Student Resume Template
A student resume template is built around a different problem: with little or no paid experience, the document has to prove capability and reliability some other way. Education, projects, part-time or seasonal jobs, volunteering and activities all carry weight — they just have to be organised so the reader can see what you can do. The template below puts education first, makes room for projects with real outcomes, and keeps the whole thing on one page.
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The mistake most student resumes make is apologising. A page that opens with “I may not have much experience, but…” has told the reader to expect nothing. Employers hire students for two things: whether you can learn the work, and whether you turn up reliably. Both are provable without a career — a class project with real users, two seasons of weekend shifts, tutoring you were paid for, an event you organised with a team. The template's structure exists to put that evidence where it is read.
What a student resume template needs to hold
- Education near the top. Degree or program, school, expected graduation date, and the coursework that matches the job.
- Projects. Two to four entries — class, personal or volunteer — each with what it does, what you built, the tools, and a link.
- Work of any kind. Part-time, seasonal, retail, food service, babysitting, tutoring: described with volume and reliability rather than adjectives.
- Activities and leadership. A club you organised, a team you captained, a fundraiser you ran — leadership shows reliability.
- Skills and certifications. The posting's tools and languages first, then anything you can prove with a certificate.
- An objective line. One or two sentences naming the role and your availability; it explains why the resume exists.
Section order by stage
- High school student: header → objective → education and coursework → projects or activities → any paid work → skills.
- College student, no internship yet: header → objective or summary → education → projects → part-time work and activities → skills.
- College student with an internship: header → summary → education → experience (internship first) → projects → skills.
- Graduating within a year: start moving to the professional order — experience first as soon as there is relevant work to lead with.
Student resume example
Example resume
A one-page student resume in this template: education first, projects with links, part-time work with numbers, and a two-line objective. Switch layouts in the builder and export PDF or DOCX — free, no account.
Showing 3 of 15 free templates — open the builder to browse every layout. All 15 are free.
How to describe projects and coursework
- One line on what it is. “A course project measuring campus shuttle wait times” — the reader should know the subject without opening a link.
- One line on what you did. “Built the data collection sheet and the summary dashboard; wrote the final report.”
- One honest outcome. A count of users, a grade, a dataset size, a competition placing. If the project has no outcome yet, say what it will do or what stage it reached.
- Tools by name. Excel, Figma, Python, Canva, R, SPSS — the same words the posting uses.
- Keep coursework selective. Three or four courses that map to the job, not a full transcript list.
The education block, done properly
- Expected graduation, spelled out: “Expected May 2027”, not “2027”.
- GPA only when it helps. Include it if it is strong or the employer asks; otherwise leave it off and use the space for projects.
- Relevant coursework: three or four courses with names a non-academic reader recognises.
- Study abroad or a second major: one line, and only if it connects to the job — language skills and international experience usually do.
- Certifications with dates: a completed certificate is a finish line, which is exactly what a student resume needs to show.
ATS notes for student resumes
- Keep everything in one column: many student templates are built as poster-style layouts that a parser cannot follow.
- No photo, no icons for skills, no rating bars — none of them carry information a screening system can read.
- Use a professional-looking email address and check the phone number; the contact block is the first thing that gets mistyped.
- Write dates as month and year for every job, internship, project and activity so short commitments still count.
- Put the skills the posting asks for in a plain text list, even if you learned them in one semester — you can defend what you list.
Common mistakes on a student resume
- Filling the page with hobbies and interests instead of projects, work and activities.
- Listing high school details after starting college; keep them only if they are still your strongest credential.
- Describing a part-time job as “various duties”, which throws away the numbers you do have.
- Using two pages for a first resume, where a page of padding signals inexperience rather than depth.
- Copying a template's sample text and forgetting to replace it — recruiters notice.
- Leaving projects without links when a repository, demo or write-up would settle the question.
The layouts above are among the templates ShitResume ships, and each keeps education and projects in a single readable column so a screening system sees the same order a person does. The builder runs in the browser and stores the resume on your device — useful when you are applying from a shared or library computer — and every template and PDF or DOCX export is free, with no account needed.
Skills and keywords for this role
Use the terms that genuinely describe your work — an interviewer will ask about anything you list.
- Education first: degree or diploma, school, expected graduation, relevant coursework, GPA if it is strong
- Projects: 2–4 entries with a one-line description, the tools used and a link where one exists
- Work of any kind: part-time, seasonal, tutoring, family responsibilities — described with numbers
- Activities and leadership: clubs, teams, competitions, volunteer shifts with the responsibility named
- Skills: tools and languages the posting names first — Excel, Canva, Python, Spanish, POS systems
- Objective line: target role and availability, in one or two sentences
Frequently asked questions
What should a student resume include with no work experience?
Education first, then projects, activities or volunteering, then any paid work — even babysitting or a family business — and a short skills list. Each entry needs a specific line about what you did and, where you have one, a number: people helped, events run, datasets collected, hours per week.
How long should a student resume be?
One page. A student resume with two pages usually signals padding, because the relevant material is education, projects and part-time work. Keep the strongest project and the current job at full detail, and compress older activities to a single line each.
Should I put my GPA on a student resume?
Include it when it is strong or when the employer asks for it, and give it as a number out of 4.0. Otherwise leave it off; the space is better spent on a project with an outcome. If your GPA is mixed but your major GPA is strong, you can list the major figure with its label.
Do I need a resume as a high school student?
Yes, for first jobs, internships and some program applications. Lead with your objective and education, add any volunteering, school activities or paid work, and list the tools and skills the posting names. One page is plenty; the goal is to show reliability and willingness to learn.
Can I use the same student template for internships and first jobs?
Yes — the structure handles both. For an internship, lead with coursework and projects; for a first full-time job, move any relevant part-time work and internships above the project list. The section order shifts with your strongest evidence, not with the employer's size.
How do I list coursework and activities without looking like I am padding?
Name three or four courses that map to the job, and give each activity a responsibility and a result. “Member of the marketing club” is padding; “ran the club's Instagram account and grew event attendance” is experience. The same test applies to coursework: list the course only if you can say what you did in it.