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Recent Graduate Resume Tips

ATS systems don't care that you're entry-level — they still filter on keywords. Here's how to present your degree, internships, and projects to beat automated screening.

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Keywords That Work for Entry-Level Candidates

Academic Achievements

  • • First Class / 2:1 Honours
  • • Dissertation / thesis
  • • Dean's List / academic award
  • • Relevant coursework
  • • Research project
  • • Study abroad
  • • Final-year project
  • • GPA (if above 3.5/4.0)

Internship & Experience

  • • Internship / placement year
  • • Part-time employment
  • • Volunteer work
  • • Society committee / leadership
  • • Hackathon / competition
  • • Open-source contribution
  • • Freelance project
  • • Team collaboration

Transferable Skills

  • • Communication & presentation
  • • Problem-solving
  • • Data analysis
  • • Microsoft Office / Google Workspace
  • • Programming (Python, SQL, R)
  • • Project coordination
  • • Attention to detail
  • • Time management

How to Structure a Graduate Resume

1

Professional Summary (not an Objective)

Write 3–4 sentences that state your degree, a relevant achievement or skill, and the value you bring. Avoid generic "seeking to utilise my skills" — instead, reference the role and your specific capability, e.g. "Economics graduate with data analysis internship experience at HSBC, proficient in Python and SQL."

2

Education — Put It First

As a recent graduate, your degree is your strongest credential. List university, degree title, classification, graduation year, and 2–3 relevant modules or your dissertation topic. Include any academic prizes or merit scholarships.

3

Experience — Treat Projects Like Jobs

Every internship, placement, society role, or significant project deserves a bullet-point entry. Quantify impact: "built a sales forecasting model in Python that reduced forecast error by 18% during a 3-month placement at Deloitte" is compelling even for an intern.

4

Skills & Extracurriculars

List technical tools, languages, and software the job requires. Extracurriculars (sports captain, charity treasurer, society president) demonstrate leadership and commitment — include them with measurable outcomes where possible.

Common Graduate Resume Mistakes

  • ✗Using a generic objective statement — replace it with a targeted professional summary
  • ✗Listing duties from internships instead of outcomes — ATS and reviewers want impact, not task lists
  • ✗Leaving skills as vague ("good communicator") — back them up with concrete examples in experience bullets
  • ✗Not tailoring the resume for each application — keyword match matters even at entry level
  • ✗Submitting a resume longer than one page — two pages maximum, one page is often better for graduates with under 2 years of experience

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