Now, assuming that you have followed all the tips and tricks from the previous post to make your first-year and second-year summers more meaningful, you might come to this question: “What’s next?”. 

Yes, what’s next? You start to build your own resume. Searching for Google tips and downloading a format, then fixing it before spreading the application to multiple open positions. This is when you are anticipating the opportunities. 

It’s just that the opportunities don’t come. Harsh truth: it’s not about your qualifications anymore, it’s your resume. You’re playing the 2015 rules in a 2025 job market. 

Another sad truth: your resume is hurting your chances of getting interviews for the jobs you really want. 

So, how to avoid this brutal reality? It is very simple, just 10 minutes of reading this guide, and you will understand how to score your resume with an employer. 

Why do most resumes fail? 

Hiring managers spend approximately 7.4 seconds scanning your resume. All your years of experience and hard work are worth around 7 seconds to determine whether you’re qualified or not. Sad, right? 

So, if your resume doesn’t immediately scream “I can solve your specific problems with my skills and experiences,” you’re officially out. 

Most resumes fail because they’re: 

• Generic: no customization, no special details that make you stand out from the rest. Your biggest mistake is to use the same resume for every single job, and the hiring team can tell it at a single glance.
• Grammars and mistakes: just a single spelling error can opt you out of the game. Dramatic, it seems, but it’s true because 61% of recruiters admit to automatically dismissing a resume that contains a typo. 
• Bombarding irrelevant information: It’s a big ‘No’ because your resume is only worth 7.4 seconds from the hiring team. The more lengthy your resume, the more likely you are to shoot down your chances of getting an interview. 
• Poor formatting, unscannable: An unscannable resume is the one that confuses the ATS, aka Applicant Tracking System. It is poorly formatted, with cluttered, inconsistent fonts, a lack of white space, and overly flashy designs, which unfortunately, will be opted out even before reaching the hiring team. 

Confusing, right? What is ATS? Why is there too much new information? 

You really need an update on what is changing in the resume screening process right now! 

The modern resume reality check

There are 3 things you need to keep in mind about the whole hiring process. 

Check out this thread about what ATS is and what it does, but to save you some time, ATS is an AI screening system that 75% of recruiters now rely on to manage their recruitment process. 

This means your resume must be:  

•  ATS-friendly.  How to be ATS-friendly? It’s easy. Relevant keywords and simple formatting can do the trick. We will show you how to pass the filters with our tips below. 
• Quantifying your achievements. Recruiters love numbers. After all, those number and data speaks louder because they paint a clearer picture of what you can achieve, commit, and generate. 
• Customizing your experiences. The one-size-fits-all resume is now officially dead. What you should do is tailor your resume to each specific job application, adding relevant keywords, skills, and experiences to not only pass the ATS but also to impress the recruiter.

A complete and comprehensive guide to rebuilding your resume 

The most highly-recommended resume template that both recruiters and ATS tools approve is the Harvard Resume Template, which you can download from the link here.

 Now let’s break down these essential sections in a resume order: 

Header - keep it clean and scannable 

Things to include: 

• Full name (largest font, 16- 18pt)
• Phone number
• Professional email address
• LinkedIn profile URL
• City, State (no full address needed)
• Portfolio/GitHub link (if relevant)

What you really wish to avoid in this part is adding graphics, photos, fancy fonts, or creative layouts that confuse ATS systems.

Professional Summary - see it like your 10-second pitch 

This is where you wish to impress the recruiter. Keep it concise, brief but also show your ambitions, following this formula: [Your degree/major] + [Key skills] + [Career interest] + [Value you bring]

Example for CS major: "Computer Science graduate with expertise in Python, JavaScript, and database management. Seeking a software development role where I can apply problem-solving skills and contribute to innovative tech solutions."

Example for Marketing major: "Marketing graduate with hands-on experience in social media strategy and data analysis. Passionate about digital marketing and driving brand growth through creative campaigns and performance metrics."

Keep it to 2-3 lines max. This isn't your life story—it's your elevator pitch.

Education - your strongest section as a new grad 

The format for education should look like this. If your GPA is not 3.5+, then consider not including it. 

What you can include in the education section: 

• Degree type and major
• University name and graduation date
• GPA (if 3.5 or higher)
• Relevant coursework
• Academic honors (Dean's List, Magna Cum Laude)
• Study abroad or exchange programs

One recommended tip is to list coursework that matches job descriptions. Applying for data roles? Include Statistics, Machine Learning, and Database Management.

Work Experience - Making the most of limited experience

Here we come to the most important part. If you really wish to impress recruiter in little 7 seconds, then follow the STAR method below and quantify your results to maximize your limited experience: 

• Situation: What was the context?
• Task: What needed to be done?
• Action: What did you do?
• Result: What was the outcome?

For example: Managed social media accounts, increasing follower engagement by 40% over 8 weeks.

How to quantify your achievements if your job or position doesn’t yield the actual number or data? You can follow these easy ways to modify your experiences to the recruiters’ linkings: 

• Time saving:  “improved operational efficiency” sounds fine. But what’s about “streamlined processes to save the team 10 hours per week”? Much better.  
• Project or data size: Instead of a vague description like “managed several projects”, try “led a team of 5 on a project valued at [amount of money]”
• Quantity of work: “handled customer inquiries” is a little bit weak. We can improve the phrase “resolved 100+ customer inquiries weekly” will score an impressive point.  
• Time commitment: Instead of saying “worked on a long-term project”, try “dedicated 200 hours over three months to complete a market analysis project”.  

Your work experience section can look like this: 

For part-time jobs, you should focus on transferable skills such as: 

• Provided customer service to 50+ customers daily in a fast-paced environment
• Managed multiple tasks simultaneously while maintaining attention to detail
• Collaborated with a team of 8 to ensure efficient service delivery

Pro tip: Want to know if your writing for work experience is ATS-friendly enough? Try AI tools such as jobtify.ai to analyze the effectiveness of your writing.  

Skills - Strategic Keyword Placement

When crafting the Skills section of your resume, it’s essential to start by closely reading the job description and identifying keywords that are related to the skills required for the position. 

This is where you need some tips to beat the ATS screening: 

• Use exact skill names from job descriptions. Avoid using synonyms because ATS is simply just a tool for scanning keywords, not to understand various synonyms of the keyword.  
• Don’t rate your skills with bars or percentages since ATS can’t read graphics or analyze that data. 
• Include 8-12 relevant skills maximum.

Projects, Activities, and Leadership - prove you’re well-rounded 

What if you don’t have any working experience or are in your first stage of seeking an internship? Fret not, make sure that you actively participate in many clubs, projects, or leadership roles.

If not, you can check out this list to enrich your experiences and be ready to step on the path of seeking internships and fresher jobs. 

Project selection criteria:

• Choose most relevant projects
• Include technical details and tools used
• Quantifythe  impact or scope when possible
• Provide links to live demos or code repositories

What counts:

• Leadership roles in student organizations
• Volunteer work (especially if it demonstrates relevant skills)
• Awards and honors
• Relevant certifications
• Athletic achievements (if they show teamwork/dedication)

Focus on impact: Don't just list memberships—show what you accomplished.

And finally, this is how your resume might look like at the end: 

Your resume isn't just a document—it's your marketing tool in a competitive job market. Make sure it's working as hard as you are.

You can check out our final template here.

Remember: The goal isn't to list everything you've done—it's to prove you can do what employers need. Focus on relevant achievements, use their language, and make it easy for both humans and robots to see your value.

Keywords: fresh graduate resume tips, how to write a resume for fresh graduates, ATS-friendly resume for freshers, resume building for new graduates