Guide on Resume Format for Students | How to Write a Resume if you are a Student?

A resume plays an extremely important role in a student’s life. It is a medium through which a student can access various opportunities in his/her career. Whether it is a professional opportunity like a Job opportunity, Internship opportunity, etc, or a Volunteering opportunity, in every aspect of a student’s life, you need a well-written Resume. Since a student focuses more on the School/college curriculum, extracurricular activities, internships, volunteering, and other course-related activities, it is very important for a student to know how to write a resume.

Wiring a well-described resume can increase the chances of getting interview calls, it helps you to portray your skill-set which eventually helps you to impress the Manager/HR. So, by now you must have got a clear idea about the importance of a resume in a student’s life. In this article, we are going to discuss the resume format for students.

• What is a Student Resume?
• What to Include in a Student Resume?
• How to write a Resume for a Student?
• Contact Information
• Professional Summary
• Highlighting Academic Qualifications
• Work Experience
• Mention your Skills
• Mention Awards and Achievements
• Mention your Hobbies and Interests
• Student Resume Templates to Download Now
• Can a resume be two pages?
• How do I explain a gap in my resume?
• How do you write technical skills on a resume?

What is a Student Resume?

A student resume is a document that is used for professional purposes through which a student can depict his/her achievements, skills, certification, & educational qualifications. A resume is a medium through which a student can express his potential to the interviewer or the manager. It is not necessary for a student to have professional experience because your skill sets and extracurricular activities might help the employer to see your potential.

A resume basically acts as a bridge that helps you to connect to employers and various other professionals. This could include anything like Review paper experience, volunteering experience, sports achievements, academic excellence, professional experience, cultural activities, paper-presented at conferences, and whatever activities and achievements that you have gained so far must be included in the resume.

College resume plays an important role when it comes to applying for Internships, part-time/full-time jobs, Higher Education, and work-study opportunities. With the help of your resume, you have to portray your ambitions, your motivation towards your goals, dedication towards the work, ethics, and morals. This helps the employer to understand you very well, so it is extremely important for you to highlight these important points.

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What to Include in a Student Resume?

How to write a Resume for a Student?

Now, after knowing the importance of having a well-described resume we are finally going to discuss, “How to write a resume for a student?” We are going to elaborate further with the help of the steps which would help you to understand more about it in detail and it would give you a clear idea and understanding on this topic.

1. Contact Information

While writing the resume you have to keep in your mind that your resume should be short and concise and it should only contain useful information. So, always begin your resume by mentioning your personal information like full name, phone number, email address, and residential address.

These personal details make it easier for the employer to contact you for the interview round. If you have any professional website or blog do mention it in your resume. If you are active on LinkedIn, you can mention the LinkedIn profile in your resume. Through these small steps, you can impress the interviewer. Ensure to include websites that are professional and appropriate to share.

To understand more about it do have a look at this example:

Example:
Sahil
Poonam Enclave Building 1st floor Flat no 102 Tilak Nagar Mumbai
Sahilsingh108@gmail.com, 9877190220
Sahilsingh.personalblog.com

2. Professional Summary

A Resume helps you to summarise all the career-related objectives in a very concise manner. So, make sure you summarise your career objectives in a brief manner within two to three lines. Make sure you portray it in a very explicit manner so that it helps the employer to understand your career objectives easily.

Your Career objective tells a potential employer the reason for seeking employment. This brief summary should include your passion and all the learnings that you have inculcated within yourself as a professional along with that you have to express your desire to progress in your respective domain.

Example: Recent chemical engineering graduate with knowledge in different areas of engineering chemicals as well as computer science. Proficient with MATLAB, AutoCAD, SolidWorks, Microsoft Visio, and SQL. Persistent problem-solver, Material, and Energy balances, re-evaluating obstacles as many times as necessary to make products market-ready. A motivated and dedicated individual seeking a position that involves regular use of these skills.

3. Highlighting Academic Qualifications

Now here comes an extremely important part of your resume that is your Academic Qualifications. Academic Qualifications play an important role in creating a good impression in front of the interviewers. So, you need to mention your academic qualifications and you need to highlight them.

In this section, you have to highlight your educational qualifications starting from your latest degree starting from your diploma or degree if you recently graduated. Then comes our next step, you have to provide details about your higher secondary certification (HSC) and Senior Secondary Certification ( SSC).

Each entry in this section contains:

• Name of the degree
• College Name
• Year of completion
• Grades or percentage
• Research work or extracurricular activities

Example:

PGDM (Marketing), 2020
Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, CGPA 8/10
Chemical engineering, 2018
Institute Of Chemical Technology Mumbai, CGPA 8.78/10
HSC (CBSE), 2014
Kendriya Vidyalaya High School, 96%
SSC (CBSE), 2012
Kendriya Vidyalaya High School, 98%

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4. Work Experience

Work experience is a crucial point when it comes to building a high-profile resume. Mentioning and highlighting the work experience properly boosts your chances of cracking the job interview or any other interview high. Along with that, it is also extremely crucial for you to mention your previous work experience in a concise and explicit manner. All the necessary learnings & skills that you have acquired need to be mentioned and those workshops & activities that you have done need to be mentioned.

Since the majority of the students are still studying, it is not necessary that they might have relevant work experience. In order to tackle this, you can include past activities and duties you completed during your school/college years. Mention and highlight any internship, workshop, volunteering, apprenticeship, and seminar work experience you completed. Apart from this if you have any artistic skills and any work experience related to that you can mention it.

There are many students who have freelancing work experience like Video Editing, Content Writing, part-time work experience, and extracurricular activities like Attending Hackathons, etc, they can include all these types of experiences in their resume. Remember to include your responsibilities and achievements as bullet points. Start each of your responsibilities and duties using an action verb to make your resume impressive.

Example:
Self-employed
Freelance writer
2019 – Present
Researched and wrote blog posts, web content, and articles on a wide range of technical and non-technical topics.
Declared contingent winner at IIT B E-Summit among 100+ colleges from all over India.
Written over 1800 blog posts that help a website increase web traffic by 25%
Content writer for an Edtech company
Proofread and review blog posts and technical web content written by Ed Tech startups
Excellent knowledge of different writing formats like AP style

5. Mention your Skills

In everyday life, the development of life skills helps students to find new ways of thinking and problem-solving. Skill sets help you to find a potential employer and you get access to new opportunities as a professional. Irrespective of the type of interview for which you are opting, This section entails writing all technical and soft skills relevant to the job role. Technical skills are job-specific skills like proficiency in computer programming languages for software development, MATLAB, JAVAScript, and Data analysis should be mentioned.

Soft skills are your personality traits and habits that you develop over your lifetime. Some soft skills to mention in your resume with no experience are time management, organizational skills, communication skills, and good work ethics. Additionally, it may be helpful to list the languages you know. For instance, if you have proficiency in German, you can mention that you can read, write and speak in German and you are fluent in the language and do mention your level of proficiency in that particular language.

Example:
Soft skills
Communication skills
Interpersonal skills
Problem-solving skills
Time management skills
Analytical thinking
Technical skills
Proficiency in C++, Java, Javascript, and Python
Knowledge of SQL
MATLAB

6. Mention Awards and Achievements

The Awards and Achievements section plays a major role in impressing the employer. It gives them an idea about your overall personality. Employers don’t want a Nerd, they want a professional who has a lot of good experience in a variety of domains. Being an all-rounder also helps you to clear the interview smoothly. So, a resume also helps you to give an overall perspective about your personality. Giving details about the non-academic achievements during your coursework can impress potential employers.

This can include any award or achievement you earned during your volunteering activity, Sports, Extra-Curricular Activities, and other competitions. If you have won a Hackathon, Team sports events, some gaming events, or any other team events, give details about it as it shows an employer that you can work in a team. If you are the team leader then do specify about it clearly as it shows that you are capable of handling a team and it portrays that you possess leadership quality within yourself. If you have won awards in debates, mention it as it shows your public speaking skills.

Example:
Gold Medallist, 4×100 Metres Relay Race team Event, 2017, 2018 and 2020
Declared contingent winner at IIT B E-Summit among 100+ colleges from all over India.
Third prize in national debate competition organized by Indian Heritage Center, 2018
Editor of the Bombay Technologist magazine, 2016 and 2018.
Secured 1st position among 10+ colleges in suspension Prac Pro in TecNiti’14, organized by NITI

7. Mention your Hobbies and Interests

When your resume is short and concise, you can consider adding a hobbies and interests section. You can even skip this section if it is not relevant depending upon the job role. When giving details about your hobbies, align this section with the culture of a company. For instance, when applying for a software development role, mention that you create websites and APIs using different languages in your free time.

Example:
Volunteer at several children’s non-profit organizations
Avid reader of fictional and non-fictional books
Interest in creating dynamic websites in my free time

Student Resume Templates to Download Now

FAQs on Resume Format for Students

1. Can a resume be two pages?

Yes, a resume can be two pages. If you have 10+ years of experience in your industry or an exceptional amount of relevant skills and accomplishments, it’s okay to write a two-page resume. However, for entry to mid-level candidates, a one-page resume is best for most job applications.

2. How do I explain a gap in my resume?

Here’s how you explain a gap in your resume: Honestly explain why you weren’t working for that period. Be confident in your answer. Don’t stammer or look worried about the employment gap. Assure the hiring manager that you’re ready to get back to work. Explain what you learned or gained from your experience.

Having an employment gap on your resume isn’t as bad as many job seekers think it is. Employers understand there are plenty of good reasons to take time off from working and won’t hold it against you as long as you explain your situation. For example, any of the following are legitimate reasons for a gap in your resume:

• Caring for a sick family member
• Raising a child
• Going back to school
• Being laid off from your last job
• Health issues
• Working on a personal project or starting a business
• Traveling for an extended period

3. How do you write technical skills on a resume?
Here’s how you write technical skills on a resume:

• List your technical skills in the skills section of your resume. Specify the exact software, coding languages, tools, and systems you’re skilled with.
• Only list technical skills are relevant to the job you’re applying for. For example, if you’re applying for a web developer job, don’t include your expertise with accounting software.
• Match your technical skills to the ones listed in the “requirements” or “responsibilities” section of the job posting. Typically, hiring managers will spell out the exact technical expertise they’re looking for.