June 23, 2024

When you're just starting out in your career, crafting a resume can seem challenging, especially if you don’t have much work experience yet. However, there are several smart strategies you can use to effectively showcase your skills and your potential.p

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1. Organize Your Resume

Start by organizing your resume into clear sections. These typically include:

• Contact InformationYour name, city, phone number, email address, LinkedIn profile, GitHub profile, and portfolio website (if you have one). Add these to the very top of your resume in a clear and easy-to-read format.  
• EducationList your school, expected graduation date with your degree (e.g. B.S. in Computer Science), any relevant coursework, achievements, and your GPA (or major GPA if that is higher).
• SkillsHighlight specific skills relevant to software engineering. We recommend breaking your skills up into programming languages (e.g. python, java, …), technologies (e.g. VS Code, GitHub, …), and concepts (e.g. algorithms, agile development, …). List each skill from your most to least experience. Even if you don’t feel like you know enough about a certain skill, add it! You can always explain in an interview that you are still learning it, but know some of the basics. It is important to list as many (relevant) skills as possible to give yourself the best chance at passing the automatic resume screens. 
• ExperienceEven if it's volunteer work or part-time jobs, list them with a focus on skills and responsibilities. 
• ProjectsHighlight any significant school or personal projects you've completed. Include a brief description of each project, technologies used, what skills you used or developed, and any positive outcomes or feedback received. 
• ExtracurricularsList any extracurriculars you take part in, your role, and your responsibilities in that position. Extracurriculars are a great place to demonstrate that you have leadership values and are a good team player.
• Languages and Interests (optional)This section is a chance to highlight any foreign languages that you speak and to add a bit of personality to your resume. If you have extra space, use this section to share (work-appropriate and mature) things you're passionate about.

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2. Add School Projects

The projects section is a super mportant section to curate if you don’t have much real-world software experience. One time I logged onto a Zoom interview and one of the interviewers didn’t realize I was on the call yet. I heard him say “She’s got this Sudoku Solver project on her resume. Love to see that.” That was a project I did in less than a week as part of my Data Structures class! It goes to show that school projects are great ways to add experience and beef up your resume. List the project title, what class you completed the project in, the date of the project, the technologies used, and what the project accomplished.

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3. Include Any Experience

If you've had any job experience, whether it's babysitting, helping out in a family business, or participating in community activities, include it. With these less technical experiences, you can focus on soft skills that you learned, such as communication, time management, etc. If software or coding was part of your day-to-day on the job, then definitely highlight that! 

While employers obviously would prefer more technical experience, they understand that some students get started later than others. For most internships, they're really just looking to see if you've applied yourself to something in the past, which will tell them that you're responsible and hard-working.

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4. Take Courses

Consider taking online courses related to your interests. As an example, during my freshman year I hasoftware engineering experience. But, I wanted to learn web design. So, I took an online course on HTML and CSS. I used that knowledge to create a personal portfolio website showcasing some of the mini-sites I had built as part of the course. In every interview I got during my sophomore year, I was always asked about building my personal website. (By the way, the course was 100% free and only took a few hours to complete). Investing this small bit of time into adding projects for your resumpay off. Codecademy is a great resource for this. Plus, tons of YouTube videos will take you step-by-step through building a project. It doesn’t have to be original or new, you just have to show that you are taking an interest in coding and can learn on your own. 

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Conclusion

By organizing your resume clearly, highlighting school projects, including any experience you have, and adding new skills through courses, you can create a strong resume that highlights your potential and sets you apart from other candidates. Remember, everyone starts somewhere, and employers are expecting a lack of experience for internship roles. They will value enthusiasm and a willingness to learn just as much as experience. Good luck!