Guide · Freshers
Resume format for freshers that gets past an ATS
Most companies run applications through an applicant tracking system before a recruiter reads them. This is a layout those systems read cleanly, in the order a recruiter expects from someone starting out, with what to write in each part and what to leave out.
A year or more into work? Résumé format for experienced professionals.
The format, top to bottom
One page, one column, in this order.
- 01
Name and contact
Name, phone, email, city, LinkedIn or GitHub. Plain text at the top, not in a header image.
- 02
Summary
Two lines: the role you want and the strongest thing you bring to it.
- 03
Education
Degree, college, year, and CGPA or percentage. For a fresher this goes near the top.
- 04
Skills
The tools and languages you can actually use, grouped. Match the words the job post uses.
- 05
Projects
Two to four, each with what you built, how, and a result you can show.
- 06
Internships
Same shape as a job: role, company, dates, and 2–4 bullets on what you did.
- 07
Certifications and achievements
Only the ones that matter to the role. Hackathon wins, ranks, published work.
What makes it ATS-friendly
One column
Two-column layouts often get read across both columns line by line, mixing your skills into your education.
Plain section names
"Education", "Skills", "Projects", "Experience". An ATS sorts your résumé by its headings; "My Journey" is not one it knows.
Real text, not images
If you can't select the text in your PDF, neither can the software. Export from Word or Google Docs, never from a photo or a scan.
No tables or text boxes for key details
Contact details inside a text box or a table cell are the most common thing an ATS misses entirely.
A standard font
Calibri, Arial, Garamond, or similar, at 10–12 pt. Icons and unusual fonts can turn into blanks or symbols.
PDF, unless they ask for Word
A text PDF keeps your layout and is read fine by modern systems. Name it clearly: Firstname-Lastname-Resume.pdf.
Weak lines and strong ones
A strong line says what you did, how, and what came of it, with a number where there is one. Describe only what you really did; an interviewer will ask about every line.
Summary
Seeking a challenging position in a reputed organisation where I can utilise my skills for the growth of the company.
Computer science graduate (2026) who builds full-stack web apps in React and Node.js; shipped a bill-splitting app used by 200 people a month.
Project
Made an e-commerce website using HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
Built a product catalogue and cart in React with a Node.js API and MySQL; cut page load from 4s to 1.2s by paginating queries.
Internship
Responsible for testing and helped the team with various tasks.
Wrote 40 unit tests for the payments service, raising coverage from 52% to 78% and catching two refund bugs before release.
What to leave out
- Photo, date of birth, father's name, marital status, religion
- Not needed for most private-sector jobs, and they take space your skills need. Add them only when an employer asks, as some government applications do.
- A "Declaration" at the bottom
- "I hereby declare that the above information is true" adds nothing; your application already says so.
- An "Objective" line about what you want
- Replace it with a summary of what you offer. Recruiters read the first lines most closely.
- Every subject you studied
- List the coursework that matches the job, or none. Five relevant subjects beat twenty.
- Skill bars and star ratings
- "Python ●●●●○" means nothing to a recruiter and nothing to an ATS. Show the skill in a project instead.
- Hobbies, unless they show something
- "Reading and music" can go. "Run a 2,000-member coding club" stays, perhaps under achievements.
Questions freshers ask
Should a fresher's resume be one page?
Yes. One page is enough for almost every fresher and is what recruiters expect. Move to a second page only for substantial internships or published work.
Should I put my CGPA if it is low?
Many companies set a cut-off and will ask anyway, so leaving it out rarely helps. If it is below the usual 6.5–7 bar, list it and let strong projects carry the page. If your recent semesters are much better, say so.
Education first or experience first?
Education first while you have no full-time experience. Once you have a year or more of work, experience moves above it.
Is a Canva template ATS-friendly?
Often not. Many designed templates use two columns, icons and text boxes that applicant tracking systems read poorly. Check that you can select and copy every line of the exported PDF.
Do I need a different resume for every job?
Not a different one, a tuned one. Keep one master résumé, and for each application move the most relevant projects up and use the job post's own words for skills you really have.
Build it in this format, then aim it at a job
BananaJobz builds your résumé in a single-column, ATS-readable layout, scores it against the jobs you want, and shows which skills each one asks for that your résumé doesn't mention. It never adds anything you didn't write. Free to start.
Start freeWant it step by step? Build a fresher resume in 20 minutes or see a fresher resume go from 58 to 81
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