By Tanul MittalUpdated 3 min read
You can write excellent bullets and still lose a recruiter in the first few seconds if the format fights them. The good news is that format is the easiest part to fix. This post answers the questions freshers in India ask most often, with a clear default for each.
If you want the full page layout with examples, start with our resume for freshers guide. This post covers the decisions around it.
Default: a text-based PDF.
A PDF looks the same on the recruiter's laptop, phone and printer. Word files can shift fonts and line breaks, especially between Microsoft Word, Google Docs and phone viewers.
Two exceptions:
To check, open the PDF and try to select a line of text. If it highlights word by word, you are fine.
Default: one page.
As a fresher, your relevant material is your education, two to four projects, internships, skills and maybe a certification or position of responsibility. That fits on one page with normal margins and a 10 to 11 point font.
Signs you are padding a second page: a long list of soft skills, every school activity since class 8, a "Declaration" paragraph, or full addresses for every college. Cut those first.
Move to two pages only when you have a year or more of relevant work, or a research profile with publications that a role specifically asks for.
For most freshers, this order works:
If you have a strong internship that matches the job, move it above projects. Put your strongest evidence first.
For most private-sector jobs in India you can leave out your photo, date of birth, father's name, marital status and religion. They take up space and are not needed to judge your fit.
Some employers, especially for government roles and some overseas applications, ask for specific personal details or a biodata format. In that case follow their instructions. Our biodata format guide covers when that applies.
You also don't need a "Declaration" paragraph ("I hereby declare that the above information is true…") on a private-sector resume.
Name the file with your name and the role: Rahul-Verma-Software-Engineer-Resume.pdf. When a recruiter downloads 200 resumes, "resume.pdf" gets lost.
When you email it, add a short message with the role name in the subject line, and attach the PDF rather than sharing a link that may need access permission.
Read the job description once more and check that its job title and top three skills appear in your resume, where they are true for you. Then run an ATS check against that description to see what a parser pulls out of your file and which keywords are still missing.
A reverse-chronological, single-column format with education and projects near the top. It is easy for recruiters to scan and for applicant tracking systems to parse.
Send a text-based PDF unless the employer asks for Word. A PDF keeps your layout identical on every device. Make sure it is exported from a document, not scanned.
Yes, in almost every case. A fresher rarely has enough relevant material to fill two pages well, and recruiters screening campus applications spend very little time on each one.
It is not required for most private-sector jobs in India and can be left out. Follow the employer's instructions if they ask for one, as some government and overseas applications do.
Freshers usually include them, because many campus and entry-level employers set cut-offs. List the board, year and percentage or CGPA briefly under education.
When an Indian recruiter asks a fresher for a CV, they almost always mean a one-page resume. Here is the format section by section, a sample layout, and how to fix an old-style CV template.
A profile summary is three lines that sum up what you can already do. Freshers can write a strong one from projects, internships and skills. Here is how, with examples.
A fresher cover letter doesn't need experience. It needs a reason you want this job, one or two pieces of proof, and a clear close. Here is a simple format and two examples.