The one-page resume for fresh graduates
What recruiters actually scan for when you have projects, not a decade of experience.
A fresh grad resume is not a shorter version of a senior CV — it is a curated highlight reel.
If you are finishing a bachelor's or master's degree, the default mistake is volume: five pages of projects, every club role, a taxonomy of skills, and high-school medals from a decade ago. Hiring managers for graduate and intern lanes often spend under a minute on the first pass. One strong page beats a comprehensive portfolio every time.
Think in signal, not archive. Your job is to answer three questions fast: what you studied, what you built, and why you fit this role. Everything else is optional — or belongs on LinkedIn, not in the PDF you attach.
Structure that works
Header: name, city, email, phone, and one link (LinkedIn or GitHub — not six). Summary: two lines max, aimed at the lane you are applying for (data engineering, product, research, etc.). Education: degree, school, dates, one honour or GPA line if it helps — not a transcript.
Projects: two or three, each in at most three lines — problem, stack, outcome with a number if you have one. Experience: internships, tutoring, mentoring, or part-time work with bullets that show responsibility, not job description filler. Skills: one tight line, tailored to the posting — not a half-page category list.
What to cut
Drop "currently learning" stacks unless you can show a shipped project with them. Remove generic skill inventories (every language you touched once). Compress overlapping projects — if two entries both prove Python and SQL, keep the stronger story.
Extracurricular depth (debating championships, society exec roles) belongs in one line under Activities unless communication is core to the role. High-school achievements rarely help once you have a tertiary degree.
Tailor before you send
Maintain one master profile, then export a one-page variant per application. Lead with the project and skills that mirror the job description. A data-science summary will not read as data-engineering ready — swap the headline skills and the project order, not just the cover email.
Upload your CV to DocuResume once, then use match score on each listing to see gaps before you tailor. That turns "spray and pray" into a short list of roles worth a rewrite pass.