Most freshers open a blank resume template and freeze. There is nothing to put in the work experience section, so the whole thing feels pointless. It is not. Your degree programme produced real output: projects, coursework, internships even if unpaid, part-time jobs even if unrelated, volunteering, competitions. The problem is not that you have nothing. The problem is you do not know how to translate what you have into recruiter language — and then pass the ATS filter that sits between your resume and a human reader.
This post covers both.
The 5 sections that replace work experience
1. Education (done right)
Do not just list your degree, institution, and year. That is the floor. Add:
- Relevant coursework — pick 4 to 6 subjects that match the roles you are applying for. "Financial Modelling, Corporate Finance, Business Analytics" is more useful than "B.Com, Finance."
- GPA / percentage — include it if it is above 7.5/10 or 75%. Leave it out if it is not.
- Academic achievements — rank in class, scholarships, dean's list, merit certificates. These are the equivalent of performance reviews.
2. Projects
Academic projects, personal projects, hackathon submissions, freelance work you did for free. Every project gets 2 to 3 bullet points structured like this: what you built, what tools or methods you used, what the output was. The output does not need to be revenue or users. "Presented to 30 students" or "submitted as final year project" is a legitimate result.
- Built a customer churn prediction model using Python and scikit-learn for a university data science project.
- Designed and launched a personal portfolio site using React and Tailwind CSS; deployed on Vercel.
- Created a financial projection template in Excel for a startup simulation competition; team placed in the top 10.
3. Internships and part-time work
Include everything. Four weeks at a startup counts. An unpaid internship counts. Working part-time at a cafe counts — it shows you can show up reliably and work with people. The question recruiters and ATS systems are really asking is: has this person done anything outside a classroom? Your answer should be yes.
4. Volunteering and extracurriculars
Organised a college fest, ran a society, tutored peers, contributed to an open source project, coached a sports team. These belong on your resume. They demonstrate initiative, responsibility, and real-world interaction — which is exactly what a recruiter is trying to infer from work history. If you organised an event for 200 people, write it like a job: what you did, what the scale was, what the outcome was.
5. Skills
Hard skills only. List the tools, languages, platforms, and certifications you actually know. Do not list "communication," "teamwork," or "leadership" in your skills section. ATS systems do not score them and recruiters skip them. What to list instead: Excel, Python, Figma, SQL, Google Analytics, Canva, Tally, AutoCAD — whatever is real and relevant to the roles you are targeting.
How to write bullets when you have nothing to show
The reason fresher resume bullets read weakly is they describe what something was, not what you did. Use one of these three patterns:
- Did X using Y, resulting in Z — "Analysed sales data using Excel pivot tables, producing a monthly report used by 3 department heads."
- Built / designed / created X for Y context — "Designed a brand identity for a university entrepreneurship club, used across all social media and print materials."
- Contributed to X as part of Y team — "Contributed backend API endpoints in Node.js to a 4-person team project, delivered on schedule."
One important rule: use the exact words from the job description where they honestly apply to you. If the JD says "data analysis" and you have done data analysis, use that phrase, not a synonym.
The ATS problem freshers do not know about
When you apply to a company, your resume often goes through an Applicant Tracking System before any human sees it. ATS software scores your resume against the job description — and a resume with no keyword matches scores low, regardless of how strong your education is.
Freshers get hit hardest by this because they assume they have no keywords. They do. Your coursework, projects, tools, and skills contain exactly the keywords recruiters are scanning for. The problem is most freshers do not know which keywords are missing from their specific resume for a specific role.
The fix takes 8 seconds: paste your resume and the job description into Applyr's free ATS checker. It shows your match score and the exact keywords you are missing. Add the ones that honestly apply. Recheck. That is the full loop.
Your first resume is not meant to be perfect. It is meant to get you one conversation. Write it, check it against the job you want, fix the gaps, and send it. Check your ATS score free at Applyr — no account needed. Or build your resume from scratch at applyr.in/builder if you are starting from zero.