Knowing how to create a resume for freshers with no experience is crucial as it marks the start of your career. This fresher’s guide to writing your first job resume explains each step clearly with practical examples. It offers the right fresher resume format and samples along with a free template you can use as a starting point to create an impressive resume.
Recruiters spend just 7 seconds on a fresher's resume before they decide. That single page is the only thing standing between you and a callback. The best part? You don't need work experience to land a strong first job. You need a clean structure, the right keywords, and proof you can deliver. This guide on how to write a resume for freshers gives you seven steps, ten samples, and a one-page template you can copy today.
A fresher resume needs to prove three things fast. You've got the right skills. You can apply them. You fit the role. Recruiters don't expect five years of work history from you. They expect clean structure, real projects, and proof you've done something beyond classroom learning.
You don't need fancy designs or padded paragraphs. You need the right blocks, in the right order, with the right keywords. Get those three things right and you'll clear the ATS filter at TCS, Infosys, Accenture, and Wipro.
Every fresher resume in 2026 should include these six blocks, in this exact order:
Soft skills, hobbies, and references go at the bottom. Many recruiters skip them. To pick stronger verbs for each block, see this short list of action verbs for your resume.
According to a 2026 NASSCOM HR tech report, recruiters spend an average of 6 to 8 seconds on each fresher CV. They scan a tight Z-pattern. Top-left to top-right (your name and target role). Then a diagonal sweep to the middle (education and skills). Then a quick check on the right (recent project or cert).
Here's what they look for in those seven seconds:
If those four signals don't show without scrolling, your file gets parked. Parked usually means forgotten.
The biggest mistake freshers make is copying an experienced pro's template. The two formats serve different goals. An experienced resume sells past wins. A fresher resume sells future potential through proof of effort.
| Element | Fresher Resume | Experienced Resume |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 1 page only | 1-2 pages |
| Top section | Career objective | Professional summary |
| Main focus | Education, projects, skills | Work experience, KPIs |
| Education placement | Top (after objective) | Bottom (after experience) |
| Skills section | Detailed, 8-12 skills | Short, 5-7 core skills |
| Achievements | Hackathons, fests, papers | Revenue, team size, KPIs |
| Internships | Featured up top | Skip or merge with experience |
| CGPA/percentage | Always included | Skip after 3 years of work |
Knowing how to write a resume for freshers is half the battle. The other half is doing it in the right order. Skip the order and you'll spend hours on a layout that flops at the ATS stage.
Use this seven-step sequence the next time you sit down to draft your CV.
Step 1 is the file. Open a fresh Google Doc or Word file. Pick a clean font like Arial or Calibri at 11 point. Set your margins to one inch on all sides.
Step 2 is the contact block. Type your full name, city, phone number, and a clean email. 'priya.sharma94@gmail.com' beats 'cool_priya_94@yahoo.com' every time. Add your LinkedIn URL on the next line.
Step 3 is the career objective for freshers resume. Write two short lines. State the role you want, plus one or two skills you bring. Tweak this for every application. A copy-paste objective is the fastest way to lose a recruiter's attention.
Step 4 is education. List your degree, college, year of passing, and CGPA. Add Class 12 board if you graduated in the last twelve months. Skip Class 10 once you're at the degree stage.
Step 5 is skills. Pick eight to twelve hard skills tied to the job ad. Group them by type "" programming, tools, languages, certs.
Step 6 is projects. Pick the three strongest. Each needs a title, the tech you used, what you built, and one number that shows the result.
Step 7 is the polish. Save the file as a PDF. Run it past two friends. Then run it through a free ats resume checker before you hit apply.
The right resume format for freshers depends on what you want to highlight. Most people pick one template they found online and hope. That's a mistake. Indian recruiters use ATS tools that parse some layouts cleanly and break on others.
Three formats work for freshers in 2026. Reverse-chronological. Functional. Combination. Each one fits a specific profile. Pick based on your strongest pitch.
This is the format eight in ten freshers should use. It lists your most recent wins first and works backward. It's clean, ATS-friendly, and matches what hiring teams expect.
Use this format if you have:
The flow goes top-down. Contact, then objective, education, internships, projects, skills, certifications. Indian campus teams at TCS, Infosys, and Wipro prefer this layout.
The functional format groups your skills first. It pushes timelines and education to the bottom. It's useful when you've got a gap or your degree doesn't match the target role.
Use this layout if you:
Warning: many ATS tools struggle with this layout. Use it only when you apply through a referral or to a hiring manager direct. The ATS-friendly resume tips guide breaks down what trips up parsers.
The combination format mixes both styles. It opens with a skills summary, follows with reverse-chronological education and projects, and ends with certs. Pick this when your projects are genuinely impressive.
Use it if you have:
It works well for engineering students with strong capstones and B.Com grads with finance internships.
A blank work history feels like a wall. It isn't. You've got course projects, internships, club roles, hackathons, and self-taught skills. Each of those is real proof. The trick is to package them so a recruiter sees output, not just topics.
Use this simple resume format when you're starting from scratch.
Skip the line 'Recent graduate seeking opportunity to grow.' It's filler. It tells the recruiter nothing.
Open with a skills snapshot instead. Three rows of hard skills tied to the job ad. Then a one-line tagline below. Something like: 'B.Tech CSE, VIT Vellore, with hands-on projects in Python, SQL, and Tableau across two paid internships.'
That single line shows the degree, the school, the tools, and the proof of use. It does the job of a 100-word summary in 22 words.
Coursework counts when you frame it like work. Pick the three projects closest to the role you want. Use this template each time:
Project Title "" Tech stack
Fresher example: 'College admission chatbot. Python, Rasa. Trained on 500 FAQs from 12 college websites. Cut walk-in queries by 40% during the fest pilot.'
That single bullet shows tech, use, and result. It's the same shape recruiters at Infosys, TCS, and Accenture scan for.
Cert courses, freelance gigs, and volunteer roles count. They show you go past the syllabus.
Pick three to five certs that match the job. NPTEL, Coursera, Google, AWS, and HubSpot all carry weight in 2026. Drop random one-day webinars. They add clutter and zero value.
A resume for freshers with no experience built this way reads stronger than a half-empty work block. You're showing effort, not making excuses.
Recruiters spend just seven seconds on a fresher CV. They want quick proof you can do the job. Your skills and projects block is where you give them that proof. Pick skills tied to the ad. Pick projects with real outcomes.
This is where most freshers slip. They list 30 skills with no context. Or they sum up projects in one fuzzy line. Both moves get the file binned in seconds.
Hard skills are tools, languages, and tested know-how. Soft skills are habits like teamwork or time management. Recruiters care more about hard skills for entry roles. They can teach soft skills on the job.
Use this split for a clean skills block:
Don't list 'Microsoft Word' or 'internet research' as skills. Both make you look weak. Don't claim 'expert' in tools you used in just one project.
These three carry the most weight on a fresher CV. They show real-world exposure beyond marks. List each one with dates, role, and one clear outcome.
Order them by impact, not by date. A two-month paid stint at TCS beats a six-month unpaid college club role. A live freelance project for a local shop beats a free Coursera cert.
Experienced example: A 2024 graduate now in her first year at Wipro applies for a senior analyst role. She mirrors phrases from the JD: 'SQL reporting', 'stakeholder management', 'Power BI dashboards'. Each phrase shows up in the skills block and again in one bullet under work. The ATS ranks her file in the top tier.
Most large Indian employers run files through an Applicant Tracking System first. The ATS scans your file before any human sees it. If the parser chokes on your fancy template, you're rejected with no review. An ats friendly resume is plain, keyword-rich, and built for machine reading.
This isn't about gaming the system. It's about not failing a basic format check.
Stick to these rules and you'll clear most parsers used by TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Accenture, Cognizant, and HDFC.
The ATS ranks your file by how well it matches the job description. Mirror the ad's exact phrasing. If the ad says 'data visualisation', don't write 'graphing tools'. Match it word for word.
Place keywords in three spots:
Don't keyword-stuff. Repeat the same term ten times in a row and the parser drops your rank. Use each main keyword two to four times across the whole file.
A good fresher resume sample changes shape by stream. The bones stay the same. The skills block, projects, and certs shift to fit the role. Use these mini-templates as a starter pack.
This kind of resume template for freshers works because each line ties a skill to proof. No filler. No fluff.
A fresher resume should be one page only. You don't have enough work history to fill two pages. Recruiters spend just 6 to 8 seconds on each file. Keep it tight, focused, and easy to skim. Two-page resumes for freshers often get cut at the first screening stage by both the ATS and the recruiter.
No, photos aren't needed for most Indian private-sector jobs. They take up space and can trigger unconscious bias. Skip the photo unless you're applying for roles in aviation, hospitality, modelling, or a government post that asks for one. Use that space for a stronger skills summary or one extra project bullet instead.
Lead with academic projects, internships, certs, and college wins. Add volunteer work, hackathons, club roles, and freelance gigs. Quantify each one. Did you lead a team of 12? Did your project win a prize? List relevant coursework and tools you've learned. For a fresher, skills and projects matter far more than job titles.
Use a clean simple resume format with standard section headings. Stick to fonts like Arial or Calibri at 10 to 12 point. Save as a PDF unless the ad asks for Word. Avoid tables, columns, headers, footers, and graphics. Use keywords from the job description naturally across your skills, project, and objective blocks.
Use the reverse-chronological layout for engineering freshers. Place education right after the objective since it's your strongest credential. List your B.Tech, branch, college, CGPA, and graduation year. Add a 'Technical Skills' block. Include two or three strong projects with measurable outcomes, GitHub links, and the tools you used.
Writing a resume for freshers is easier once you stop trying to look senior. Lead with what you've got. Don't apologise for what you don't. Every fresher has projects, coursework, internships, certs, or volunteer work worth showing. Your job is to package these into a one-page, ats friendly resume that proves you can deliver from day one.
Stick to the basics. A clean simple resume format. A sharp career objective. Quantified project outcomes. Skills tied to the job. A tight education block. Tailor each draft by mirroring keywords from the ad. Run it through an ats resume checker before you send it. Recruiters reject nearly three in four resumes at the first screen, mostly for fixable formatting and keyword issues.
According to Naukri data from 91M+ profiles, freshers who tweak their CV for each application get callbacks at three times the rate of those who blast out one generic file. The extra 15 minutes per application pays off in interviews.
Ready to build your first professional CV? Try Naukri Resume Maker "" it's free, ATS-friendly, and built for the Indian job market with templates for engineering, MBA, commerce, and arts streams. You'll have a recruiter-ready resume in under 20 minutes.
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One page is ideal. Two pages maximum if you have extensive relevant projects and activities. Avoid going over two pages.
When applying for an internship, focus on skills, coursework, and projects instead of work experience. Highlight what you have learned and how it relates to the internship role. Keep the resume one page and use a simple format.
If you have a gap year, be honest and use that time positively. Mention online courses, certifications, freelance work, volunteering, or skill development. Focus on what you learned during the gap instead of leaving it unexplained.
Choose a simple and ATS-friendly resume template. Replace sample text with your own details. Avoid changing fonts, spacing, or adding design elements that may affect readability. Always customise the content for each job role.
Briefly summarize your top skills, strengths, and career goals. Tailor this directly to match each job description you apply to.
PDF is the preferred file format. This maintains consistent formatting across different systems.
No, References only take up valuable space. You can provide those later if requested by a recruiter.
Yes, a few interests and hobbies provide a window into your personality. Just keep descriptions brief, like "Photography, Tennis, Blogging".
No. Focus extracurricular and academic sections fully on your bachelor's degree and college achievements.
There is a popular confusion about a CV and a resume, which one should you choose. Most freshers should use a resume. It is more suitable because:
● It is concise, fitting limited experience on 1-2 pages
● Allows focus on skills and potential rather than extensive history
● More common in entry-level job applications
However, if applying for academic positions or in certain countries, a CV might be preferred. Always check the job application requirements.
Your career deserves the best start. Begin your career journey with Naukri's AI Resume Maker or pick from professionally designed Resume Templates - the smarter way to create a professional resume that stands out. Along with resume maker service, dive into expert Career Advice, and discover career tips, guidance, and growth insights on Naukri's Blog. Explore Naukri Campus for career opportunities for freshers.
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