Your life has begun! It’s exciting, but employers don’t care about your schooling. Show them you’re more than just another sheepskin with this recent college graduate resume example.
Congratulations. You earned your diploma.
Bad news :that and $4 will buy you a latte.
To get a job, you need experience. But you can’t get experience without a job, so you’re stuck in a vicious circle.
Or… are you?
Even if you haven’t worked while at college, you’ve still got tons of experience and skills that you can put on your new grad resume.
You just need to know to structure your college graduate resume the right way.
In this guide:
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A college graduate resume is a document that presents your education, extracurricular activities, and skills. The college graduate resume should be short, to the point, and tailored to the job. Make sure to highlight any relevant work experience or internship as doing so will make you stand out from the crowd.
Sherry Dantas
Programmer
Personal Info
Phone: 218-395-4287
Email: sherryzdantas@gmail.com
Portfolio: www.sherrydantas.com
linkedin.com/in/sherryzdantas
twitter.com/sherryzdantas
Summary
Prolific programmer skilled in Python and Java. Seeking to exceed coding KPIs at Procore. Created data analytics app that tracks 10,000 sensors. Developed scalable business management app with MySQL database. 2nd place contestant, TopCoder contest intermediate division.
Education
BS Computer Science, Augsburg University
2015–2019
GPA 3.8
Data Science and Analytics
Machine Learning
Cloud Computing
Game Development & Design
Projects
2015–2109
Portfolio Website
SherryDantas.com
Award
2018—2nd Place, TopCoder Intermediate Division
Additional Activities
Publications
Hard Skills: Java, Python, C, PHP, app design, testing, debugging
Soft Skills: Teamwork, critical thinking, communication, problem solving
This resume is so impressive that we bet you didn’t notice that Sherry doesn’t have any in-house work experience! That’s right, she’s never been employed as a programmer.
Here’s how to make your new grad resume just as awesome.
Don’t blow it.
If you don’t look the part, they won’t hire you.
That’s why resume formatting makes a difference.
Your safest bet is to go with a slightly tweaked version of the reverse-chronological resume format.
A typical reverse-chronological resume starts with a candidate’s work experience, followed by their education and then their skills, certifications, and so on. In your case, start with the education section and put your experience after it.
Then build it out like this:
Expert Hint: More than 35% of recent college graduates work in low-paid jobs that don’t need degrees. To avoid that group, start a robust networking effort now.
You’re not a clone. But—
You’d never know it once you’re buried in a stack of college graduate resumes.
Worse, you’re up against people with years of experience.
You’ve got to show your value fast.
Do it with a solid resume objective (avoid writing a resume summary unless you already have some work experience under your belt).
That’s a brief paragraph with a couple greatest hits.
Use:
Here’s a tip—
Skip the resume objective for now and complete the other sections of your resume first. You’ll thank us later
Take a look at these college graduate resume examples and see what resume objectives look like in action:
See the difference?
Both of those list app development and MySQL. But—
The first one adds created app that tracks 10,000 sensors and developed scalable MySQL database.
That’s the difference between saying you can do something and showing you have done it.
Expert Hint: College graduates earn 38% more than high school graduates. But to make college pay for itself, show what you did in school. That’s next.
You’re in the top 36%.
That’s how many in your age bracket have college degrees.
But there’s a catch.
If you just list education, you’ll look sophomoric.
So—
Make your resume education section count.
See this recent graduate resume sample:
Education
BS Computer Science, Augsburg University
2015–2109
GPA 3.8
Data Science and Analytics
Machine Learning
Cloud Computing
Game Development & Design
That’s Good Will-Hunting-level.
You showed school projects with skills that matter to employers.
You can stretch out your recent college graduate resume education section into skills, classes, and projects like that, especially if you’re a graduate with no experience. As you progress in your career and gain more professional achievements, your education section will grow shorter and shorter until all that remains is just a brief mention of your latest degree.
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What skills go in a recent college graduate resume?
Here’s a list of the ones employers like:
The skills on this list are called soft skills or transferable skills. You can put these skills on your college graduate resume when applying for almost any job.
But most jobs need other skills, too—for example, no one’s going to hire a programmer who doesn’t list programming skills on their resume!
So… which technical skills should you put on your resume?
That depends on the job ad. Read it, find the skills they want, and show how you’ve moved mountains with them.
That’s called targeting your resume.
But—
Don’t put too many skills for a resume for college graduates. That looks suspiciously like lying.
Look at these recent college graduate resume samples:
Say the job wants these skills: C, MySQL, Android Studio, collaboration, Java, sales, and problem solving.
To prove these skills, you can create resume sections named Projects and Experience and show how you’ve used your skills in practice.
Projects
2015–2019
Professional Experience
Video Kayaker
North American River Runners
2017–2019
For contrast, here’s a bad college graduate resume example:
Professional Experience
Video Kayaker
North American River Runners
2017–2019
Big difference.
The second of those college graduate resume examples lacks C, Android Studio, and all the other skills the job requires.
Unless the programming job also requires kayaking skills (for whatever reason), this candidate isn’t going to get far.
To impress employers, first impress yourself.
Look back on your past. What have you achieved? What skills have you already used?
Add those things in a few “extra” resume sections.
Try a couple of the following:
These sample college graduate resumes show how:
Portfolio Website
SherryDantas.com
Award
2018—2nd Place, TopCoder Intermediate Division
Additional Activities
Publications
Additional Activities
Answer this:
Which of those college graduate resume examples would convince you?
The first one works because it lists accomplishments that are highly relevant to the job.
Expert Hint: Don’t forget to write a recent graduate cover letter with your resume. To wow recruiters, describe your passion for the company, and why you want to help.
Haven't written your cover letter yet? See:
Double your impact with a matching resume and cover letter combo. Use our cover letter generator and make your application documents pop out.
Want to try a different look? There's 21 more. A single click will give your document a total makeover. Pick a cover letter template here.
How to write a recent graduate resume:
Got questions on how to write a great college graduate resume? Having trouble getting a response to your recent graduate resume? Leave a comment. We’ll be happy to reply!
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Having published over 200 career-advice articles, Tom Gerencer is a career expert who covers the whole array of job-seeking topics for people at all career stages, from interns to C-suite members. His insights, commentary, and articles reach over a million readers every month. With inside knowledge of key industry players and in-depth research, Tom helps job seekers with advice across all professions and career stages. Tom holds a degree in English from Colby College.
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