The order
When you have no work experience at all, put your education first, after a short summary. The builder does this for you.
Once you have an internship, it counts as work experience. Sneha’s CV in the example puts her internship before her degree, because it is what an accounts team will look for first. You can move the sections around if you would rather lead with your degree.
A usual order for a fresher in India:
- Summary
- Skills
- Internships or work experience
- Projects
- Education
- Certificates, awards and activities
- Personal details and a Declaration
A summary about the job you want
Two or three lines: what you studied, what job you are looking for, and one thing you can already do. “Commerce graduate looking for a first role in accounts. Prepared GST returns in Tally Prime during a three-month internship” is specific and true.
Treat an internship like a job
Give the organisation, your role and the dates, then two or three bullet points on what you did. Numbers help here as much as they do later in a career: how many clients, invoices, users or hours.
Marks
Give your marks as a percentage or CGPA, as they appear on your certificates, with the board or university and the year. Class X and XII marks are usually expected in India for a first job. Later in your career you can drop them.
Projects and activities
A final-year project, a hackathon, a college society or a course you finished on your own all show what you can do. Give each one a line or two on what you did and what came of it.
Length
One page is enough for most freshers. Two is fine if everything on the second page is worth reading.
What to leave out
- Your religion, caste and family details. They have nothing to do with the job.
- A long list of hobbies. One or two that say something about you are enough.
Once your CV is ready, a short cover letter makes a fresher’s application stand out. The cover letter for freshers shows one.