

You may be a fresher now, but you won’t be for long: you’re ready to kick-start your career. Show them your potential by choosing the right resume format for freshers.
You’re stepping out into the world—
Going for a fresher job.
A whole new future is about to open up in front of you—
The security and independence, the new colleagues, the money.
Only one problem:
What’s a good resume format for freshers? Is there a recommended fresher resume format for job applications?
It’s normal that you don’t know—no one’s born knowing these things.
You’re in the right place to find out.
This guide will show you:
Want to save time and have your resume ready in 5 minutes? Try our resume builder. It’s fast and easy to use. Plus, you’ll get ready-made content to add with one click. See 20+ resume templates and create your resume here.
Sample resume made in our builder—See more resume templates here.
Munni Chauhan
Fourth-Year Mechanical Engineering Student
+91 307 9116696
munni.chauhan@zety.in
linkedin.com/in/munnichauhan9
Nationality: Indian
Objective
Hard-working final-year mechanical engineering student with 8+ months of consultancy internship experience. Prepared 10+ summary reports, all of which were accepted by the lead engineer. Winner of the 2021 University of Mumbai 7-Day Design Competition. Seeking to leverage proven design skills to help Strike Point continue to provide excellent design solutions.
Experience
Engineering Intern
Jai Consultants, Mumbai
June 2021–present
Education
BE in Mechanical Engineering
The University of Mumbai
2018–2022 (expected)
Class 12th, CBSE, 87.8%
B N Bandodkar College of Science Thane West, Mumbai
2016–2018
Class 10th, CBSE, 88.6%
Ramnarain Ruia College of Arts & Science, Mumbai
2014–2016
Skills
Software
Languages
Declaration: The information stated above is true to the best of my knowledge and belief.
Impressive, isn’t it?
This isn’t just a resume format for engineering freshers—it’ll work just as well for any other job. Just look—
Here’s how you get your resume format in this good a shape, no matter your industry:
The best resume format for freshers does two things well: it includes all the right sections and has a clear and elegant overall layout. Your fresher resume format should include these sections (don’t worry, work experience is optional):
Now that you know what sections to plan in your resume, let’s get your document ready. Here are the key steps towards making an effective yet simple resume format for freshers:
The overall layout of a good fresher resume format for job applications is clear and easy to navigate. Use large, well-separated subheadings and plenty of white space to clearly divide your resume into sections.
Speaking of white space, it’s best to use 1.15 line spacing and symmetrical margins (one inch on every side) to help make it easier to read. The goal is navigation at a glance.
An understated, professional-looking font will go a long way to making your resume format for freshers hold up just as well under a closer reading. Use something that won’t draw attention to itself. Try Noto in 11–12 pt. Or just leave it at the default Arial or Calibri.
Everything you need for your resume format for freshers will fit on a single page. If it doesn’t, double-check that everything you want to include is directly relevant to the job ad and cut out any unnecessary details.
Avoid using a smaller font, tighter line spacing, or narrower margins if your fresher resume goes over a page. It’s much better to rewrite longer sentences and remove unneeded information than to make your resume format difficult to read.
While you can make your resume format for freshers in Word, make sure to submit it as a PDF. PDF will preserve your layout and formatting better than something like a *.docx file. Always go with whatever the employer prefers, though—they might be using an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) that can’t handle PDF files.
Let’s take a deeper dive into each of the parts of the resume format for freshers.
For a step-by-step writing guide: Resume for Freshers: How to Make & Samples
The first part of a resume format for freshers that a recruiter or hiring manager sees? The resume header. There’s no secret recipe here, your header just has to be clear, easy-to-find, and complete. So set it apart from the rest of your resume. Make your name especially stand out. Make it large and bold.
Other than your full name, include at least your occupation or student status and your contact details (phone, email, maybe an online profile or portfolio, but no mailing address). You might also be expected to list your nationality, date of birth, and marital status. Always check the job advert.
RIGHT |
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Munni Chauhan Fourth-Year Mechanical Engineering Student +91 307 9116696 munni.chauhan@zety.in linkedin.com/in/munnichauhan9 Nationality: Indian |
Pro tip: Indian resumes typically feature a photo. Use a business-style headshot: hat means a solid background, no sunglasses, and professional attire and hairstyle. It doesn’t matter if you’re applying for your first internship—in your headshot, go for a CEO look that shows confidence and professionalism.
When making a resume in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building a professional resume template here for free.
When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better.
A resume format for freshers includes a place for work experience but, as a fresher, you’re not necessarily expected to have any. Got some relevant work experience? (Remember that internships and volunteer work count here.) Read on. Don’t have any at all? No problem, skip to just after the experience section example below.
Put your work experience in reverse-chronological order, listing jobs from most to least recent. Make a simple subheading for each position by using the job title, company name, and start and end dates. Under each of these subheadings, list three to six achievements in the form of brief bullet points.
Make sure each bullet point is relevant to the job advert. Use something like the PAR (Problem-Action-Result) formula to structure each point. Put numbers to everything you can. It’s by quantifying these points that you move away from listing duties and towards showcasing achievements.
RIGHT |
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Engineering Intern Jai Consultants, Mumbai June 2021–present
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WRONG |
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Engineering Intern Jai Consultants, Mumbai June 2021–present
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Read more: What is a Resume in India? Guide & Examples
You’re either still studying or you just graduated. It’s no wonder, then, that the heart of an effective resume format for freshers is the education section.
Here’s how to get it right:
These bullet points can cover awards and accolades, specialisations, academic areas of interest, and relevant extracurricular activities. Anything that shows relevant skills in action. These skills can be either hard skills or soft skills. Both are important, even in technical fields like IT.
RIGHT |
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BE in Mechanical Engineering The University of Mumbai 2018–2022 (expected)
Class 12th, CBSE, 87.8% B N Bandodkar College of Science Thane West, Mumbai 2016–2018
Class 10th, CBSE, 88.6% Ramnarain Ruia College of Arts & Science, Mumbai 2014–2016 |
There’s no question that achievements are much more impressive than duties. But what if you don’t have any experience at all? You can still prepare a great skills list, tailored to the job requirements.
Remember when we mentioned making your fresher resume format ATS-friendly? This includes using keywords from the job ad, to make sure that your resume scores high and lands at the top of the pile.
So—
Start by making a master list of all of your skills. Even with no work experience, you’re bound to have plenty of them; gained during your education, internships, extracurriculars, or hobbies. Include soft and hard skills, as well as computer skills and software proficiencies.
Then, take another look at the job ad, focusing on the skills required by the employer. Highlight your keywords or turn them into a list.
Compare the two lists and highlight the skills that appear on both. And that’s it: you’ve identified the skills that you have and that the employer wants.
Aim for a list of 5–10 relevant skills. List them in a separate section, but make sure to also show them in your education section (and work experience if you have it).
Here are some skills examples to get you started:
Hard Skills
Soft Skills
Your education won’t paint a full portrait of you as a potential employee. Even what little work experience a fresher can be expected to have won’t cut it. Add extra sections to your resume format for fresher jobs to fill in the picture. Anything that’s directly relevant to the job requirements is fair game.
Your additional sections could include academic awards (if you have more than one), any volunteer work you’ve done, your certifications, professional memberships, any conferences you’ve attended or presented at, even your hobbies and interests. Add one or two relevant such sections.
RIGHT |
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Software
Languages
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WRONG |
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Software
Hobbies and Interests
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Once you have your skills list, education section, and possibly a work experience section written, you’re ready to write your career objective. This can be the most difficult part of writing a fresher resume. Luckily, though, you’ve already got everything you need at this stage and there’s a simple formula.
The objective is a short paragraph that goes at the top of the page, below the header of your resume. Its purpose is to give the reader a quick glimpse into your best skills and achievements, instantly showing your potential and proving you’d be a great asset to the company.
Here’s how to go about writing yours:
Enough theory—this is what your objective might look like in action:
RIGHT |
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Hard-working final-year mechanical engineering student with 8+ months of consultancy internship experience. Prepared 10+ summary reports, all of which were accepted by the lead engineer. Winner of the 2021 University of Mumbai 7-Day Design Competition. Seeking to leverage proven skills to help Strike Point continue to provide excellent design solutions. |
WRONG |
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Final-year mechanical engineering student with some consultancy internship experience. Prepared summary reports for the lead engineer. Successful in BE studies at the University of Mumbai. Looking to get first job immediately after graduation. |
Although not part of a resume format for freshers, you really should write a cover letter to go with your resume. Why? Because a job application is made up of two parts, and a resume is only one of them. The only time you can safely submit a resume without a cover letter is if the employer instructs you to do so.
Here’s how to write a cover letter to match your now-perfect fresher resume:
Read more: How to Write a Cover Letter for an Internship
A great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:
See more cover letter templates and start writing.
Here’s what you need for a winning resume format for freshers:
That’s all there is to it! Now I’d love to hear from you:
Let me know. Let’s get the discussion started!
To send or not to send, that is the question. Cover letters can be a secret weapon in the job hunt today. Here’s why.
You think you know how to structure a professional CV format… Until you actually sit down to do it. Read the guide below and find out once and for all what the best CV format looks like.
Looking for a free resume template to download and edit? Well, here it is: our selection of 20+ free resume templates for freshers and pros, ready to be downloaded.