How to Create Resume for Freshers (With Steps & Tips)

If you are about to exit high school or university and enter the workforce for the first time, you will need to write a fresher resume.

What Is a Fresher Resume?

The resume format for freshers is different to the traditional type, as it focuses more on skills and personal strengths, rather than an extensive list of work experience.

This resume for freshers is important when applying for jobs, as it will help the employer decide if the skills and assets you have highlighted will be suitable for the job role, without being able to judge this on employment history and work references.

Graduates have little or no job history and can find it a challenge to create an impressive fresher resume, because they feel they do not have much to include.

This article will look at how to write a resume for freshers, how to create it and ideas for an appropriate template.

What Is the Best Resume Format for Freshers?

There are some standard factors that need to be included in the freshers resume to ensure all areas are covered and you are showing your strengths and experience as well as possible.

It is typical to set out traditional resumes chronologically around employment history.

A resume for fresher is different as it focuses on the qualifications, skills and assets of the individual more than work experience, as employment is likely to be minimal or non-existent.

Many of the other usual factors need to be included to prepare a resume for freshers.

Here are some pointers on what to include:

Start With Contact Details

As with all resumes, it is recommended to add contact details at the top, so that an employer instantly knows who you are and can easily find this information if they want to discuss anything further or ask you to an interview.

The contact details should include:

• Full name
• Address
• Phone number
• Email address

This gives the employer options for contacting you.

Polish Off Your Resume Format for Freshers With a Career Objective

This is a personal statement that is typically two or three sentences. It explains your motivation for your career, your passion or interest in the particular role, any awards or high achievements and a summary of relevant skills.

This statement often follows the contact details. Spend some time on it to ensure it is concise, short and snappy but also informative and grabs the reader’s attention.

One other thing to bear in mind is that whatever is said here should be backed up and proven in the rest of the resume.

Add Your Education and Voluntary Experience

The next section contains details of your education history and any work experience and voluntary experience. It may not seem like volunteering through the Scouts at school is relevant, but it shows commitment and skills that can be essential for the applied role.

Part-time roles should also be included as they show work ethic and the ability to commit to a job whilst studying, which highlights resilience.

The education section should include all academic, sporting and other achievements, formal exam grades, diplomas and other qualifications.

This is also the place to add in the five years you spent in the school drama club or the university chess team, highlighting the skills that this experience taught you.

Include Skills to Your Resume for Freshers

This part of the fresher resume can include a summary of any skills already mentioned, as well as adding others.

This is the place to mention the foreign language you can speak fluently or your great typing skills. It is also the space to suggest other soft skills such as motivation and flexibility.

Throughout the resume, but particularly in the skills section, it is important to include skills that would suit the role.

Although some skills and experience are good to include for every job, there are some that will be pertinent only for specific job positions.

You can also show how your skills can be adapted and applied to the job in hand.

Show Your Willingness to Learn

Highlighting a desire to learn new skills and expand knowledge could set one person’s resume apart from others.

An employer is typically looking for a candidate who is willing to keep up with the latest technologies and develop other skills that will help in their role.

Mentioning which skills you would like to learn could be entered in this part of the resume.

Attach Your Professional Social Media

In fresher resumes today, it is common to include professional social media accounts, where an employer can see more about you and get a feel for your personality.

Only include professional accounts that you are happy for a potential employer to see. LinkedIn and Twitter are often the popular ones to add here.

This information can be included in the contact details or at the bottom of the resume, with a sentence explaining that this is where the employer can find out more about you.

Count up Any Other Interests and Hobbies

Another section to add in could be any other interests or hobbies that haven’t been mentioned already.

An employer may love to see that you go for a run every morning to set you up for the day.

Be mindful, though, that it could be detrimental to state that a certain interest or hobby takes up a lot of your time – your employer could view that as less commitment to the role.

Point To Your References

This section includes two or more references that an employer can contact to confirm what is in the resume.

The references should include at least one professional person, such as an old employer, colleague, teacher or professor.

The other could be a professional who knows you on a personal level and can vouch for you.

These people may be asked to write a short reference about you. They could also be sent a questionnaire to complete with questions about you, such as if you are good at timekeeping, your personal traits and if they would recommend you.

Once all this information has been collated, there are some points to follow to ensure a successful fresher resume is created:

Resume Template for Freshers

One template that could be followed to ensure everything is included and it flows nicely is the one below:

Final Thoughts

To create a resume for fresher when you have minimal work experience may seem like a difficult challenge.

However, everyone has personal skills and assets – it is just about highlighting them, applying them to the role and making them easy for an employer to spot.