# Recent graduate resume: what to include and examples > What goes on a recent graduate resume and in what order: where education belongs, how to write up internships and projects, and summary examples to adapt. - Canonical URL: https://jobbie.bot/blog/recent-graduate-resume - Topic: [Resumes](https://jobbie.bot/guides/resumes) - Published by [Jobbie](https://jobbie.bot/) · Updated 2026-10-06 · 8 min read A recent graduate resume puts education at or near the top, then presents internships, projects and part-time or campus jobs as experience, each with results. Add a two-line summary that names your degree, your strongest relevant experience and the role you want, a short skills section, and keep the whole thing to one page. Order the sections by strength. If you have a relevant internship, it can go above education. If your degree is the main thing you offer, education leads. ## Key takeaways - Education stays near the top for your first job search and moves down as full-time experience builds. - Internships are your strongest evidence. Write them like jobs, with results, not as a list of tasks you helped with. - Projects, research and campus jobs fill the rest. Pick the ones closest to the role. - A summary earns its space only when it is specific: degree, proof, target. - Cut high school, minor clubs and long course lists. One page is the norm. ## What to include on a recent graduate resume | Section | What goes in it | | --- | --- | | Header | Name, city and state, phone, email, LinkedIn or portfolio link | | Summary | Two lines: degree, best relevant experience, target role | | Education | Degree, school, graduation month and year, honors, GPA if it helps, capstone or thesis, a few relevant courses | | Experience | Internships, co-ops, research assistantships, part-time and campus jobs | | Projects | Capstone, research, competitions, substantial course or personal projects | | Leadership and activities | Offices held, teams, volunteering, one line each | | Skills | Software, tools, languages, certifications | Internships deserve the most space. In the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Job Outlook 2026 survey, employers named an internship with their own organization or within their industry as the most influential factor when choosing between two otherwise equally qualified candidates. Skills deserve attention too. In the same survey, 70% of employers reported using skills-based hiring, most often when screening and interviewing, and NACE’s advice to students is that those skills should appear in the resume and cover letter. ## Where education goes and what to put in it A resume guide from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) calls the education section especially important for recent graduates. Where it sits depends on what else you have: - **Education first** if you graduated in the last year or two and your degree is your strongest qualification for the role. - **Experience first** if you have an internship or job that matches the role closely, or your degree is in an unrelated field. - **Education last** later on. Grand Valley State University’s career center advises alumni to move education toward the bottom as professional experience grows. ```Education section: recent graduate EDUCATION Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Calder State University, May 2026 Minor in Mathematics | GPA 3.5 | Dean's List, six semesters Senior capstone: Designed and tested a low-cost water filtration rig with a four-person team Relevant coursework: Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Machine Design, Control Systems ``` A few rules for the details: - **Graduation date.** Give the month and year. Write “Expected May 2027” if the degree is not yet awarded. - **GPA.** Include it if it helps. NACE reports that 42% of employers in its Job Outlook 2026 survey screen candidates by GPA, down from 73% in 2019, so it matters to some employers and not to others. The guide to [GPA on a resume](https://jobbie.bot/blog/gpa-on-resume) covers the thresholds. - **Coursework.** List four to six courses by name, chosen for the job. Drop the list once you have experience to replace it. - **High school.** Leave it off. The BLS guide notes that college graduates need not list high school credentials. ## How to write internships as experience Format an internship exactly like a job: title, organization, location, dates. Then write bullets about what you produced. Words like “assisted,” “shadowed” and “exposed to” describe being present, not contributing. ```Before and after: internship bullets Before: Assisted the marketing team with social media After: Wrote and scheduled 40 social posts during a 10-week internship; the top three drew twice the account's average engagement Before: Shadowed engineers and attended design meetings After: Ran tensile tests on 60 weld samples and summarized the results in a report used in the team's design review Before: Helped with month-end close After: Reconciled 12 bank accounts each month and flagged two duplicate payments ``` Three more points: - **Short is fine.** A ten-week internship is real experience. State the length or the dates and let the results speak. - **Mention a return offer.** “Received an offer to return” is a fact that tells an employer how the internship went. - **Keep unrelated jobs.** A campus dining job or retail work shows reliability and customer skills, especially if you worked while studying full time. One or two bullets each is enough. The guide to [transferable skills](https://jobbie.bot/blog/transferable-skills) shows how to word them for a professional role. ## How to list projects and research Projects are how you show skills you have not yet been paid to use. Give each one a title, its context and date, the tools you used and what came of it. ```Project and research entries Capstone: Inventory Forecasting Model, Supply Chain Analytics, Spring 2026 - Built a demand forecast in Python for a regional grocery distributor's 200 top products - Presented the findings to the company's operations manager Research Assistant, Cognitive Development Lab, September 2024 to May 2026 - Recruited 85 participants and ran each through a 30-minute study protocol - Cleaned and coded the data in R for a conference poster Senior Thesis: Rent Burden in Mid-Sized Cities, Spring 2026 - Analyzed census data for 40 cities in a 45-page paper awarded departmental honors ``` Choose two or three that match the job, and link to the work if it is online. If projects and coursework are most of what you have, the layout in the guide to a [resume with no experience](https://jobbie.bot/blog/resume-with-no-experience) will suit you better. ## Summary examples for recent graduates A graduate summary has three parts: your degree and field, your best proof, and the role you want. Skip it if you cannot make it specific. ```Summary examples for recent graduates Finance: Finance graduate with two internships in corporate accounting. Reconciled 12 accounts a month and built an Excel model the team now uses for quarterly forecasts. Seeking a financial analyst role. Computer science: Computer science graduate with a year of part-time web development for a university office. Shipped three features used by about 4,000 students. Seeking a junior front-end developer role. Liberal arts: English graduate with two years as a writing center tutor and a marketing internship. Wrote 40 published social posts and edited a 20-page annual report. Seeking a communications role. Nursing: BSN graduate and newly licensed RN whose final practicum was on a medical-surgical unit. Seeking a new graduate residency position. No internship: Biology graduate with three semesters of lab courses and a senior research project on water quality. Experienced with PCR, pipetting and data analysis in R. Seeking a lab technician role. ``` There are more models, for other levels too, in these [resume summary examples](https://jobbie.bot/blog/resume-summary-examples). ## A full example of a recent graduate resume Here the internship is the strongest evidence, so experience gets the most space, while education stays near the top because the degree is new. ```Example: recent graduate resume PRIYA NAIR Austin, TX | 512-555-0164 | priya.nair@example.com | linkedin.com/in/priyanair SUMMARY Marketing graduate with a 12-week agency internship and two years running social media for a campus office. Seeking a marketing coordinator role. EDUCATION Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing, Hartwell University, May 2026 GPA 3.6 | Dean's List, five semesters EXPERIENCE Marketing Intern, Brightside Creative, Austin, TX, June to August 2025 - Drafted 30 email campaigns for four retail clients; average open rate rose from 21% to 26% - Built the weekly performance report in Google Sheets that the account team still uses Social Media Assistant, Hartwell University Admissions, September 2023 to May 2025 - Planned and posted four times a week; grew the office's Instagram following from 3,200 to 5,900 PROJECTS Capstone: Launch plan for a local bakery's online ordering, Spring 2026 - Surveyed 120 customers and presented a three-month plan to the owner SKILLS Google Analytics, Mailchimp, Canva, Excel, Spanish (conversational) ``` ## What to cut to keep it to one page The BLS guide observes that most students and recent graduates use a one-page resume. To get there: - Remove high school, and clubs where you only attended. - Trim coursework to one line, or cut it. - Give unrelated jobs one or two bullets. - Drop “References available upon request.” - Keep the layout plain. A single column with standard headings also keeps the page readable by hiring software; see the guide to an [ATS-friendly resume](https://jobbie.bot/blog/ats-friendly-resume). If you still run long, the guide to [resume length](https://jobbie.bot/blog/resume-length) explains what to cut first. ## Frequently asked questions ### Should education go first on a recent graduate resume? Usually, yes. For your first job search after graduating, education is often your strongest qualification, so it goes directly under your summary. Put experience first instead if you have an internship or job that closely matches the role, or if your degree is unrelated to it. ### How long should a recent graduate resume be? One page. Most students and recent graduates use a one-page resume, and it is long enough for a degree, one to three internships or jobs, a few projects and a skills section. A second page is reasonable only with substantial relevant experience. ### Should I put my GPA on my resume as a recent graduate? Include it if it strengthens your application; a common guideline is 3.0 or above. Some employers screen new graduates by GPA and may ask for it anyway. If your overall GPA is weak but your major GPA is stronger, you can list the major GPA and label it. ### Should I list part-time jobs unrelated to my degree? Yes, briefly. Unrelated jobs show that you are reliable, can deal with customers and can manage work alongside study. Give each one or two bullets with a number or a sign of trust, such as training new staff or closing the store, and save the space for relevant experience. ### What if I graduated without an internship? Lead with education, then use projects, research, campus jobs and volunteering as your experience. Describe each with a title, dates and results, the same way you would an internship. A capstone or research project done for a real client or lab is strong evidence when it is written up well. ## Sources - [NACE: What Students Need to Know About the Skills-Based Hiring Process](https://www.naceweb.org/job-market/trends-and-predictions/what-students-need-to-know-about-the-skills-based-hiring-process): Job Outlook 2026 findings on internships, skills-based hiring and GPA screening. - [U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Résumés, applications, and cover letters (2009)](https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2009/summer/art03.pdf): the education section for recent graduates, the 3.0 guideline, high school credentials and one-page resumes. - [Purdue Online Writing Lab: Education Section](https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/job_search_writing/resumes_and_vitas/resume_workshop/education_section.html): placing education by its strength, and listing major GPA and coursework. - [Grand Valley State University Career Center: Resume Guide for Adults & Alumni](https://www.gvsu.edu/careers/adult-learner-alumni-resume-guide-553.htm): moving education toward the bottom as experience grows.