Use this recent graduate resume example to see how to present experience, skills, and measurable results. Adapt the structure, add your details, and download a PDF in ResumeQuill.
Marketing graduate with internship experience in content and social media. Co-led university campaign reaching 12K students. Strong in copywriting, social media strategy, and data analysis using Google Analytics and Excel.
EDUCATION
BA Marketing · 2024 (2:1)
Modules: Consumer Behaviour, Digital Marketing Strategy, Brand Management, Market Research
EXPERIENCE
Marketing Intern — GrowthAgencyJun–Sep 2023
Managed Instagram and LinkedIn accounts (combined 8K followers) for 3 months
Wrote and scheduled 40+ posts; average engagement rate of 4.2% vs 2.1% industry benchmark
Assisted in keyword research and content brief creation for SEO blog posts
Produced weekly performance report for account manager review
Content & Comms Officer — University Students' Union2022–2023
Co-led freshers marketing campaign; materials reached 12K new students
Created weekly newsletter (1,400 subscribers, 28% open rate)
Organised 3 campus events, coordinating logistics for 200+ attendees each
SKILLS
Copywriting, social media management, Google Analytics, Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP), Canva, Mailchimp, SEO basics
ACADEMIC PROJECTS
Dissertation: Consumer trust in social media influencer marketing (Grade: 72%)
Group project: Go-to-market strategy for fictional SaaS product; presented to industry panel
Resume summary examples
The summary is the first thing a recruiter reads. Pick the version that matches your experience and swap in your own numbers.
Entry level
Marketing graduate with a 6-month placement running social media for a 40-person agency, where posting to a content calendar took engagement up 34%. Ran the university society's events for 200 members and finished a dissertation on consumer behaviour with a first.
Mid level
Graduate with a year of internships across two companies, covering campaign support, reporting and customer communication. Automated a weekly report that took 4 hours into a 20-minute task, and handled 30 customer emails a day during a product launch.
Senior level
Recent graduate returning to work after a career change, with 4 years in retail management before a degree in computer science. Led a team of 9, cut stock loss by 22%, and now build web applications — bringing operational judgement that most junior developers do not have.
How to write a recent graduate resume
Lead with what you've done, not what you lack
The worst thing a graduate resume can do is apologise for having no experience. Internships, university roles, societies, and academic projects are all legitimate experience — structure them the same way you would a job. Every bullet should describe a real contribution with a specific outcome. The goal is to show that you can contribute from day one.
University projects belong on the resume
Final year dissertations, group projects, case competitions, and presentations to external panels are all relevant — especially if they show research, analysis, communication, or project management. List the grade if it was strong. Describe the output: "presented to an industry panel", "commissioned by the department", "graded 72%".
Quantify everything, even small things
Graduates often avoid numbers because they feel too small. 40 social posts, 8K followers, 1,400 newsletter subscribers, 200 attendees — these numbers add real credibility. Include any metric you have: engagement rates, audience size, event headcount, grades, satisfaction scores.
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Ready-made resume bullet points
Copy a line, replace the numbers with yours and keep the verb at the front — that is what makes an achievement readable.
Grew a company social account from 1,200 to 4,800 followers in six months, lifting engagement 34%
Automated a weekly sales report in Excel, cutting preparation from 4 hours to 20 minutes
Handled 30 customer emails a day during a launch period with a 4-hour average response time
Ran a university society of 200 members, organising 12 events a year on a €4,000 budget
Completed a final-year project analysing 15,000 survey responses, graded in the top 10% of the cohort
Built and shipped a web app with 40 regular users, from database design to deployment
Worked 20 hours a week throughout a full-time degree while maintaining a first-class average
Trained 5 new part-time staff on the till and stock systems during a seasonal peak
Translated a 30-page technical document from English into two languages for a volunteer organisation
Presented dissertation findings to a department audience of 60 students and staff
Key skills for a recent graduate resume
Hard skills
The core tools of your field: name them, at the level you would use unsupervised
Data handling: spreadsheets beyond basics, and whatever analysis your course covered
Written communication: reports, documentation, anything assessed on clarity
Languages, with a level anyone would recognise
Project work: planning to a deadline, coordinating people who are not paid to help you
The specific technical skill your degree gave you that most applicants will not have
Soft skills
Asking a question early rather than being stuck politely for two days
Taking feedback on work you are proud of without going quiet
Keeping a commitment when nobody is checking
Writing a message that gets a reply from a busy person
Keywords for ATS
Applicant tracking systems match your resume against the wording of the posting. Use the terms you genuinely know.
graduate
entry level
internship
placement
degree
dissertation
university project
teamwork
communication skills
time management
data analysis
Microsoft Excel
presentation skills
problem solving
customer service
social media
volunteering
part-time work
leadership
initiative
What to show when you have no work history
With little paid experience, evidence carries the application. Four kinds of it are worth building, and the fourth is what separates two otherwise identical graduates.
Your final-year project, written up as work: the question, the method, the data, the result. Include the grade if it was strong, and a link if it can be shared.
One self-directed project in your field — an analysis, a built tool, a campaign plan, a piece of writing. Finished and documented beats ambitious and abandoned every time.
Anything you organised for other people: a society, an event, a team, a fundraiser. Give the numbers — members, attendees, budget — because coordination under a deadline is exactly what a first job requires.
A short write-up of your reasoning for one of them: what you tried, what did not work, what you would do differently. Almost no graduate includes this, and it is the thing interviewers remember.
What the first graduate interview will ask
Graduate interviews are more predictable than most. These four come up in nearly every process, and each one maps to something you can prepare from your own resume.
"Tell me about yourself." Two minutes: what you studied, one thing you have done with a result, and why this role. Not your life story, and not a list of your resume headings.
"Give an example of working in a team." Have one with a difficulty in it — a member who did not deliver, a deadline that moved. A frictionless example tells the interviewer nothing about you.
"Why this company?" Name something specific: a product, a recent change, the market they work in. A generic answer here ends more graduate applications than any skills gap.
"What do you do when you are stuck?" They are testing whether you ask for help at the right moment. Say what you try first, how long you give it, and who you would go to.
What to write in each section
Profile
Three lines: your degree and subject, one thing you have actually done with evidence, and the kind of role you want. Name the field in the first line — a graduate resume that could be for any job reads as an application nobody spent time on.
Experience
Include everything you have been paid or trusted to do: internships, part-time work, volunteering, society roles. Write each with the numbers you have — customers per shift, members, budget, hours. Retail and hospitality are not weaknesses; they show reliability under pressure, which is most of what an employer is checking at this stage.
Skills
Be specific and honest. Name tools at the level you would open in a test, add languages with a recognisable level, and include the technical skill your course gave you that most applicants lack. Skill bars and percentages help nobody.
Education
Put education above experience while you are within a year or two of graduating, and include the things that differentiate: dissertation title and grade if strong, relevant modules, a scholarship, a year abroad. Once you have two years of work, move experience above it and cut this section to two lines.
Strong verbs for this resume
Start every achievement with a verb in the past tense. These are the ones that fit this role and read as work, not as a job description.
Organised
Analysed
Built
Coordinated
Presented
Automated
Researched
Trained
Delivered
Improved
Led
Volunteered
Key tips
Lead with what you did and the outcome — not "I was responsible for"
Internship bullets structured like job bullets: action + result
Academic projects: include grade, output, and audience if applicable
Skills section: list specific tools by name (Google Analytics, Mailchimp)
Keep to one page — ruthlessly prioritize the most relevant experience
Mistakes that cost interviews
Apologising for the experience you do not have
"Although I have limited professional experience…" is the most common opening line on a graduate resume and the most damaging. Nobody expects five years. Open with what you have done and what it produced; the experience level is obvious from the dates.
Responsibilities from part-time work instead of results
"Served customers and handled cash" is the job description of every retail role. What changed because you were there: trained five new staff, cut queue times, took over the stock count. Part-time work is strong evidence when it is written as work rather than as a duty list.
University projects left off
A final-year project is often the most substantial piece of work a graduate has done, and it is routinely omitted. Write it like a job: the question, the method, the data volume, the result and the grade if it was good.
A skills list with nothing behind it
"Microsoft Office, teamwork, communication" appears on almost every graduate resume and tells a recruiter nothing. Replace each item with the thing that proves it — the report you automated, the society you ran, the presentation to sixty people.
No experience yet?
No internships is a common starting point, not a barrier. Take three things you have done — a university project, a society role, part-time work, a volunteer task — and write each with a number and an outcome. Then add one piece of self-directed work that proves interest in the field: a small analysis, a built project, a short piece of writing, a course completed with a certificate. Employers hiring graduates are looking for evidence of initiative, and one finished self-directed thing supplies it faster than any wording on the profile.
Three or four sentences are enough: why this role, what you have already done, what you want next.
Dear Hiring Team, I am applying for the graduate role at Acme. I finished my marketing degree this summer, having spent six months on placement running social media for a 40-person agency, where posting to a proper content calendar lifted engagement by 34% and grew the account from 1,200 to 4,800 followers. Alongside my degree I ran a 200-member university society, organising twelve events a year on a €4,000 budget. Your posting mentions supporting campaign reporting — I automated a weekly sales report during my placement, cutting it from four hours to twenty minutes. I would be glad to talk through either piece of work.
Frequently asked questions
For recent graduates, education goes first. Once you have 2+ years of work experience, move it below your experience section.
Yes — leave it on. Omitting it implies something worse. Many employers don't filter by degree classification once you have relevant experience or skills to show.
Lead with the most impactful thing you've done — even if it's a university project or internship. Quantify it, describe the outcome, and use the same language as a job bullet. Strong framing compensates for short experience.
Yes, if you have the space — they prove reliability, customer handling, and real responsibility. Write one or two result-focused bullets ("trained 3 new starters", "handled £2K daily takings") instead of listing duties. Cut them first if a more relevant internship or project needs the room.
Once you have a degree, keep secondary education to one line at most. Strong A-level grades can stay if a grad scheme asks for UCAS points — otherwise drop them. Never let school results push university projects or internship bullets off the page.
Yes, and write them properly. A hiring manager for a graduate role is checking whether you show up, take responsibility and handle pressure. A bar job with a line about training new staff or handling a 300-cover Saturday does that better than a blank space or a hobby list.
One page, unless you have a full year of internships and a substantial project, in which case two is acceptable. The constraint is useful: it forces you to choose the strongest evidence rather than listing everything you have ever done.
State it in a line and move on: a repeated year, illness recovered from, a course changed, time caring for family. A dated line with no drama closes the question. A silent gap invites the interviewer to fill it in themselves, usually worse than the truth.
How else this resume is searched for
Job titles differ between companies. If the posting uses one of these names, mirror its exact wording in your resume headline.
Graduate trainee
Junior analyst
Entry level marketing
Junior developer
Graduate scheme
Intern
Assistant
Trainee
Templates that suit this role
Any of these layouts keeps the sections above in the order a recruiter expects and exports to a clean PDF.
Every sample is written from real job postings for the role, not from a template: the sections, the wording and the order follow what employers actually ask for.
Achievements are phrased the way applicant tracking systems parse them — a verb, a result, a number — and the layout is checked to export cleanly to PDF.
The page is reviewed and updated when hiring practice for the role changes; the date above the example is the last review, not the publication date.
Builds ResumeQuill — a free resume builder with ATS-friendly templates and PDF export without sign-up. Writes and reviews the resume guides published here.
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