College Student Resume Templates + Writing Tips

Browse these resume examples for all your college student needs. Whether you’re doing an MBA, attending law school, have graduated or are about to graduate college, you can find a resume that’s the right fit for you.

On a basic level, a resume involves writing five key sections: the professional summary, work history, skills, education and contact information. Before you begin writing any of those sections, you’ll first need to gather your professional information, such as previous job titles, dates of employment, lists of skills and any certifications or qualifications.

Once you’ve got a good bulk of that information, you’ll need to tailor it to the job for which you’ll be applying. One resume won’t work perfectly for every single job for which you apply. The key to making a top-performing resume lies in making one that responds to each role’s specific needs. Let’s get started.

Narrow the job search: As a college student or recent graduate, you may choose from different types of jobs: a part-time job to make some quick cash while studying or, perhaps, an internship to get practical experience in your field. You may even want to start looking for a full-time job as your graduation approaches. Once you have made that clear distinction, you’ll be able to narrow down the skills, work experiences and qualifications you should be focusing on in your resume.

Make a list of skills and achievements: Compile a list of all your skills and your previous roles, including your official job titles and dates of employment. Make a note of any significant achievements you have accomplished in these roles or in school, as these will strengthen your resume. You should think back and pinpoint these strengths because they will become the essential parts of your resume.

Study the job ad: A resume shouldn’t be a document you recycle for every job application. Instead, you should fine-tune it to highlight the skills and qualifications the employer will value the most. Thoroughly scan the job ad for repeated skills and keywords to add to your resume. This insight will help you curate your skills section and work history to better tailor them to the job for which you’re applying.

Browse resume examples: As a college student, you might have never written a resume before. Browse trusted, professionally-made resume examples for your desired role to understand better how a resume should look. These resumes have real-life examples of skills and experiences you can use as a guide to writing your own.

Once you’ve done your prep work, you need to learn which kind of resume is best for your current professional situation. Resumes are categorized into three formats, which highlight different professional strengths. Choosing the appropriate format ensures you showcase your strengths to their highest potential.

You should carefully craft your skills section to display your most valuable assets regardless of the type of resume format you choose. Every skills section should be diverse and include a balanced amount of soft, hard and technical skills. Let’s go over what these skill types mean.

We’ve compiled a list of general skills college students in a broad range of degrees can apply to their resumes. Browse through these skills, pick the ones that truly represent your abilities, and include them in your resume.

Although listed skills sections mainly belong in chronological and combination resumes, functional resumes center around an expanded skills section. Instead of just listing skills, choose three primary professional skills and list instances where you’ve exhibited your mastery of said skill.

Check out this example of an English major college student’s functional skills section to visualize it better:

When writing your work history section, each current or previous experience should include your official title, the name of the company you worked for, its location and dates of employment. Each role needs to be listed in reverse-chronological order, meaning you start with your current or most recent position first and work backward to your oldest jobs.

However, on functional resumes, the work history is much more limited, and you can omit the bullet points detailing accomplishments.

To maximize the impact of your work history section, you must do more than list your job responsibilities. Don’t simply write the daily tasks anyone in that job can do, but instead feature personal achievements that demonstrate how you overcame challenges or went above and beyond your plain duties. It also helps if you use strong action phrases and incorporate numbers to quantify your accomplishments.

For example, look at this work history entry for a Journalism grad school student:

Your education section will consist of your current and past degrees listed in reverse chronological order. Each entry must include the degree title, the institution or institutions you attended (for example, if you transferred schools), attendance dates and graduation date if it applies to you.

Check out this example of an education section:

Besides your main resume sections, you can also pack your resume with additional sections highlighting more skills, qualifications and professional insight that you may not accurately express in just a work history or skills section.

In all resumes, you should head your document with your full name, email address, phone number, city and state, and — if appropriate for your desired role — professional social media accounts, LinkedIn or a link to an online work portfolio.