New Grad Resumé Checklist: 12 Fixes Before You Apply

Short answer: Before you send a new grad resumé, check twelve things: the job title in your headline, an up-to-date education line, no high school, education in the right place, results instead of duties, clear co-op entries, a Projects section, one page, named skills, a clean contact block, nothing personal that doesn't belong, and a version tailored to the posting. Each fix takes minutes.

This checklist works for both Canada and the US. For spelling and country rules, see our Canadian resumé format guide or our American resumé format guide. Starting from scratch rather than touching up? Read New grad resumé with no experience first.

All “before” and “after” lines below are fictional samples, and any numbers are for illustration only.

1. Put the job title from the posting in your headline

Your profile or headline is the first thing a reader sees. Use the exact job title from the posting in its first line, so the match is obvious. Job Bank says an employer takes an average of 30 seconds to skim a resumé (Job Bank, How to write a good resume).

Before: “Hard-working graduate seeking opportunities to grow.”
After: “Recent Civil Engineering Technology graduate applying for Junior Site Coordinator roles. One co-op term with a road construction contractor.”

2. Update your education line

If you’ve finished, replace “Expected April 2026” with the date you completed. If you haven’t, use an expected date. CareerOneStop gives the example “anticipated graduation 2028” (CareerOneStop, Education).

3. Take high school off

Once you have a college or university credential, high school can go. CareerOneStop says to list a high school diploma if you’re a recent graduate, or if it’s your highest level of education and you have limited work experience, and to leave it off once you have education beyond high school (CareerOneStop, Education).

4. Put education where it helps you most

New grads can place Education near the top (CareerOneStop, Resumes). Move it below your experience once you have relevant work experience since graduating (CareerOneStop, Education).

5. Turn duties into results

Job Bank says not to simply list job responsibilities and to avoid vague statements that don’t show your actual contribution (Job Bank). Read each bullet and ask, “So what?” Then add the scope or the result.

Before: “Responsible for answering customer emails.”
After: “Answered about 40 customer emails a day during a co-op term, and wrote 6 reply templates the team still uses.”

Our bullet points before and after guide has more examples by situation.

6. Make co-op terms and internships easy to spot

Label them in the job title, for example “Marketing Assistant (Co-op)”.
Spell out an acronym once, such as “Co-operative Education (Co-op)”.
Give each term its dates, so the reader can see how long you were there.
The University of Waterloo’s career centre says co-op, internship and work-integrated learning experience can go in your work experience section, or under Project Experience or Relevant Experience, depending on the role (University of Waterloo, Experience section).

7. Add a Projects section

If your best evidence comes from school, give it its own heading. The same University of Waterloo page lists research, a thesis, major course projects and student club projects as material for a project experience section. Put the projects that match the job first.

Before: “Capstone: mobile app.”
After: “Built a class scheduling app with a 3-person team in Flutter, and tested it with 25 classmates before the final demo.”

8. Cut it to one page

CareerOneStop’s resumé advice for young job seekers is to limit your resumé to one page (CareerOneStop GetMyFuture, Resumes). Job Bank suggests no more than 5 to 7 bullets in each section (Job Bank); as a new grad, 2 to 4 per role is usually plenty. To make room, cut the oldest or least relevant bullets first, not your margins.

9. Name your skills

Replace “computer skills” and “strong communicator” with specifics: software, tools, certificates and languages. alis advises showing how you made a difference instead of evaluating yourself (alis, Functional resumé outline).

Before: “Skills: Microsoft Office, teamwork, communication.”
After: “Skills: Excel (pivot tables, XLOOKUP), AutoCAD, Bluebeam | WHMIS, First Aid | English and Punjabi (fluent).”

10. Clean up your contact block

Use an email address based on your name. Job Bank says to avoid nicknames, numbers and special characters (Job Bank).
City and province or state is enough. alis says that if you’re concerned about privacy, you can list only your city or town and province instead of your full mailing address (alis, Resumé checklists).
Add LinkedIn, and a portfolio or GitHub link if it shows work relevant to the job.
Swap your school email for a personal one if you’ll lose access after you graduate.

11. Remove what doesn’t belong

Job Bank advises leaving out personal details such as age and marital status, never including your Social Insurance Number, not adding a photo in Canada, and keeping references on a separate sheet (Job Bank). alis adds that a resumé shouldn’t have a title such as “Resumé”, a date or a signature (alis, Resumé checklists). Also remove “I”, “my” and “me”.

12. Tailor it to each posting, then proofread

Keep a master resumé with every bullet you might use, then make a copy for each job. alis recommends starting with a master resumé (alis, How do I write a resumé?). CareerOneStop says to use terms that match the posting (CareerOneStop, Resumes), and its new grad page suggests having at least two people proofread for spelling or formatting errors (CareerOneStop, New graduates).

Applying across the border? Check the spelling for the country you’re applying in. Our Canadian vs American resumé guide covers the differences.

The checklist in one place

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More for students: Students and new grads resumé help.

Related guides

Sources

All accessed 2026-10-23.

Job Bank (Government of Canada). How to write a good resume. https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/findajob/resources/write-good-resume
Government of Alberta, alis. Resumé checklists. https://alis.alberta.ca/look-for-work/resumes-and-references/resume-checklists/
Government of Alberta, alis. Functional resumé outline. https://alis.alberta.ca/look-for-work/resumes-and-references/functional-resume-outline/
Government of Alberta, alis. How do I write a resumé? https://alis.alberta.ca/tools-and-resources/questions-and-answers/how-do-i-write-a-resume/
University of Waterloo, Centre for Career Development. Experience section (CareerHub). https://uwaterloo.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CCDCH/pages/44230378219
CareerOneStop (US Department of Labor). Resumes. https://www.careeronestop.org/JobSearch/Resumes/resumes.aspx
CareerOneStop (US Department of Labor). Resume Guide: Education. https://www.careeronestop.org/JobSearch/Resumes/ResumeGuide/education.aspx
CareerOneStop (US Department of Labor). New graduates. https://www.careeronestop.org/ResourcesFor/EntryLevel/entry-level.aspx
CareerOneStop GetMyFuture (US Department of Labor). Resumes. https://www.careeronestop.org/GetMyFuture/Employment/resumes.aspx

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