Graduate Resume Australia: How to Write One With Little Experience

A graduate resume usually runs to two pages and opens with your contact details, a short summary, then education before work experience. This order makes sense because your degree is often the strongest and most recent credential you have, so it should sit near the top where a hiring manager will see it first.

• Contact details and a link to a relevant profile
• A three to four line summary pitched to the role
• Education, including your degree, university and completion year
• Work experience, including casual and part-time roles
• Projects, placements or volunteering relevant to the job
• Skills grouped by theme, such as technical and communication

Keep formatting simple and consistent. A single clear font, sensible heading sizes and even spacing read better on screen and in print than elaborate layouts, and they are also easier for software to parse correctly.

Your summary should state your qualification, the type of role you are seeking and one or two strengths you bring. Avoid vague claims like "hard-working team player" on their own; instead, pair the claim with something concrete the reader can picture.

If you lack paid roles in your field, university projects, capstone units, group assignments and practical placements can carry real weight. Describe them the same way you would a job: what the task was, what you did, and what came of it.

• Name the subject or unit so the context is clear
• Describe your specific contribution, not just the group outcome
• Mention any tools, software or methods you used
• Note the result, even if it was graded rather than commercial

Retail, hospitality and tutoring jobs taken on during study are genuine work experience and should not be left off a graduate resume. Employers reading these roles are usually looking for reliability, customer interaction and the ability to juggle study with commitments.

List skills that are specific rather than generic. "Communication" on its own tells a reader little, but "wrote weekly status reports for a student society committee" tells them something they can verify in an interview.

• Software and tools used during study or casual work
• Languages spoken beyond English, if relevant to the role
• Certifications completed, such as a first aid course or short online unit
• Transferable skills tied to a specific example, not left as a bare word

• Listing every subject studied instead of only the relevant ones
• Writing an objective statement about what you want rather than what you offer
• Leaving out casual work because it feels unrelated to the target career
• Using the same generic resume for every application without adjusting the summary
• Including a photo, date of birth or other personal details not expected on Australian resumes

Even a strong graduate resume performs better when it is adjusted for each application. This does not mean rewriting the whole document each time; it means reviewing the job ad, noting the two or three requirements mentioned most often, and checking that your summary and top bullet points speak directly to them.

• Reread the job ad and underline the requirements mentioned more than once
• Adjust your summary line so it reflects the specific role title and key requirement
• Reorder bullet points within a role so the most relevant ones appear first
• Rename your file to include the employer or role if you are applying to several at once

Run through this checklist before sending your graduate resume to make sure it is complete, accurate and tailored to the role.

• Contact details are current and professional
• Summary is tailored to the specific role and mentions your qualification
• Education section includes your completion year and relevant units if useful
• All casual, part-time and placement roles are listed with dates
• At least one project or placement is described with task, action and result
• Skills are specific and tied to examples where possible
• Spelling and grammar have been checked by you and one other person
• The file is saved and named clearly, such as FirstName-LastName-Resume