How to Write Your First Resume: A Step-by-Step Guide for College Students + Free Downloadable Resume Template

Why Your First Resume Matters

If you’re wondering how to write your first resume as a college student, you’re not alone. Many students feel unsure about the sections to include, how to list their academic experiences, and whether part-time jobs or volunteer work are relevant. 

The truth is, resume writing is essential for any student who wants to stand out in today’s competitive job market. Recruiters won’t know how awesome you are, so you have to show them. With the right approach, you can showcase your unique skills, coursework, and extracurriculars in a way that proves your potential to employers—even if you have limited formal work experience.

In this comprehensive resume guide for college students, you’ll get the exact sections, best practices, and a downloadable template to get you started. The goal is to help you create a resume that gives the best first impression of who you are and what you’re good at; your personal brand statement. 

Here are the eight key steps to create that polished, one-page document that speaks to what you bring to the table.

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Step 1: Gather the essentials and create a rough draft with them all in a document first.

Before you start formatting, compile a list of:

• Education details: School name, degree, graduation date, GPA (if it’s above a 3.0), relevant coursework.
  
  • If it’s below a 3.0, it can often hurt your resume to include it. In those cases, focus on emphasizing other aspects of your resume. 
• Experience: Internships, externships, part-time jobs, research, volunteering, leadership roles in clubs.
  
  • If you don’t have leadership roles in clubs, that’s ok, focus on what you did in the club and the impact you had there instead.
• Skills: Technical or software skills, the languages you speak, certifications you have.
• Achievements/Awards: Scholarships, honors, competitions or contest wins.

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Having everything in one place simplifies the process of building a tailored resume for each application.

Step 2: Select the most relevant highlights 

Choose the highlights that best match the position or opportunity you’re applying for. For instance, if you’re targeting a marketing internship, emphasize any content creation, social media, or creative writing experience you have. Conversely, if you’re applying for a business analyst role, showcase analytical or data-driven projects.

Step 3: Choose a clean organized resume template

A straightforward, reverse-chronological resume format (listing your most recent education or experience first and moving backward) works well for students. You don’t need to make it fancy, you want to make things clear and readable. This format emphasizes timelines and growth over time. 

✅ Clean Fonts: Arial or Calibri at size 11 are readable and professional

✅ Maintain White Space: At least 0.5” (inch) margins.

✅ Use Bullet Points: Make it easy for recruiters to scan.

✅ Keep It to One Page: Even experienced professionals aim for one-page 

DO NOT:

❌ Make your margins or font smaller than size 10 so you can squeeze more text. The more you squeeze the lower the readability → Less is more!

❌ Have a resume that is more than one page. 

❌ Have inconsistent formatting. Recruiters and hiring managers can often be sticklers about this and visually you can just tell something is off. Bad formatting makes you look disorganized and lack attention to detail. 

Pro Tip: Avoid inconsistent formatting, overly small fonts, or crowded margins—these can make your resume look sloppy and deter recruiters.

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Step 4: Fill in the sections. We’ll break this down for you by section below. 

Section 1: Name and contact details

• Name: Bold and slightly larger font (16-18 pt) centered at the top.
• Contact Information: 
  
  • Email: School email or a simple Gmail works
  • Phone number
  • LinkedIn URL
  • Personal website/portfolio if you have one

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Section 2: Simple Summary or Objective (Optional)

This is optional but a resume objective of 1-3 lines can help personalize your resume for specific roles.

Example 1: “Motivated marketing student seeking to leverage content creation and social media skills in an internship at [Company Name].”

Example 2: “Detail-oriented computer science major with a passion for data analytics and programming, looking to apply academic and project-based knowledge to real-world scenarios.”

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Section 3: Education

As a current undergraduate student, will be a strong asset right now. Consider the following sections:

• Institution Name, City, State
• Degree and Major
• Dates of Attendance
  
  • Month and year of start date
  • Month and year of anticipated graduation date 
• GPA if 3.0 or higher.
• Relevant Coursework, up to 5 courses
  
  • You can include up to 5 relevant courses that match the role or industry you want. 
  • Don’t go overboard; listing too many can clutter your resume.
• Extracurriculars, Leadership Roles: If you just participated in certain organizations, don’t list them here. Only list clubs, sports, extracurricular activities where you had responsibilities and impact to the organization. Otherwise what you have there will just be considered fluff.

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Section 4 – The most important section: Professional or Relevant Experience

We all get it, you’re in college, so it doesn’t necessarily have to be internship experience. In fact if it’s your first resume, you probably don’t have internship experience. But this is where you can include:

Part-Time Jobs: Showcase time management skills, juggling school with work.

Volunteering: Highlight community impact and leadership.

Research Positions: Emphasize analytical or technical skills and tools.

Side Hustles: Demonstrates initiative, that you’re a self-starter with a growth mindset.

And of course internships fall under this bucket if you have any. 

Put your experiences from most recent to least recent with the following sections:

• Company or organization name
• Your role
• Dates you were there
• This is optional but you could include a 1-2 sentence description of the role. 
• A few bullets on what you worked on and the impact your work led to.

Focus on action-oriented bullet points. Use them to illustrate the impact you had, the skills you gained, and the responsibilities you had:

✅ Start each bullet with strong verbs like “Managed”, “Led”, “Created” to show ownership.

✅ Quantify achievements when possible. E.g. “Grew newsletter subscribers 30%”

✅ Aim for 2-5 bullets per role.

✅ Be concise and keep each bullets at 1 or 2 lines.

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Section 5: Skills, Awards, and Extras

This is where you share anything not covered above to stand out. Add a short section that covers:

• Certifications & Awards
• Technical Skills & Tools
• Languages

We’ve also seen people include interests & hobbies if space allows. 

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Step 5: Tailor Your Resume

We encourage you to apply to multiple opportunities so you can increase your chances of an interview. And when you do apply, customize your resume to that company and that specific role. Recruiters appreciate customized resumes because it shows them the applicant did their research. 

• Use Keywords from the job description.
• Adjust Bullets to highlight the most relevant experiences for that role.

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Step 6: Review, Edit, and Get Feedback

• First proofread and review the resume version yourself. 
  
  • Check for grammar and spelling mistakes.
  • Ensure consistent formatting, i.e. bullet styles, font size, spacing, etc.
• Once you’ve reviewed it, ask peers and mentors with an “s” to review your resume.
  
  • Ideally these are peers who’ve gone through the interview process before and got offers.  
  • They might spot areas for improvement you missed or give an experienced perspective. 
• And then… review it again yourself. We can’t tell you how many times we’ve seen students miss the small things that lead to being filtered out of a process. 

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Step 7: Finalize and Save in the Right Format

Save your resume as a PDF unless the application specifies otherwise. A PDF usually preserves formatting across all systems. 

Use a clear naming convention, something like: 

YourName_Resume_Company_MMMYYYY.pdf 

This naming convention will not only help you keep track of the different resume versions you customized for different companies, you’ll look organized to the company as well.

Keep your Word or Google Docs version handy in case you need to make quick edits or an employer explicitly requires a specific file format.

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Step 8: Leverage LinkedIn

After finalizing your resume:

• Update your LinkedIn profile to match your resume.
• Ask peers or professors for endorsements.
• Use LinkedIn to network.

Hiring managers often check LinkedIn for additional info or endorsements.

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TLDR: How to Write a Resume for the First Time

Writing your first resume can feel daunting, but breaking it down into clear steps ensures you’re highlighting your unique potential as a college student. 

Focus on your academic projects, volunteer work, and extracurriculars to show off your skills, personal drive, and willingness to learn. By tailoring each version of your resume to the specific role, maintaining clear and concise bullet points, and proofreading thoroughly, you’ll create a polished, one-page document that opens doors to internships, part-time jobs, or entry-level opportunities.

Ready to get started?

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‍Once you confirm your email, you’ll gain instant exclusive access to the template that includes example bullets and additional tips. Adapt it to your style, then add your personal experiences and achievements to set yourself apart in every application.

Recap of the 8 Steps to Creating Your Best First Resume:

1. Gather Your Essentials: List out education, experiences, skills, and achievements.
2. Select Relevant Highlights: Focus on items that align with each job or internship.
3. Use a Clean Template: Keep formatting organized, consistent, and easy to read (one page).
4. Fill Each Section Carefully: Include contact info, summary/objective (optional), education, experience, and extras like skills or achievements.
5. Tailor to Each Role: Highlight keywords from job postings and customize bullets accordingly.
6. Proofread & Get Feedback: Double-check spelling, grammar, and consistency.
7. Save as a PDF: A clear file name (e.g., YourName_Resume.pdf) helps look professional.
8. Leverage LinkedIn: Match your LinkedIn profile details to your resume for a cohesive personal brand.

Ready to get started on your career journey?

Sign up for our free resume template and tips, then check out our Externships to gain hands-on experience, industry insights, and valuable connections that set you apart.

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