- Use one page, one column and standard headings, saved as a text-based PDF or .docx.
- Order: contact → summary → education → skills → projects → internships → certifications and achievements.
- With no job experience, your projects, internships, college roles and certifications are your experience. Describe them with actions and results.
- Write a 2-3 line summary naming your target role and core skills, not a generic 'seeking a challenging position' objective.
- Tailor the summary, skills and project order for each job, using the exact keywords from the job post where they are true.
The best ATS-friendly resume format for freshers is a one-page, single-column document with standard headings in this order: contact details, summary, education, skills, projects, internships, and certifications and achievements. Save it as a text-based PDF or Word file. This layout is easy for applicant tracking systems to read and lets a recruiter scan your strengths in seconds.
Below you will find what to write in each section, examples for different streams, how to handle “no experience”, and the mistakes that most often get fresher resumes rejected.
Why format matters even more for freshers
With little or no work history, recruiters judge you on education, skills and projects. If the ATS cannot read those sections because of tables, columns or graphics, you have nothing left to compete with. A plain, well-structured layout protects the few strong points you have and puts them where a recruiter expects to find them.
Campus placement teams and job portals such as Naukri and LinkedIn also parse your resume, so the same rules apply whether you apply on a company site, through a portal or via your college.
The section order that works
- Name and contact details
- Summary
- Education
- Skills
- Projects
- Internships / training / work experience
- Certifications
- Achievements and positions of responsibility
If you have a strong internship, you can move it above Projects. Keep the order logical and the headings standard.
Section by section
1. Name and contact details
At the top, in the main body (not the page header):
- Full name in a slightly larger font
- Phone number with country code
- A professional email (firstname.lastname@…, not coolguy123@…)
- City and state
- LinkedIn profile URL (customised), and GitHub or portfolio link if relevant
You do not need a photo, date of birth, gender, religion, marital status, father’s name or full address for most private-sector jobs.
2. Summary (2-3 lines)
Name your degree, target role and two or three core skills, plus one proof point.
Engineering: “B.Tech CSE 2026 graduate seeking software developer roles. Skilled in Java, Spring Boot and SQL, with a final-year project on a hospital appointment system used in a college pilot.”
Commerce: “B.Com 2026 graduate seeking accounts executive roles. Skilled in Tally Prime, GST filing and Excel, with a 3-month internship at a CA firm.”
Management: “BBA 2026 graduate seeking marketing executive roles. Google Ads certified, with internship experience running Instagram campaigns for a local brand.”
3. Education
List your highest qualification first:
- Degree, specialisation, college, university, year of graduation
- CGPA or percentage, if it helps you
- Class 12 and Class 10: board, school, year, percentage (one line each)
Relevant coursework can be added in one line if it supports your target role.
4. Skills
Group skills so they are easy to scan, and use the exact names employers use:
- Technical / tools: Java, Python, SQL, Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP), Tally Prime, AutoCAD, Figma
- Domain: GST, financial accounting, digital marketing, data analysis
- Languages: English, Hindi, and any regional languages
Avoid skill bars and star ratings; ATS cannot read them. Do not list soft skills like “hardworking” here. Show them through your projects and achievements instead.
5. Projects
For most freshers, this is the section that gets you shortlisted. For each project:
- Title and the tools used
- Two or three bullets: the problem, what you did, and the result
Example:
Hospital Appointment System | Java, Spring Boot, MySQL
- Built a web app for booking and managing OPD appointments as a 3-member final-year project.
- Designed the database schema and developed the booking and doctor-schedule modules.
- Piloted with a college health centre; reduced manual register entries for appointments.
Include two to four projects, starting with the most relevant to the job.
6. Internships, training and work experience
Even short or unpaid internships count. Add:
- Role, organisation, location, dates
- Two or three achievement bullets with numbers where possible
Part-time jobs, freelance work and family-business work also show responsibility. Describe what you did and achieved.
7. Certifications
Add certifications relevant to your target role: Google, Microsoft, AWS, HubSpot, NPTEL, Coursera, NSE, and similar. Include the issuer and year.
8. Achievements and positions of responsibility
Hackathons, competitions, sports, published papers, scholarships, college club roles, events you organised or volunteered for. Add numbers where honest: “Organised a tech fest for 400+ students”, “Top 10 of 120 teams in a state-level hackathon”.
What to write when you have no experience
Turn academic and personal work into evidence:
- Final-year and mini projects, with tools and outcomes
- Internships and industrial training
- Freelance or family-business work
- College clubs, events and student bodies
- Online certifications with practical projects
- Volunteering, NSS/NCC, community work
Start bullets with action verbs (built, analysed, designed, led, organised, presented) and focus on what you personally did.
Formatting rules for ATS
| Do | Don’t |
|---|---|
| Single column | Two-column or sidebar layouts |
| Standard headings | Creative headings like “My Story” |
| Calibri, Arial or similar, 10-12 pt | Decorative or script fonts |
| Plain bullets | Icons, emoji, skill bars |
| Text-based PDF or .docx | Scanned PDF or image file |
| One page | Two or three pages |
| Consistent date format | Mixed formats like “2024”, “Jan’25”, “03/2025” |
Check your file by copying all text from the PDF and pasting it into Notepad. If the order makes sense, an ATS can read it. More detail is in our guide on how to pass ATS resume screening.
Tailor it for every application
- Read the job description and note the repeated skills and terms.
- Make sure the ones you genuinely have appear in your summary, skills and project bullets.
- Move your most relevant project to the top.
- Adjust your summary to name that role.
Five targeted applications usually beat fifty identical ones.
Mistakes that get fresher resumes rejected
- A generic objective instead of a specific summary
- Two pages of school details and hobbies, with projects squeezed at the end
- Personal details that are not needed
- Spelling mistakes, especially in tool names
- An unprofessional email address
- A Canva-style two-column design that ATS cannot read
- Listing skills you cannot answer questions on in an interview
Resume or CV?
For most private-sector jobs in India, send a one-page resume even if the posting says “CV”. Read resume vs CV in India to see when a longer CV is appropriate.
Next steps
Before you apply, run through our free, printable ATS resume checklist. If you would rather have it done for you, Rancove’s ATS Resume Writing service for freshers starts at ₹399, delivered as PDF and Word in 2-3 days with a revision round.