How to make a resume for placement: what your TPO checks

To make a resume for placement, start from your placement cell's rules, then write one page that clears the eligibility filter and survives verification: education first (CGPA, Class X and XII marks), two or three projects that use the stack the company lists, and nothing you can't prove with a document. At IIT Kanpur, the placement office wants proof for every point before you can apply; at IIT (BHU), resumes follow a fixed format and undocumented entries are deleted.

If your college lets you upload your own PDF, fastcv builds it in Jake's Resume, the one-column LaTeX template many engineering students already use, and the PDF download is free with no signup or watermark. If your college insists on Word, fastcv is the wrong tool: it exports PDF and LaTeX, not .docx. Below: how a drive shortlists, what goes where, a section-by-section checklist, and the questions students ask most.

How a campus drive actually shortlists you

In an on-campus drive, the resume is rarely the first filter. The order is usually: eligibility filter on your marks, resume verification by the placement cell, an online test, then interviews. A resume that's beautifully written but shows a CGPA below the cut-off never reaches a human.

IIT Kanpur's Students' Placement Office spells the sequence out: you submit a master resume, send proofs for every point, get it verified by an assigned point of contact, and only then apply to the companies "in which you are eligible", after which you attend their pre-placement talks, tests and group discussions.

Mass recruiters work the same way. TCS's All India NQT hiring page says eligibility is reviewed at every stage of selection, the test has Foundation and Advanced sections, and your score decides whether you're interviewed for its Prime, Digital or Ninja roles.

Check your college's resume rules before you write a word

Ask your training and placement officer (TPO) or placement coordinator four things: is there a fixed format, how many pages, which file type, and when the resume portal closes. The answers differ a lot between colleges, and they override any template you find online, including ours.

Two IITs show the range. IIT Kanpur's resume FAQ says there are no format restrictions apart from a top heading with your name, department, year of study and contact details, followed by a table of education including 10th, 12th and CPI. IIT (BHU)'s 2026-27 student policy goes further: every resume has a fixed format, you type your details into a specified structure, and the portal for this session closed on 7 August 2026.

That date is the practical lesson. At a college that works like this, the resume is fixed early in the season and later additions need a formal update request to the cell, so the version you submit in summer is largely the one recruiters see.

Put your eligibility details where the filter looks

Education goes at the top of a placement resume, because that's where cut-offs are checked. List your degree with CGPA (and the scale, for example "8.1/10"), then Class XII and Class X with board, year and percentage, in reverse chronological order.

Know the numbers you'll be filtered on. TCS's published criteria for the 2024–2026 batches ask for at least 60% aggregate, or equivalent CGPA, in 10th, 12th and graduation; no pending backlog when you take the selection process; and any gap in education declared and no longer than 24 months.

Write the exact figure from your marksheet. TCS says candidates whose declared details turn out to be "discrepant" are disqualified, and it asks for original documents at interview, so rounding 7.46 up to 7.5 is a risk with no upside.

The placement resume, section by section

This checklist compares what each section needs on a campus resume with what the placement cell or recruiter checks. Example values are illustrations, not targets.

Read across the last column: every row is something a person can check against a document or ask you about. Build the page so that check goes well.

Projects that prove the stack the drive asks for

Company job descriptions for campus roles usually name a stack or fundamentals (data structures, DBMS, OOP, one language). Pick the two or three projects that best show those, and for each write what you built, the tools, and one number: users, response time, accuracy, dataset size.

Example (illustrative): "Built a library management system" says little. "Built a library app in Java and MySQL with role-based login; indexed the search query so lookups on 20,000 books dropped from 2 s to 0.2 s" names the stack the drive lists and gives the interviewer something to ask about. The Google XYZ formula with 20 examples shows how to write each bullet this way.

At IIT Kanpur, project claims also need a Project Verification Form signed by your mentor, according to the placement office. Even where nobody asks for one, keep the repo public and the README current; it is the cheapest proof you have.

Every line must survive verification

Treat your placement resume as a sworn statement. IIT (BHU)'s policy says any entry not backed by a document is deleted from the database, and entering wrong, fraudulent or misleading information gets a student debarred from the entire placement session.

Before the portal opens, make a folder with every certificate, internship letter, hackathon result and marksheet, named so you can find it in a minute. Then read your resume line by line and delete anything you couldn't defend for five minutes in an interview, such as a skill you used once in a tutorial.

How to make a resume for placement, step by step

1. Get the rules. Ask your TPO for the format, page limit, file type and deadline (see above).
2. Write a master resume. Put every project, internship, role and certificate into one long document; IIT Kanpur's process starts from exactly this.
3. Cut to one page per profile. For a software role, keep the projects and skills that match; make a second version for data or core roles if your college allows several.
4. Order it: education, then internships or projects (whichever is stronger), then skills, then positions of responsibility and achievements.
5. Check it against a real job description. Paste a company's JD into the free resume and job description checker to see which required skills your projects show and which you only list.
6. Collect proof for every line, then submit before the portal closes.

If you're building from scratch, the step-by-step builder asks for one section per screen and has ready-made sections for Positions of Responsibility, Hackathons and Relevant Coursework, which campus resumes need and most templates lack. You can download the .tex too, or import an old resume from PDF or Word. For a finished example, see the software engineer fresher resume for campus placements, or the SDE intern resume sample for internship drives.

When this advice (or fastcv) isn't the right choice

If your placement cell uses a fixed-format portal like IIT (BHU)'s, you type your details into its fields and it generates the resume. A template from anywhere, including fastcv, is then only useful as a drafting space for wording your bullets.

If your college or a company demands a Word file, use Word or Google Docs. fastcv exports PDF and LaTeX only; it can import a .docx but cannot produce one. And if your college allows two pages (IIT Kanpur accepts one- or two-page resumes) and you have a thesis, publications or a long research internship, a second page may be justified; for most B.Tech freshers, one page is still the better choice, as the resume format for freshers explains.

The advice here is written for engineering and software roles. Core, management and government-sector drives often weight different things, such as GATE scores or specific certifications, so follow that drive's notice first.

Frequently asked questions

Should I use my college's resume template or my own?

Use your college's template if the placement cell requires it; recruiters at that drive see every student in the same format, and a different one may simply be rejected. If the cell allows your own PDF, a clean one-column layout like Jake's Resume is a safe choice.

Is one page enough for a placement resume?

Yes, for almost every B.Tech or BCA student. Some institutes, such as IIT Kanpur, accept two pages, but a second page only helps when it holds research or internships that matter for the role.

Should I mention backlogs or a low CGPA on my resume?

Write your CGPA exactly as it appears on your marksheet; companies like TCS check declared details against documents and disqualify discrepancies. You don't need a separate backlog line unless the portal asks, but answer honestly when it does.

Should I add 10th and 12th marks?

Yes. Many campus recruiters filter on them; TCS, for example, asks for 60% or equivalent in 10th, 12th and graduation on its hiring page.

PDF or Word for a placement resume?

PDF, unless your placement cell or the company asks for Word. A PDF looks the same on every screen; check that the text copies out cleanly, as explained in is a LaTeX resume ATS-friendly.

Should I add a photo or a career objective?

Skip the photo on an engineering resume unless the format asks for one. A generic objective ("seeking a challenging role") wastes a line; at IIT (BHU) it's one of the few fields the cell doesn't even verify.

When should I start making my placement resume?

Before your college opens placement registration, so you have time to collect proofs. Portals can close early: IIT (BHU)'s resume portal for the 2026-27 session closed on 7 August 2026.