All typefaces should be the same and sizing should be consistent throughout a resume. The same applies to spacing and capitalising.
• Check your resume for typos. Having typos in your resume means an instant death for your application. It portrays you as careless and even incompetent for not using the spellcheck feature in your text editor.
• Attach a cover letter.  Your resume should never go unaccompanied. Write a short cover letter and insert it into the body of your email. If you don't know how to write one, check out our Complete Guide to Writing Powerful Cover Letters .

Give your learning a boost, explore our wide array of resume samples . Get inspired to create a resume that paves your way to a promising career.

Martin Poduska is a resume expert and career advice writer at Kickresume. He leads Kickresume’s team of writers and is the main person responsible for upholding the standards of expertise and quality on the blog. In addition to having written nearly 100 in-depth, painstakingly researched resume advice articles, as chief editor he has also edited and revised every single article on this blog. Tens of thousands of job seekers read Martin’s resume advice every month. Martin holds a degree in English from the University of St Andrews and a degree in Comparative Literature from the University of Amsterdam.

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How To Write A College Freshman Resume (With Examples)

• General Resume Examples
• Resume With No Experience
• Student Resume
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As a freshman college student, it’s likely that you don’t have much (or any) work experience in your field of choice. And while you may have had part-time work, you may not know how to describe this work along with other experiences in a way that shows off the full breadth of your ability.

Traditional resume tips and tricks can be helpful, but they are tailored towards those who have a slightly more established professional life. Most of your accomplishments are likely in the academic or extracurricular realm, or even in your personal projects and hobbies.

No matter what you’re applying for, you need a polished and well-thought-out resume to demonstrate your value as a candidate. This article will give you a basic rundown of what a freshman resume is, how you can create one of your very own, and an example resume that can help you get started.

Key Takeaways:

The sections of your resume should include:

Resume objective/summary

Education background and extracurriculars

Work experience

Relevant skills

To keep your resume to one page , write effective bullet points and keep them to two lines of text.

Make sure you proofread your resume for any spelling errors and grammar mistakes.

What Is a College Freshman Resume?

What to include in a college freshman resume, college freshman resume template and example, tips for writing a resume in college.

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A college freshman resume is a resume written by a first-year college student. As a college student, you’re only just beginning to figure out what it is you may want to do for the rest of your adult life. From your place in the career world to your own personal identity, there are a lot of things that you are working on gaining a clear vision for, especially as a college freshman.

In this transition between childhood and young adulthood, you are just beginning to gain experience, specialized skills, and an understanding of how to behave in the professional world. You don’t quite have the experience and know-how required for most industries yet, but you aren’t expected to either.

Resumes are crucial parts of so many different application processes. Reasons you may need a resume include:

Internships

Student Leadership positions

Scholarships

On-campus or part-time jobs

Typically, resumes only itemize adult, professional experiences. This means that high school (or prior ) information is left off. However, as a college freshman, many of your accomplishments may have taken place in high school, and it’s acceptable to include them. This is the key difference between a college freshman resume and a typical professional resume.

The following sections should be included in your resume as a college freshman:

Contact information. Your contact information is possibly the most crucial section on your resume, as it links all of the contents of the resume back to you as an individual. It should be the very first thing seen on your resume, in an easy to locate spot, and your name should be the largest piece of text.

You’ll want to include all of the following:

Your full name

Your address (on campus or at home, depending on what you are applying for)

Your phone number

Your email address

Your professional social media accounts (i.e., Linkedin )

Professional blog or portfolio if you have one

Resume objective/summary. Your resume objective or summary goes at the top of your layout. It gives a quick and compelling intro to the contents of your resume.

This section will be no more than 150 characters, and it will describe the goals you have for whatever you’re applying for, as well as your demonstrated skills and achievements that will help you meet these goals.

Education background. Your education section will likely be one of your most impressive sections as a college freshman, so feature it near the top. Lead with what you’re majoring in or your primary focus of study to help give your resume-readers a picture of the skills you’re working to build.

Under that, list the institution you’re attending and your expected date of graduation. Include any honors or awards you might have achieved in your academic career. To beef up your education and demonstrate your fit for a position, you could even list relevant coursework or classes.

Work experience. It’s quite likely and expected that you don’t have much (or any) professional experience in your field of choice. However, If you have any work experience at all, even if it doesn’t seem strictly relevant to the position, you should list it here.

Resume-readers of all types agree that one of the most important aspects of a resume is determining someone’s work ethic. If you’ve held a part-time or summer job or engaged in an internship during your schooling, that’s no small feat. Listing these jobs shows that you are hardworking and have begun developing your professional tool kit.

List your work experiences in reverse chronological order, meaning the most recent will be first and the earliest will be last. Each entry should contain the following:

The title of your position

The period you worked there

The name of the organization

Key qualifications and responsibilities

Your most significant achievements in this position, in 2-5 bullet points

Relevant skills. This section will be used to highlight and name what you are good at. You can include hard skills – anything that requires teaching or training to learn, such as HTML coding – and soft skills – anything that comes naturally to you or is a part of your personality, such as interpersonal communication .

While soft skills are incredibly important in action, their subjectivity makes it hard to “prove” you actually possess them. Hard skills or technical skills are more concrete, so they tend to hold a bit more water on resumes.

Extracurricular activities. As a college freshman, it’s likely that a lot of your big achievements, valuable experiences, and learning moments have come from your extracurricular experiences. This could be sports, clubs, associations, theater, student government, etc.

Typically, these are left off of resumes (outside of exceptional circumstances), but for a college freshman, they can be a great demonstration of your personality and capabilities. List only significant experiences or extracurriculars you were involved with for an extended period of time.

Optional sections. There are some other options for appropriate sections you can include on your resume. You could even combine multiple sections from this category with each other or with your extracurriculars (just make sure to be clear).

Be sure that any information you include on your resume is both relevant and valuable to the specific position you’re applying for. Some optional sections you can think about incorporating include:

Hobbies and interests

Awards and honors

Volunteer work

Language proficiencies

Resume Template:

First Name Last Name [email protected] | (555)-555-5555 | City, State | linkedin.com/firstnamelastname (optional) RESUME SUMMARY Freshman university student majoring in [major] seeking to use skills in [hard skill] to excel in a [job title] role. A [soft skill] individual hoping to contribute to [company name]’s broader goals of [company’s publically-stated goals]. EDUCATION [Name of Major] | [X.X] GPA (only if over 3.0) [Name of College/University] | [City, State] Expected Graduation Year: 202X [Honors/Awards] [Relevant Coursework/Extracurriculars] [Name of High School] | [X.X] GPA (only if over 3.0) [City, State] Graduation Year: 20XX [Honors/Awards] [Relevant Extracurriculars] RELEVANT EXPERIENCE [Most Recent Job Title] | [Start Date] – [End Date] (Month, Year or MM/YYY) [Organization Name] | [City, State] [Impressive accomplishment] [Quantifiable experience] [Use present tense if still working this job] [Previous Job Title] | [Start Date] – [End Date] (Month, Year or MM/YYY) [Organization Name] | [City, State] [Use past tense verbs to start each sentence] [Strong action verbs work best] [Use numbers when possible] EXTRACURRICULARS [Brief 1-2 line description of your involvement with a relevant extracurricular activity] [Don’t include the same item twice; if you listed an extracurricular in your education section, don’t add more here] RELEVANT SKILLS [Hard skill 1] (Be specific with names of software/tools you’re skilled with) [Hard skill 2] [Hard skill 3] [Hard skill 4] [Soft skill 1] (Make sure soft skills are reflected in your experience, education, and summary/obective also) [Soft skill 2]

Resume Example:

Here’s an example of a college freshman resume utilizing all of the above tips. You can compare this example against your own during your resume-writing process:

Malia Davis Phone: 608-281-4823 |Email: [email protected] | Linkedin: Linkedin.com/in/maliabdavis | Website: maliadaviswork.com OBJECTIVE Digital Marketing and Communications student with academic experience in social media content creation. Looking to utilize writing, marketing, and design skills to increase customer engagement with Pinecone Ltd.’s social media accounts. EDUCATION Digital Marketing and Communications Major, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 2020 – 2024 (expected graduation year) Relevant Coursework : intro to social media marketing, intermediate social media marketing, understanding algorithms, intro to graphic design Extracurriculars: Member of OSU writing group that meets weekly to practice and hone writing skills. Member of Marketing and Communications Fraternity, collaborating on monthly volunteer marketing projects Grand Rapids Montessori High, Grand Rapids, Michigan Graduation Date: 2020 GPA: 4.0 WORK EXPERIENCE Marketing Intern Lovepups Rescue Center , Wyoming , Michigan 2020-05 – 2020-08 Collaborated on a variety of marketing materials for print and web. Wrote and designed pamphlets and flyers independently to increase community awareness Organized digital marketing files Increased Lovepups membership rates by 20% Server/Team Member Starlight Cafe , Grand Rapids, Michigan 2018-06 – 2019-09 Managed customer orders in-person and via phone Balanced cleaning and customer service duties to ensure the best customer experience Influenced customers through promoting new items and special deals SKILLS Good knowledge of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram algorithms and content strategies Intermediate HTML and CSS coding Academic and professional writing Adobe Photoshop Great teamwork and collaboration skills Spanish language fluency Project leadership AWARDS AND HONORS Top 2% of graduating class of 100 at Grand Rapids Montessori High Achieved GRMH perfect attendance award for four consecutive years Earned Linda Everly Honors Scholarship, a competitive OSU scholarship for outstanding academic achievement

Here are three crucial tips for writing a great resume as a college freshman:

Strategically decide on sections. Before you even begin creating your resume, sit down, and have a huge brainstorming session about anything and everything you could possibly include. After you make your mega-list, go through and circle the things you think would be the most helpful to include.

Write effective bullet points. Within each section, consolidate the details and descriptive information into bullet points. When writing your bullet points, always keep in mind the words used in the job description (or in the description of whatever you’re applying for) and try to incorporate them.

Write in a concise, functional way focused on packing as much information into as few words as possible. Avoid using the first-person over and over again to describe your experiences, and just start directly with the verb (action word) that describes what you did. Use vivid, colorful verbs to amp up the power.

Use the right format. Your resume design and layout can help give resume-readers a better look at who you are and how you choose to present yourself. Pick colors and structures that speak to you and that you feel are best for the task at hand. However, there are some rules you should generally stick by.

Proofread your resume. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is not reading over your resume before submitting it. It looks unprofessional if you send in a resume that has spelling and grammar mistakes.

Take a few extra minutes and make sure all the dates are correct and you aren’t missing anything. You can even have a friend or a professor look over it to catch anything you might have missed. This step could make the difference between you getting a job or internship and not getting it.

Stick to one page. A resume should only be one page . Employers don’t have much time to read over your resume so keeping it to one page and sticking with all the relevant information is important.

Get help if you need it. Don’t be afraid to go to your professor or the career services center if you need help on your resume. That’s what they are there for. The career center will be able to help give you a starting point and help you organize your resume for potential employers.

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Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.

Don Pippin is an executive and HR leader for Fortune 50 and 500 companies and startups. In 2008, Don launched area|Talent with a focus on helping clients identify their brand. As a Certified Professional Resume Writer, Certified Digital Career Strategist, and Certified Personal Branding Strategist, Don guides clients through career transitions.

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College Freshman: Templates, Examples, & Essential Skills

We’re proud of you.

You’ve worked hard and you managed to achieve a place at university .

Not only that, you’re looking at how to make a resume as a college freshman .

That already sets you apart from the pack.

While lots of freshmen spend their first year of college focusing only on friends, partying, and school, you’ve decided to already plan for your future and look for an internship or work placement.

This is a great way to get a head start on your after-college career, and there’s no better way to start this search than with a professional freshman resume .

What Is a College Freshman Resume Template?

A college freshman template is a simple style of resume design for first-year college students. You can use this document to apply for in-industry work experiences and internships.

These resume templates make it much easier to play to your strengths as a freshman and adapt your profile to fit your experience level.

What Is Unique About a Freshman Template?

The biggest difference between a freshman template and a typical design is that it is more focused on other areas , rather than work experience. It’s normal that in your first year of college, you won’t yet have much of that.

Adapting to your lack of career history is key in this scenario. The freshman resume template can help you bring out other important traits that make you qualified for a competitive internship role.

This is done by focusing more on career goals , transferable skills, and your educational history in comparison to other kinds of resumes.

Why to Use a College Freshman Resume Template

When you’re just starting out in college, looking for internships and other professional placements can feel alien. As a college freshman, it can be hard to know how to find a position with little-to-no real work experience.

A college freshman template will solve this issue for you. No one is expecting you to be a career professional in your freshman year but you still need to show why you’re right for a position.

Not only that but a freshman template can demonstrate how you will adapt well to your chosen sector or position. It will do this by emphasizing important career skills needed in the role.

Who Should Use a Freshman Resume Format?

Getting a college freshman resume right involves a few different steps . In the following sections, we explain what these are in more detail.

Sections to Include in Your Template

Getting the structure right is critical to ensure your freshman resume is successful. First of all, you must add a number of necessary sections, which in clude:

• Contact Details
• Career Objective Statement
• Works Experience

However, to show everything you’re capable of, you will need to add a bit more than just the essentials. Use any scholastic or personal achievements to your advantage and relate these to the position with the following optional sections:

• Achievements
• Honors and Awards
• Clubs and Societies
• Volunteering
• Hobbies and Interests

How to Write a Freshman Student Resume

When you write a freshman or a student resume your main focus should be highlighting your potential rather than past experience. This will mean promoting your education and skills more than you would normally.

However, your second focus needs to be on making everything easily readable for the recruiter. Keeping your resume concise is key, so avoid long sentences at all costs and keep focused on highlighting your achievements.

You should break everything up into bullet points to do this. When detailing the work experience you’ve done, each point should be about a sentence in length and must focus on a key achievement, skill, or duty you’ve managed.

As always, what you include should be relevant to the position you’re chasing. This is especially important in your 2-3 sentence summary at the top of the page.

In the case of your freshman template, this summary will focus more on your career goals than explaining what you’ve done so far. Explain why your aims match the company’s and back it up with any evidence you can add to show you’re serious about these goals.

How to Format a Student Resume Template

As mentioned, one of the most important features your resume must have is to be easy to read . Imagine that you’re a recruiter having to read hundreds of new resumes every day, would you be happy to receive a complicated and unintelligible resume?

Probably not. So let’s make sure your resume is a smoother read than that last homework paper you procrastinated on.

The formatting can help you do this and our resume builder can help you get this right.

Not only do you need to keep the text short but you’ll need to use visual tricks to get the best results. This includes using the following:

• A little neutral color
• Clear and easy to read fonts
• Consistently sized text
• Correct margin spacing
• PDF and .TXT file formats

Where Can I Get a Freshman Resume Template?

ResumeGiants is here to help you prepare your very first freshman template . Our resume builder tools will give you all the support you need to create an accomplished and effective document.

Unlike many other “free” resume builders, we don’t charge extra for any premium features and we provide you with all the necessary tools to create a successful resume.

Prepare your college freshman resume using professionally designed templates, easy-to-follow instructions, and expert guidance.

What Are the Advantages of ResumeGiant’s Resume Builder?

The resume builder we provide is an all-in-one tool and is free to use . It will help you every step of the way towards a smart and successful resume. It will also save you time so that you can get back to all the great things that college has to offer.

The main benefits of our service include:

Step-by-step resume building instructions

ATS optimized modern templates

Pre-written options you can add to your layout

Access from any PC or mobile device

A modular template design to make editing easier

It’s free to use!

Try our free resume builder now

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5 College Student Internship Resume Examples for 2024

College Student for Internship Resume

• College Student for Internship 2
• College Student for Internship 3
• College Student for Internship 4
• College Student for Internship 5
• Resume Writing 101

Taking a deep breath after seeing the perfect-looking web developer job ad, Dahlia Mathers pulled up her old resume. Having built some solid IT experience debugging software and troubleshooting networks, she was ready to make her next career move with a web developer internship . . . as soon as she celebrated her impending graduation in computer science, that is!

But her college student internship resume needed an update: Dahlia wanted a layout that aligned with Coursera’s vibe to show her enthusiasm for an internship there. Plus, she learned that writing an effective cover letter could be the touch her application needed.

Now, after referencing our time-tested resume examples , Dahlia is sporting a post-interview smile with her new start date! If you’re seeking your own college student internship, we’re confident our resume layouts and cover letter examples can help you, too.

or download as PDF

College Student for Internship 2 Resume

College Student for Internship 3 Resume

College Student for Internship 4 Resume

College Student for Internship 5 Resume

Related resume examples

• College Student No Experience
• Current College Student
• College Graduate
• Grad School
• College Student

What Matters Most: Your Skills & Experience Sections

While the types of skills you include will directly depend on which type of internship you’re applying for, balance and clarity are always helpful! Recruiters want to see that you have what it takes—plus a little something extra that sets you apart.

If you’re going for a more technical role (like just about anything within the realm of computer science), it’s especially important for you to be precise about your hard skills. That means each list item should be both professionally relevant and specific.

So, avoid generic skills or terms that could apply to just any field, and focus on honing your presentation to show more in-depth abilities that specifically qualify you for that internship. Don’t pitch your cooking skills for an IT internship!

Check these out:

9 top college student internship skills

• RESTful APIs
• Algorithm Design

Sample college student internship work experience bullet points

Some applicants get a bit uncertain about this part, so let’s go over a few ways you can show recruiters how you’ve put your skills into action.

Plenty of people already have some job experience that’s at least somewhat relevant to the internship they’re hoping for. List it if you have it! It isn’t “backwards” to go from a job to an internship if you’ve just graduated or decided to switch to a more specialized field.

Use any previous teen jobs , other internships, or even volunteer projects that relate to your career goals and demonstrate your abilities. And always measure your impact! You need quantifiable data like time measurements or budget savings to back up your achievements and prove that you’ve already made a difference.

Here are some examples:

• Performed bug fixes by utilizing JavaScript proficiency to reduce glitches by 11%
• Updated software on computers and performed basic maintenance on office devices to save $12.3K+ in repair costs
• Streamlined work flow by implementing a ticketing system and grouping similar issues together, reducing time to complete inbound requests by 3 days
• Build a scraper in Python to structure data on thousand of publications, using the Natural Language Toolkit library to improve abstract searches for research publications by 14%

Top 5 Tips For Your College Student Internship Resume

• Since you’re applying for an internship, it can be especially helpful to include other relevant courses within or alongside your degree in your education section. Don’t forget any independent classes you’ve taken—especially if they lead right up to your internship!
• Keep your skills list tidy and organized by arranging your skills in groups. So, if you’re applying for a software-related internship: List Python-related skills together, name JavaScript tools in succession, and so on.
• If applicable, make sure you’re upfront about your graduation date on your internship application. You don’t want to confuse recruiters—or wind up biting off more than you can chew to avoid passing up an opportunity for much-needed internship experience!
• Some people really can’t resist including a bold color or two on their resumes, but you really want to keep this to a minimum. Stick with just one color, use it sparingly, and ensure that everything is still highly readable. Show recruiters that you’re already professional and polished for your internship!
• When you pick your resume template , go for one that puts your greatest accomplishments front and center. But don’t be afraid to leave a little breathing room, too—it’s better than your resume looking crowded or filler-heavy. When you’re applying for an internship, you want all emphasis to rest on your qualifications.

Yep, and it’s easier than you might think! Refer to the internship description for phrases and keywords that stand out as good examples of team culture. Reflect these in your resume with a few tweaks to your wording or skill choices to show how you’re already the ideal intern.

Keep it to just one page, and don’t feel pressured to fill the page. Just stick with your highest achievements from college and your most impactful qualifications. Remember, if you’ve got the itch to say more, say it in your internship cover letter .

Just like your color usage, your font choices should be understated. Think “clean, modern, and readable.” Recruiters can only spend a few seconds skimming your college internship resume, so make it easy for them to see the good stuff at a glance!

• We’ll show you how, step-by-step • Real, practical tips and tools • 100% free