Get shortlisted
Fresher Resume Template (Word file + guide)
Aarav's first resume had two columns, a photo and skill bars. The company's software read the left column, then the right, and glued them together: his college name landed next to his hobbies. Priya, the recruiter, never saw it.
7 min readFree, no email neededUpdated 11 September 2026
Why one column, why PDF
Aarav's first resume had two columns, a photo and skill bars. The company's software read the left column, then the right, and glued them together: his college name landed next to his hobbies. Priya, the recruiter, never saw it.
Most companies run your file through an ATS (Applicant Tracking System) before a human reads it. It pulls the text out top to bottom and searches for keywords. Tables, columns and text boxes break that order.
Two columns, a table for layout, a photo, icons, skill bars, contact details inside the page header. The parser merges or drops them.
One column, plain bold headings, plain bullets, Calibri 11, half-inch margins, nothing in the header or footer. Read in exactly the order you wrote it.
- Edit in Word, upload as PDF.Word files open differently on every laptop; a PDF looks the same everywhere. File → Save As → PDF, named Aarav_Sharma_Resume.pdf.
The template at a glance
Final-year B.Tech Computer Science student (CGPA 8.4) who builds full-stack web apps with React, Node.js and PostgreSQL. Two deployed projects with 40+ real users and one backend internship. Seeking a Software Engineer role starting July 2026.
Languages: Java, JavaScript (ES6+), Python, SQL
Web: React, Node.js, Express, REST APIs, JWT authentication, Tailwind CSS, HTML/CSS
Tools: Git, GitHub, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Postman, Docker (basics), Vercel, Linux
This is the whole Word file, shrunk to fit. Six sections, 41 lines, one page. The next two pages explain each section.
Section by section, part 1
Header
two linesName in capitals. Then one line: city, phone, a plain email, LinkedIn, GitHub. No photo, no date of birth, no home address, no "Curriculum Vitae". Click both links from the PDF before you send it.
Summary
optional, two lines maxWho you are, your stack, one proof, what you want. Delete it if you cannot fill all four. Never "seeking a challenging environment where I can grow".
Education
three linesDegree, college, city, years, CGPA if it is 7.0 or above. Coursework only when it matches the job post. Class XII in one line with the percentage. Drop Class X.
Skills
three groupsLanguages, Web (or Core, or Data: whatever you are applying for), Tools. Six to ten items in total. Only things you can answer questions on. No percentages, no "familiar with", no "basics of" (one honest "(basics)" is fine).
Web: React, Node.js, Express, REST APIs, JWT authentication, Tailwind CSS, HTML/CSS
Tools: Git, GitHub, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Postman, Docker (basics), Vercel, Linux
Section by section, part 2
Projects
two projects, three bullets eachTitle line: name and a five-word tag, dates on the right. Second line: stack, live link, GitHub link. Then three XYZ bullets: did X, measured by Y, by doing Z. Every bullet has a number. Two deep projects beat five shallow ones.
Experience
one internship, or delete the sectionRole, company, city, dates. Two bullets in the same XYZ shape. Unpaid, remote and two-week internships all count if they produced something. No internship? Delete this heading; the projects carry the page (our "No Internship? Resume" guide shows how).
Achievements
three linesHackathon placements, competitive-programming ratings with the number, scholarships, ranks. Not participation certificates, not "completed a Udemy course". No Objective, Hobbies or Declaration anywhere on the page.
8 mistakes that get auto-rejected
- 1Two columns, or a table used for layout.The parser reads left column, then right, and merges them. Your CGPA lands next to your hobbies.
- 2A photo, icons or skill bars.A photo is a bias risk in India too. Bars and icons turn into junk characters.
- 3Contact details in the page header or footer.Many parsers skip that area. Your phone number simply disappears.
- 4Uploading .docx when the portal asks for PDF, or a PDF that is really an image.A scanned or "printed to image" PDF has no text to read. Use File → Save As → PDF.
- 5Creative section names and fonts."My Journey" instead of "Experience". The software looks for the standard words this template uses.
- 6Missing the exact keywords from the job post.The post says "Spring Boot", you wrote "Java backend". Match their words, in Skills and inside bullets.
- 7Two pages.Page two is where the parser and Priya both stop. Cut the weakest bullet instead.
- 8A file called "resume final (2).pdf".Not a software rejection, but the first thing a human sees. Firstname_Lastname_Resume.pdf, under 1 MB.
The copy-paste test: open your PDF, select all, paste into Notepad. If it reads top to bottom in the right order, the software will read it the same way.
Want this on your phone?
Everything above, as a PDF built to read on a phone the morning of the interview. It costs nothing — we ask for an email so we can send it, and that is all.