Best Resume Format for Freshers

For many freshers, the biggest hurdle of their corporate journey is crafting a resume and customising that for different job postings. Also, many freshers take it as an opportunity to show creativity. You have to remember that everyone has a starting point; you are only required to start the race.

Key Elements of a Freshers Resume

• Contact Information: Mobile number, email address, and LinkedIn profile URL.

• Objective Statement: An objective section of the fresher resume gives an overview of the career goals.

• Education: Listing all the education qualifications.

• Skills Section: Listing your hard skills and soft skills.

• Projects and Internships: Academic projects, community service projects, or social projects show your willingness to perform for the company. Also, internship experiences can be a substitute for job experience to include in a resume for freshers.

Making a resume for freshers is all about presenting yourself in the best way possible, regardless of what you have done or don't have any experience. Still you can pass a resume shortlisting software with proper planning and execution.

Freshers should optimize every section of their resume with relevant keywords and content. There are many mistakes that can be avoided if you have a proper understanding of a resume for freshers with no experience. Let's see some resume examples for freshers: 

Personal Information

Placed at the top of a freshers resume, this section gives all the personal information of a candidate. Ensure that this section is up-to-date, as recruiters will use these details to contact you in future. 

Right Way:	Wrong Way:
Arun Singh, aruns@email.com, +91 9856784567, New Delhi-10097	A Singh., arun_singh@email.com, 9856784567, New delhi-97

Objective or Summary

An objective is a statement telling about the goals and aims of a freshers resume. whereas a summary is a paragraph that defines career objectives, skills, hobbies, and experiences. 

Right Way:	Wrong Way:
A motivated software developer engineer seeking a role to leverage my coding skills.	Looking for any job in a big firm.

Work Experience: Internships or Freelance work

As you are a fresher who may not have any relevant experience. So instead of making a work experience section, you should go for a separate section showing internships or any freelance work. Also, keep in mind that you have to use action-oriented language.

Right Way:	Wrong
Marketing Intern, ABC Company, May 2023 – August 2023: Conducted market research that led to a 15% increase in customer engagement.	Marketing Internship, XYZ Corp, 2018: Did a lot of work in marketing.

Education

Generally, what freshers do is write their educational qualifications in a table format, which is not ATS-friendly. Because of this mistake, they are rejected by the resume shortlisting software.

Example:

Right Way:	Wrong Way:
B.A. in Business, University of ABC, Graduated May 2020	Degree in Business from ABC University

Skills

Go through the job description and identify which skills are required by the hiring manager. Then make a list of the most relevant skills and add them to your resume.

Right Way:	Wrong Way:
Microsoft Office, Data Analysis, Communication	Computer skills, good at talking

Certifications and Achievements 

As a fresher, certificates, and achievements have very high value in the resume for freshers. So mention the courses, seminars, or winnings to secure the best job opportunities in India.

Right Way:	Wrong Way:
Certified Digital Marketer, Google Analytics Certification	Got awards for doing well in work

If you follow the above structure of a fresher resume, you can create a CV that stands out in the competition.

Step 1: Choose the Right Format of Resume for Freshers

The 1st step to make a resume for freshers is choosing the relevant format based on the skills, experience, and essential requirements by the recruiters. If you are having limited corporate experience, a functional or combination format works best. Chronological resume format for freshers is ideal when you have a certain level of experience in the field. 

Step 2: Tailor Your Resume

Customising a fresher resume for every job posting is essential because it matches the application with the job requirements. Hiring managers want candidates who possess the necessary skills for resume for freshers and also a little experience that aligns with the job requirements. 

Tip: You can identify resume keywords from the job description and incorporate them into your resume for each application. Also adjust your skills and experiences to match the requirements.

Example: For a Digital marketing role, highlight skills like SEO, Marketing Strategies, Consumer behaviour analysis, or Branding. 

Step 3: Highlight Relevant Skills and Experiences 

Mention skills that are most demanded by the industry and are relevant to the job description. Even if you don't have any experience, you can still focus on other things like academics, ECA, internship experiences, certificate courses, or freelance projects. 

Tip: Divide skills based on common headers such as tech skills, soft skills, hard skills, etc., because this improves the readability of a fresher resume.

Example:

• Technical Skills: Python, HTML, JavaScript

• Soft Skills: Problem-solving, Communication, Teamwork

• Industry-Specific Skills: Agile Methodologies, Version Control (Git), SQL

Step 4: Use Action-Oriented Bullets 

When making a resume for freshers, focus on bullet points starting from an action verb because this makes them dynamic and engaging. This step helps you in making your fast job search effective and passing the resume shortlisting software. 

Tip: Use action verbs to show how you created an impact through your skills and what the outcome was. 

Example:

• "Managed a team of 5 for a community project"

• "Developed a website using HTML and CSS"

• "Led a marketing campaign that increased social media engagement by 20%"

Including relevant keywords from job descriptions: It helps your resume to pass through the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) that companies use for shortlisting resumes. These softwares scan resumes and match them with the job description to assign a rank. 

Tip: For a fresher, simple resume format, you can use your resume keywords tool because it scans your resume and job description to give the most relevant keywords. 

Tools and Strategies for Finding the Right Keywords:
To find the most relevant keywords, you can use tools like Job Description Keyword Finder. These tools analyse the job postings and suggest the right keywords to place in your resume. 

Creating a Professional Summary: A professional resume summary creates the first impressions for a recruiter while using a free online resume review tool. A professional resume summary is a great way to capture the attention of the hiring managers. 

When to Use or Not Use a Professional Resume Summary?

Only use a professional resume summary when you have relevant experience in internships, project work, volunteering experiences, or certifications. Freshers without any experience are not recommended for a professional resume summary.

Nowadays candidates struggle while choosing a format to follow when making a resume for freshers. Selecting the correct format, customizing for various roles, highlighting skills and experiences are some efficient ways to craft a resume for freshers. 

One last tip for improving your chances of landing interviews as a fresher is to always proofread the resume and check through an ATS resume checker. Because it helps you know the ATS score of a resume for freshers. If you are not familiar with resume score checking software, you can use our ResuScan tool that scans your resume and gives an ATS score based on predetermined algorithms.