How to Write a College Student Resume 🎓

That shouldn’t be a surprise considering companies receive thousands of job applications a month. How do you stand out from the rest of the crowd? Good thing you found your way to this article! By the end of it, you’ll be well equipped to craft a perfect resume for college students for whichever job you’re applying for.

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What to Include in Your College Student Resume

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Contact Information Section

The first section of your resume should be about your personal and contact information. Obviously, potential employers have to know some basics about you before they look at everything else! Be careful though, you shouldn’t include everything about yourself in this section, only information that is relevant.

Your Name

First name, then last name. There’s no need to include your middle name unless it’s an integral part of your complete name. 

Phone Number

Just your cell phone number. A potential employer may call you at any time, so there’s no point in giving them a landline number, and if you somehow have a fax machine, definitely don’t include that!

Email Address

Make sure you have a professional sounding email address. Ideally one with your name clearly stated. The joke email account you created as a teenager just won’t do. 

Social Media

Think about the particular position your applying for and include the social media handles that make sense. You should always include a LinkedIn profile (make one if you don’t have one). If you’re applying for a creative position, then include the relevant social media profile for the specific job. It may be worthwhile to maintain separate professional and personal social media accounts if you’re going to be sending them to a potential employer. 

Personal Websites

If you have a website or a blog that’s related to the job you’re applying for then include it at the end of the contact information section. 

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College Student Resume Summary, Objective

Your second section should be the resume objective (also called a resume summary). It’s a short paragraph that says a little something about your skills, what you’ve accomplished, and what you want to do for the company. 

Wrong

A business student with good communication skills looking for an opportunity to learn more and gain work experience.

This is a weak resume summary because it doesn’t highlight any strong skills or achievements and doesn’t tell the employer what the applicant can or will do for them.

Right

Hardworking advertising major with a GPA of 3.8 with previous internship experience and the goal of accelerating the company’s digital media campaigns and learning from industry experts.

This is a good resume summary because it highlights achievements, gives specific information, and tells the company what the applicant can do for them. 

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Education Section

Now that they know how to get in touch with you and a little bit about why you’re the right person for the job, the next section should be about your educational qualifications. The highest educational qualification you’ve completed or pursuing should come first. So, if you’re pursuing a Master’s degree, that should come first, followed by your undergraduate degree. If you’re pursuing a bachelor’s degree then that comes first followed by your high school. This is the format you should follow:

• The degree you’re pursuing
• The name of your institution
• GPA
• Graduation date or expected graduation date
• Relevant Coursework
• Achievements

Let’s take a look at an example

Majoring in Marketing (Bachelor of Business Administration)

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

GPA 3.9

Expected Graduation: 2021

Relevant Coursework: Advertising, Social Media Marketing, Brand Management, Psychology of Advertising, Brand Development

Achievements and Extracurriculars:

President of Model United Nations in 2020

Editor of the university newspaper

Deans List every semester

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George C. Marshall High School, Pullman, Washington

GPA 4.0

Graduated 2018

Relevant Experience

The next section should be about any relevant work experience you may have that adds strength to your viability as a candidate. Companies know that college graduates may not have a lot of work experience, but still want to know that you’ve worked in some kind of organization before. If you have an internship under your belt then you’re already ahead of many other students. If you don’t, include any job you’ve done, and in the bullet points mention the responsibilities and achievements relevant to the job you’re applying for. Take a look at this example.

Marketing Intern

May 2018–August 2018

Ogilvy and Mather, New York, NY

Key Responsibilities

Developed and implemented 4 social media campaigns

Led a team of interns to win the in-house pitching competition

Successfully pitched a campaign to a leading client

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Skills Section

The next section in your college student resume should be your special skills section. This is where you put down basic skills, soft skills, and hard skills that are relevant to the job you’re applying for. Carefully go over the job description and identify which skills the employer is looking for and include those skills in this section. Don’t just list skills, rather show how you’ve used those skills.

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Here’s an example of an effective skills section. 

Practice nonlinear thinking working with children on the autism scale

Proficient at computer modeling and data analysis

Works well as a team leader and a team member

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Extra Sections

If you have more space, or you have something particular you want to include that strengthens your resume for college student, feel free to add some extra sections at the end. 

Honors and Awards

Were you valedictorian? Were you the most valuable player (MVP) for a sport? Did your debate team win a regional conference? Were you an office bearer for a club? This is where you include that kind of information.

Volunteer Experience

Any volunteering experience you may have that adds value to you as a prospective employee goes here. Think about the company and job you’re applying for and only include volunteering work that they would be interested in or that an experience where you did something exceptional.

Certifications and Training

If you have any official certificates or have completed professional training courses, this is where they go. This could include certificates for software courses, first aid training, masters-level courses, etc. 

Languages

Depending on the job, speaking multiple languages can be a huge asset. If so, make sure you include not just the language, but your level of fluency as well. 

Hobbies and Interests 

If there is a hobby or interest that’s relevant to the job you’re applying for mention them here. Don’t include things like traveling if you’re applying for a banking position. 

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Сollege Student Resume Template

Using a template is a great way of organizing all your thoughts and information. Fill up the template below to get an idea of what writing a resume is like. 

Resume Heading

FIRST AND LAST NAME

Email: youremail@email.com | Phone: (347) 333 777 | Address: 268 Maple Leaf Street Staten Island, NY 10013 | Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/yourprofile

Resume Summary

Student at (college name) majoring in (major name). Confident that my experience in/with ( qualifications/skills/relevant experience) makes me a viable candidate for (job title) position at (company name). A (positive personality trait) employee with (relevant experience) with the goal to advance (company name) and learn as much as possible.

Education

Degree Level and Major + GPA (if above 3.5)

College Name: City, State

Expected Date of Graduation: Month and Year

Honors and Awards

Relevant Coursework

Class of […] / GPA (if above 3.5)

High School Name

City, State

Graduation: Month and Year

Honors and Awards 

Relevant Coursework 

Relevant Experience

Most Recent Internship, Work, Volunteering, or Extracurricular Experience

Title

Employer Name,  Location, Start Date - End Date (say present if still ongoing)

Bullet points of your main responsibilities and achievements

Include specifics and hard numbers

Earlier Internship, Work, Volunteering, or Extracurricular Experience

Employer Name,  Location, Start Date - End Date

Bullet points of your main responsibilities and achievements

Skills

List skills relevant to the job description

Include hard skills and soft skills

Be specific, mention the names of software, companies, etc. 

Extra Sections 

Languages 

Awards

Hobbies that are relevant to the job

Anything that will make your resume stronger for the specific job

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How to Format a College Student Resume

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Font and Font Size

Make sure you use a professional font like Calibri or Arial. This isn’t the place to use Comic Sans. You may be tempted to increase the font size to fill out your resume or reduce the font size to fit in as much information as possible, but keep it at 12. You can use a different font for the heading and a different one for text, but don’t use more than a couple of fonts or it will look messy. 

Margins

Again, don’t manipulate the margins to adjust how your resume looks. Set one-inch margins on all sides. If you really need space, drop the margins to 0.75, not more.

Left-Align 

Left-align all your entries so that potential employers don’t have to search for information. If your resume is tough to read, they’ll skip it instantly. Things like dates and job titles can be right-aligned if it improves the overall aesthetic of the resume.

Bold, Italics, Caps, Underline

Use Bold, Italics, and Caps to highlight headings and key information but make sure you don’t overdo it. If your resume looks messy employers will skip it. Be careful when using caps, in text it gives the impression of screaming, so use it only for section headings and your name.

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College Student Resume Examples

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Jack Jones

Boise, OH 547-444-1234, jjones@gmail.com

OBJECTIVE

I am a dedicated and highly creative student seeking an internship where I can use my knowledge of marketing to assist with campaigns and gain more work experience.

EDUCATION

Washington State University, Major: Marketing, GPA: 3.7 - Expected Graduation Date: June 2021

Relevant Coursework: Advertising, Brand Management, Social Media Marketing

Clubs: Toastmasters, Ad Appreciation Club, International Travellers

EXPERIENCE

Ogilvy & Mather | New York, New York

Digital Advertising Intern, June 2019 – August 2019

Worked closely with the digital advertising team as part of a summer-long internship program

Assisted in conceptualizing, launching, and managing Social Media campaigns for 4 companies

Successfully created 6 viral marketing campaigns that led to a 30% increase in web traffic

Charity for Kids, Pullman, Washington

Head of Marketing, August 2018 – Present

Lead a team devoted to developing advertising campaigns for the NGO

Build relationships with businesses including organizing industry events

Raised donations by over 40% every year

SKILLS & ABILITIES

Team growth oriented, Verbal and written communication, Critical Thinking, Out of the box, Adobe Creative Suite, SEO Essentials Certification, Perfectly Fluent in English, Spanish, and French

AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS

Served as Vice President of the student council for the academic year 2018/19

Served as President of Toastmasters in 2020

Dean’s List for 4 semesters

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Resume for College Student: Main Tips

Writing a resume is hard. That’s good news for you because if you follow all the information, templates, and advice in this article, yours will be better than most of the others. Remember these important tips!

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Focus On:

Work on the education section

Since you’re writing this while in college, you probably don’t have a lot of relevant work experience, so focus on the best parts of your educational achievements. Don’t just state your high GPA, also mention that you’ve been on the Dean’s List. If you won a scholarship in college make sure to include that information. Companies know that a resume with no work experience college student is normal, so the education section is their main focus. 

Relevant experience rather than work history

Work history implies that you’ve held several professional jobs and it’s understood that you did something relevant to the job your applying for in each one. You should not include running a lemonade stand in this section unless it’s relevant to the job your applying for, so title the section 

“Relevant Experience”. Now, you can include something like organizing events at a summer camp for a job at an event management or marketing company.

Extracurricular activities

Companies want employees that have personalities. Your extracurriculars are a sign of what you like to do and show a potential employer that you’re more than just a good GPA. 

Include several skills

Companies want employees that can do many things. A job usually requires you to be able to work by yourself on tasks, but also work within teams. The more relevant skills you can include in your resume, the higher the chances that you’ll be hired. 

Leadership experience

Every employer is in search of a potential leader. It shows that you can manage people and get things done. Make sure you include occasions when you’ve led people to success.

Skills that match the job

You should read the job description and the responsibilities carefully and understand what skills the employer is looking for. Every point of information you include in the resume you write for that job should highlight a skill that fits.

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Do This:

Use action verbs

Remember that recruiters go through hundreds of resumes, so you have to make your resume as engaging as possible while being informative. Start your sentences with action verbs like consolidated, initiated, and implemented. This makes your achievements sound stronger and makes each sentence showcase an achievement. 

Quantify when possible

Specific numbers leave a bigger impression than just saying you did well at something. My team increased sales by 35% during my internship is better than I worked in a high-performing team. 

Carefully edit and proofread

People won’t hire you if you have typos or grammatical errors. Make sure you go over your resume carefully, including checking alignments and formatting. Ask friends and family members to go over it to check for mistakes.

Resume examples

Writing a resume isn’t easy, so don’t try to do it yourself. Use an example like the one in this article to make sure you include every point.

Resume builders

Once you have written your resume, experiment with resume builders to get the formatting just right. 

Reverse Chronological Order

Make sure that when you are listing your education and relevant experience you start with the newest one and work backward. This shows the recruiter what you are doing now (which is the most relevant) and then what you’ve done in the past. 

Ask Someone Else

Once you’re done with your resume and carefully proofread and edited it, make sure you show a few people and ask for feedback before you send it out. Other people may catch some silly mistakes, or have useful input on formatting, or which sections can be stronger or should be changed. 

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To Sum Up

A resume is a must if you want to get a good job, and writing an excellent, engaging, appropriate resume is no easy task. It takes time and careful analysis to write a successful resume, but it’s worth it if you want to land your dream job. If you follow the advice and tips in this article though, you’ll write a college student resume for part-time job or any kind of job easily. The two biggest things to remember are to make sure that you read the job description carefully and tailor your resume for that particular job, and make sure that you show the employer what you can offer to the company, not what you can gain from them.

The college year is almost over, and you might be crazy busy with exams, projects, papers, and homework. If you feel like crafting the perfect resume is going to take a lot of time, let professional essay writers help you with it. You can also hire a dissertation writing service, research paper service or an admission essay writer to take care of your academic writing needs. And if you need any help understanding your coursework, or with proofreading and editing your essays, Studyfy's experts are always ready to assist you. So, don't hesitate to reach out to them!

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