The short answer
A graduate resume is not the same document as a first resume with nothing on it. You have a degree with structure inside it, probably a placement or an internship, and a classification a reader knows how to interpret. The task is to present academic work as work, and to aim at the right level.
What matters most
- A degree has structure inside it β modules, a dissertation, a group project, a placement. Present those, not just the title and the grade.
- A placement year or a substantial internship is employment. Put it in the experience section, with numbers.
- Aim at the level the role is written for. Graduate schemes, direct entry and small-employer roles want visibly different applications.
- If you graduated a year or two ago, the resume shifts from potential to evidence β and that is a different document.
The degree is not one line
The single most common failure in a graduate resume is an education section that reads "BSc Computer Science, University of Manchester, 2023β2026, 2:1" and then stops. Three years of assessed work has been compressed into eleven words, and the reader has been given nothing they can use to distinguish you from the other four hundred applicants with the same qualification.
Inside that degree there is a dissertation with a research question and a result, modules you chose deliberately, a group project with a deliverable and a deadline, laboratory or studio work with methods, and quite possibly a piece of assessed work you are still proud of. All of those have the same shape as a professional achievement β scope, constraint, method, outcome β and all of them can be written as one.
BA Economics, 2:1. Modules included econometrics, development economics and public policy.
BA Economics (2:1). Dissertation: modelled the effect of a regional transport subsidy on employment using twelve years of public data in Stata, graded 71. Chose the quantitative pathway β econometrics, applied statistics, public policy evaluation β and completed the optional data analysis module in R.
Group project in third year, worked with four other students on a marketing brief.
Led a five-person team on a live brief from a regional brewery, running the consumer survey (240 responses) and building the segmentation that the final recommendation rested on; the client adopted two of the four proposals.
Placements, internships and where they go
A placement year, a sandwich year, a summer internship or a substantial vacation scheme is employment. It belongs in the experience section, in the same format and with the same detail as any other job, and it is very often the strongest item on a graduate resume β because it is the only part that proves you can do the work in a workplace rather than in an assessment.
- Use the real job title, with the placement noted. "Data Analyst (12-month industrial placement), Rolls-Royce" is both accurate and clear. Do not bury it under a heading called "Work Experience" alongside a week of shadowing.
- Write achievement bullets, not induction notes. What did you own by month three that you did not own on day one? What did you build, automate, fix or take over? Placement students routinely leave with a real deliverable and describe it as "assisted the team".
- Include the numbers you had access to. Volume handled, time saved, size of the dataset, number of clients, value of the accounts. These are usually easy to remember and almost never written down.
- Say if you were asked back. An offer of a graduate place, a return summer, or a manager who asked you to extend is a third-party judgement, and third-party judgements are the strongest currency a graduate resume has.
- Separate short observation placements. A week of work shadowing is not the same thing and should not sit next to a twelve-month placement. Group brief experiences together under a modest heading or leave them out.
If you have no placement, this is where the deliberate substitute goes: a substantial project done for a real organisation, a society role with genuine responsibility, a part-time job you held throughout your degree. The guide to writing a resume with no experience works through those categories in detail, and it is the right companion to this page rather than a repetition of it.
How to write the classification
Different markets read grades differently, and the convention matters because the wrong one either loses you credit or looks like padding.
| Market | What to write | When to leave it off |
|---|---|---|
| UK and Ireland | The classification β First, 2:1, 2:2 β written the way employers write it | A 2:2 or third can be omitted if the rest of the page is strong; many employers no longer filter on it |
| US and Canada | GPA, if it is strong and recent | Below roughly 3.5, or more than a few years after graduating, leave it off without comment |
| Predicted grades, before results | State it as predicted and say so explicitly | Never present a prediction as an award |
| Postgraduate degrees | Distinction, merit or pass, plus the dissertation topic | Rarely worth omitting β a taught masters is usually adding to the case |
Aiming at the right kind of employer
Graduate hiring runs through several quite different routes, and the same document does not perform equally well in all of them. Knowing which one you are in changes what to emphasise.
Large employers with fixed annual intakes, early deadlines, online assessments and assessment centres. The resume is often only one stage; the application form and the tests carry as much weight. Apply early, because many close when full rather than at the advertised date.
An ordinary job advertised for someone with little experience. Here the resume is the whole first stage, and specificity matters more than polish. Tailor it hard to the posting.
Often the fastest route to real responsibility and the least competitive per role. They rarely run graduate schemes and often hire when someone applies rather than on a cycle, so a good speculative approach can work.
A different document again β closer to an academic CV, where the dissertation, methods and any publication or conference work move to the front.
If you graduated a year or two ago
This is the situation that gets least attention and causes the most anxiety. You are no longer a new graduate in the eyes of a scheme with a rolling intake, you may have been doing unrelated work to pay rent, and the standard graduate advice has quietly stopped applying to you.
The document has to change shape. Education comes down the page and stops being the headline β the degree is still there, but it is now context rather than the argument. Whatever you have been doing since moves up and gets written as real work, including if it was retail, hospitality, warehouse or care work. Those roles carry evidence of attendance, service, pressure and responsibility, and a hiring manager reads them far more favourably than graduates expect, provided they are described with the same care as anything else.
The one thing worth adding deliberately is a single current, relevant, finished piece of work β a certification, a project with a result, a volunteer role that used what your degree gave you. It connects the degree to the present so the reader does not have to bridge two years alone.
And on rejection volume
Worth saying plainly, because a great many graduates conclude their resume is broken when it is not. Entry-level and graduate-scheme roles attract very high application volumes and the rejection rate reflects that arithmetic more than it reflects any individual document. A good resume raises your rate; nothing makes any single application certain. The two changes that move the numbers most are applying to fewer roles that you genuinely fit rather than everything you can find, and having one concrete finished thing most other applicants do not have.
Build the document in the free resume builder, find your target job title in the examples library for the vocabulary that field uses, and read the guide to listing education for the mechanics of the section itself. Purdue University's writing lab also publishes free, non-commercial guidance on resumes and CVs aimed at students, which is a useful second opinion from outside the careers industry.
Questions people actually ask
How is a graduate resume different from a resume with no experience?
A first resume with no experience is built from evidence that was never a job β school, volunteering, part-time work, personal projects. A graduate resume has a degree with structure inside it, usually a dissertation or final project, often a placement or internship, and a classification a recruiter knows how to read. The material is different, so the emphasis and the ordering are too.
Should I include my dissertation?
Yes, if it is relevant or if it demonstrates a method you want to be hired for. Write it as a project: the question, the data or material, the method, and the result including the grade if it was good. It is often the only piece of substantial independent work a graduate has, and it maps directly onto how professional achievements are written.
Where does a placement year go on the page?
In the experience section, with the job title, the employer and the dates, described exactly as you would describe a permanent role. Note the placement status in brackets so the duration is clear. It is frequently the single strongest item on a graduate resume and burying it under a general work experience heading wastes it.
Should I still call myself a graduate two years after graduating?
Not as the headline. After a year or two the argument shifts from potential to evidence: education moves down the page, whatever you have been doing since moves up and is written as real work, and one current relevant item connects the degree to the present. Many graduate schemes still accept applicants a few years out, so check the specific criteria rather than assuming you are excluded.
How long should a graduate resume be?
One page. There is no version of a first post-university resume that legitimately runs to two, and a second page reads as padding immediately. If you are struggling to fill one page, add depth to the placement, the dissertation and the projects you already have rather than adding new sections.
