Updated: September 9, 2020

By Neil O’Donnell
Neil O’Donnell, CPCC is a nationally certified career coach with over 15 years of career counseling experience. By partnering with recent graduates and seasoned professionals around the globe, he helps others to achieve their career dreams.

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Let’s face it: writing resumes is a daunting task for anyone—but it’s especially challenging for college students and recent graduates. If you’re still feeling stuck after reading through our guides on how to write a resume or curriculum vitae, it might be time to peruse some resume examples for inspiration.

Below, you’ll find basic resume examples and guidelines to help you out. You can also check out resume samples for a variety of popular fields here.

Resume Sample for an Internship

Most internships require a resume and cover letter, but for students with little relevant experience, these basic requirements can be pretty darn intimidating. Fear not: Most employers are not expecting you to have extensive experience. They know that an internship is often the first experience students have in their field.

First things first: The structure of an internship resume is pretty similar to any other resume. However, I do want to highlight a few things. First, since most internship-seekers have little or no professional experience, volunteer experience can be vital. Why? Because volunteer experience can show a hiring manager or internship coordinator that you’re a go-getter. Additionally, a lot of volunteer responsibilities connect with professional responsibilities.

For instance, if you volunteered at a food bank, you might have handled inventory, kept records of where food was shipped, and interacted with those in need on a regular basis. Those tasks would translate into customer service and office operations experience IRL (in the real [paid] work world). Considering that many interns end up doing a lot of filing work and call monitoring, volunteer experience is a huge asset.

In addition to professional and/or volunteer experience, you can include relevant coursework. So, for a business major seeking accounting experience, you’d want to list coursework you’d done in business, accounting, statistics, and economics. Finally, I recommend that internship-seekers include a summary of qualifications section (placed before the experience section, at the top of the resume) so hiring managers can identify their most relevant skills right off the bat.

Okay, onto that internship resume example:

Resume Sample for a Part-time Position

Whether you’re looking to make some extra spending money or offset your tuition, part-time jobs are a part of life for four out of five college students. Most part-time jobs are connected to the service industry, though sales, medical tech, and administrative jobs are popular as well. In most of these instances, training on the job is key, so a relevant degree is not usually necessary (although pursuing a relevant degree could give you an advantage).

For part-time resumes, it is important to keep a few things in mind. Just as with an internship resume, you might want to kick things off with a resume summary, highlighting your most relevant skills. If you’re applying for a service job, you should move your education to the end of your resume. It could make a hiring manager hesitate to hire you for fear that you’ll only be there for a short time. Lastly, those with little experience (i.e., most college students and recent grads) should consider including volunteer experience to help fill one full resume page.

The example below is for an individual seeking part-time work as a sales associate—a role that many undergraduates seek out in college.

Resume Sample for an Entry-Level Job

Again, when applying for entry-level positions, a hiring manager is not going to expect you to have loads of experience. But, now that you’re out of college, you should try to focus more on your quantifiable impact and concrete accomplishments.

For recent college graduates, including a list of relevant coursework is a good idea, as employers like to hire individuals with knowledge relevant to the field—particularly in tech. I also believe listing relevant technological proficiencies is crucial, as many older employers have limited experience in computer programming and repair. Check out the examples below, and then read 20+ other resume examples here.

With a little real-world experience under your belt, you’ll have many more options in building your resume⁠—so you might need a bit more inspiration to spark the writing process. Below, you can view a few more sample resumes for recent and soon-to-be college graduates. All of them focus on transferable skills and quantifiable accomplishments, and they’re tailored for the (imaginary) job the candidate desires.

Entry-Level Resume Sample

Recent Graduate Resume Sample

College Student Resume Sample

Now, you should be well on your way to writing an enthralling resume, whether you’re still in college or a recent graduate. And if you have no relevant experience whatsoever? We’ve got your back with our No Relevant Experience Application Guide.