Software engineer fresher resume for campus placements: a LaTeX example

Without full-time experience, your projects and internships carry the resume. Recruiters at placement drives skim dozens of resumes an hour, so put education and your strongest project near the top, make every bullet say what you built and how well it works, and keep it to one page.

Start from this resumeTailor mine to a job

Free PDF download, no signup. The sample is a made-up person; replace every line with your own.

A sample software engineer (fresher) resume in Jake's Resume.

What recruiters look for

Projects with substance
What you built, the stack, and a number: users, speed, accuracy, stars.
Internships
Even a short one: what you shipped and who used it.
Fundamentals
Data structures, algorithms, DBMS, OS, networks: coursework or competitive programming results.
Proof you can code
GitHub, LeetCode or Codeforces ratings, hackathon results.

Weak bullets, and stronger ones

Made a chat application using MERN stack.

Built a real-time chat app with React, Node.js and Socket.IO, handling 200 concurrent users in load tests.

→ Names the parts and gives a number, even for a project.

Did an internship at a startup.

Built a CSV import feature in Django during an 8-week internship, now used by 30+ client teams.

→ Says what you shipped and that people use it.

Good at DSA.

Solved 600+ problems on LeetCode (rating 1850); Codeforces Specialist.

→ Replaces a claim with checkable proof.

Words software engineer (fresher) job posts use

Use the ones that are true for you, inside your bullets as well as in Skills.

  • data structures
  • algorithms
  • Java
  • Python
  • C++
  • OOP
  • DBMS
  • SQL
  • operating systems
  • computer networks
  • Git
  • REST APIs
  • React
  • problem solving

Every job post is different. Check your resume against the exact post to see which of its must-haves your resume shows.

Tips

  1. 01Put Education first, with your CGPA if it's above the cut-off.
  2. 02Two or three strong projects beat six small ones.
  3. 03Add your LeetCode or Codeforces profile if your rating is good.

Questions

Should a fresher resume be one page?

Yes. Almost every campus recruiter expects one page, and fitting it shows you can prioritise.

Should I include my 10th and 12th marks?

Many Indian placement drives ask for them, so include them compactly under Education unless the company says otherwise.

What if I have no internship?

Lead with projects and coding profiles. A real project with users or measurable results is worth as much as a short internship.

Other resume examples

All of them use Jake's Resume, the one-page LaTeX template engineers share on Overleaf. Once yours is ready, tailor it to each job.