How to Write a Successful College Student Resume

Graduating college and entering the workforce is a huge step in life! You’re venturing out into a  brave new world full of dreams and ambitions with a fresh diploma in hand, ready to take on challenges and change the world as you know it.

Your dreams deserve the support a great resume can provide. College student resumes can be tricky, however. Many students just don’t have extensive experience yet in their desired field or industry…and that’s OK. But it doesn’t mean you can’t put together an outstanding resume to showcase your skills and relevant experience.

Let’s dive into how you can create a great college student resume.

Key Components of a Great College Student Resume

Every great college student resume is made up of these key components. These contain the critical information recruiters and hiring managers need to get to know you via your resume.

1. Contact Information

This one is pretty self-explanatory and obvious, but making sure your contact information is accurate and free of any typos is literally the difference between getting an interview or not. Believe it or not, it’s very easy to misspell an email address or accidentally jumble the last two digits of your phone number when you’re rushing to be one of the first applicants to apply to your dream job. Take a minute to double-check this key information. Here are a few things to include:

• Full name
• Email address
• Phone number
• LinkedIn profile

Pro tip: Use a professional email address. [email protected] is fine, for example, but not [email protected] or [email protected]. If you don’t have one, take a few minutes and create a professional email for your resume inquiries.

If applying for local positions, consider including your mailing address as well, to show you are local. If not, leaving it off is totally fine.

Bonus tip: If you aren’t on LinkedIn, consider making a profile and adding a few connections. Nothing shows that you are a professional ready for hire than speaking the social language of the business world.

2. Summary or Objective Statement

This is your chance to say what you’re all about and what you want to accomplish in your career. But keep it relatively short – the best college student resumes are skimmable and easy to interpret. Two or three sentences should be enough here. Check out this example:

Motivated college graduate in Business Administration with strong leadership and people skills. Systems thinker who is passionate about people. Seeking an opportunity to apply what I’ve learned and gain real-world experience.

3. Education

It’s important to detail your education on an entry-level resume, or if you haven’t graduated quite yet, include your future graduation date:

• College/university name
• Degree program (major and minor, if applicable)
• Graduation date (ex. Spring 2026)
• Relevant coursework (if applicable)

4. Relevant Experience

Even if you don’t have a ton of real-life work history or experience, including what is relevant is a great way to highlight what you can do. It’s also a wonderful way to back up your transferable skills in seemingly non-adjacent experiences. You’ll want to include:

• Internships
• Part-time jobs
• Volunteer work
• Student organization roles
• Freelance projects
• Research opportunities or special projects

5. Skills

You also want to include both hard and soft skills on your resume. Make a section for any Technical Skills you have acquired in college: MS Word, MS Excel, Canva, etc. Don’t overlook work-related soft skills (Job Skills); employers think of them as culture builders. Here are some examples of skills you could include.

• Copywriting
• Social media management
• Public speaking
• Collaboration
• Leadership
• Data analysis
• Graphic design
• Customer service

6. Extracurricular Activities and Leadership Roles

For most roles, it’s important to show that you’re a well-rounded individual. Now, recruiters and hiring managers may not put much stock into the respective activities, hobbies and interests you have. But that doesn’t mean they’re not a good thing to mention. Here are a few examples:

• Clubs and student organizations
• Athletic involvement
• Student government
• Event organization
• Study abroad programs
• Mentorship and tutoring roles

Pro tip: If you list any hobbies, keep them professional and relevant to the business world. Ex. “Eagle Scouts leader,” “Excel enthusiast” or “part-time youth group volunteer,” is fine; not “Lord of the Rings trivia buff” or “TexMex foodie.” There will be time in the interview later to showcase your personality. Your resume should be focused on what you bring to the table career-wise.  

7. Awards and Certifications

If you have won awards or obtained certifications verifying your skills, don’t hide them! Employers are looking for high-achieving prospects to hire, and awards and certifications show skill, ambition and drive. Some ideas of what you should include:

• Scholarships
• Academic honors
• Certifications (ex. Google Analytics, Adobe Creative Suite, vocational certifications, CPR, etc.)
• Leadership training certifications

How to Showcase Your Skills Despite Minimal Experience

Lacking experience isn’t a bad thing. It just means you are ready to work hard and learn. Employers who hire college students and graduates should be prepared to help you get that experience and train you up. This is where the rubber meets the road. Your task is to draw attention to your skills and how they apply to the role in front of you. Here’s how:

Use Your Education to Highlight Knowledge

This is the place to include relevant projects, studies and/or research that supports your expertise. Here’s an example:

Completed a market research report that analyzed target customer behaviors for a local small business, recommending strategy that led to a 12% increase in sales year over year.

Highlight Transferable Skills

When you don’t have a ton of relevant experience, you’ve got to cross some bridges for recruiters to prove you’ve got the skills it takes to succeed in the role. This is easier to do with soft skills than hard skills, so try to focus on how your problem-solving, communication, and time management skills would help you exceed expectations, for example.

Managed the front desk at Brown Student Union, re-organizing the employee excel scheduling system and leading to improved shift attendance.

Volunteered part-time with Leighton County Farmer’s Market, assisting with product delivery and customer service.

Show Leadership and Initiative

Employers looking to hire college students and graduates are looking for individuals who are self-starters and don’t need hand-holding to succeed. Is this you? This is your chance to prove it! Your resume should highlight any leadership roles you’ve held and ways you’ve shown initiative, whether it’s leadership of a club or student program, event organization, or mentoring peers and younger students.

Use Action Verbs

Sounds basic but saying you “Grew social media accounts by 34%” sounds way better than “Helped with social media.” Using action verbs shows you’re a doer and an achiever.

Tailor Your Resume For Specific Roles

Customizing your resume for each job or each job niche is absolutely OK. Do this by using keywords from the job description, industry terms, aligning relevant experiences, and possibly removing less relevant details.

Pro tip: Keep a few versions of your resume on hand and ready to go so you’re not manually updating it for each job every time.

Include Freelance or Personal Projects

Someone who’s freelanced in an industry shows they’re really interested in the role and have the skills to function independently in it. It can be some of the most immersive and impactful experience you have. Just don’t include your personal blog or manifesto only your mom reads.

Resume Mistakes to Avoid

There are a few resume mistakes you’ll want to watch out for. These can be the difference between getting an interview and your resume going in the trash. Here are a handful you’ll want to dodge:

• Unprofessional email addresses (ex. [email protected] or [email protected])
• Too much fluff, not enough specifics (“led several teams at an organization” or “skilled in professionalism and world-class, top notch business knowledge”)
• Spelling and grammar mistakes
• Including unnecessary personal details (ex. “Harry Potter fan” or “Enneagram 7 wing 4 enthusiast.”
• Poor layout and formatting
• Poor file naming conventions (e.x. jason-smith-resume-copy2.docx or jason-smith-backup-draft.docx.)

Sample College Student Resume

Useful Resume Writing Tools and Resources

Creating your resume doesn’t have to be painful. Thankfully, there are a ton of tools and resources out there to help you create a standout resume. Check these out:

• Canva Resume Builder
• Zety Resume Templates
• Your college’s career center for resume critiques

You’re going to do great things. Your resume is just a small, but important, part of how you can showcase your skill, knowledge, and ambition. Focus on your strengths, stay motivated and keep your head up.

Want more experience as you prepare for your future? Check out the Southwestern Advantage internship program for more. In addition to providing an entrepreneurial opportunity, allowing students to gain valuable experience, and building character through running their own business, experience with the Southwestern Advantage program is a gateway to a life-long career. Find out more!