CV Format for Fresh Graduates and Internships in Pakistan (2026) + Free CV Maker

You have a degree, or you are one semester away from it, and every job or internship post ends the same way: "send your CV". So you open an old Word file, or a template a senior shared, and wonder what actually belongs on it. CNIC number? Father's name? A photo? Three pages of hobbies?

Most fresh graduate CVs in Pakistan are not rejected because the student is weak. They are skipped because the useful part (what you built, what you can do) is buried under details nobody asked for.

This guide gives you a one-page CV format that works for jobs and internships: the sections in order, what recruiters look at first, how to keep it readable for applicant tracking software, the common mistakes, a fill-in template, two worked examples (BS Computer Science and BBA), and how to write the short message that goes with it on WhatsApp or email.

Make your CV in 5 minutes with our free CV maker. Fill in a short form and you get a ready PDF CV on your WhatsApp from Softhat's business number (+92 315 9300600), and you can download it too. Read on if you want to understand every section first.

The one-page CV format at a glance

For a fresh graduate or an internship applicant, one page is enough. You do not yet have ten years of work to list, and a short CV that is easy to scan does better than a long one. Harvard's career office, for example, notes that a one-page resume is the norm for bachelor's and master's candidates (Harvard FAS Career Services).

Here is the order that works for most students, top to bottom:

1. Contact details: name, phone, email, city, LinkedIn (and GitHub or a portfolio if you have one).
2. Headline and summary: one line on who you are, then two or three lines on what you offer.
3. Education: degree, university, graduation year (or expected), CGPA if it helps.
4. Projects, including your final year project: what each one does, the tools, a link.
5. Internships and experience: what you did and what changed because of it.
6. Skills: the ones you can defend in an interview.
7. Certifications and languages: one line each.

If you are a BS CS or IT graduate with good projects but an average CGPA, move projects above education. Your projects are the strongest evidence you have.

Each section, explained

Contact details

Put your full name in the largest text on the page, then one line with your mobile number (the one on WhatsApp), a professional email (firstname.lastname@, not cutebaby123@), your city, and your LinkedIn link. A custom LinkedIn URL is shorter and easier to read (LinkedIn Help). Developers should add GitHub; designers and marketers, a portfolio link.

You do not need your full home address. Your city is enough for an employer to know whether you can commute.

Headline and summary

The headline is a single line under your name: "BS Computer Science graduate, web development" or "BBA (Marketing) graduate, digital marketing and sales". The summary is two or three lines that answer "why should we call you?" Mention your strongest project or internship and the kind of role you want. Skip "hard-working, passionate, team player": everyone writes that and it says nothing.

Education

List your degree, university, and year of graduation, or "expected June" if you are still studying. Add your CGPA if it is a strength. Intermediate and matric can go on one line each, or be left out once you have a degree. Relevant coursework is useful only if it matches the job.

Projects, including your FYP

This is where fresh graduates win or lose. For each project write: what it does, who it is for, the tools you used, and a link (GitHub, live site, demo video). Your final year project deserves the most space, two or three bullets. If you are still choosing one, our list of final year project ideas for computer science covers ideas that also look good on a CV, and FYP mentorship can help you build it properly.

Internships and experience

Write each one as role, organisation, months, then two or three bullets that start with a verb: "Built", "Wrote", "Handled", "Reduced". Say what changed: "Built a booking form that the clinic now uses for appointments" is stronger than "Worked on web forms". Part-time work, freelancing, tuition, and society roles count too, especially for BBA graduates. No internship yet? Our guide on how to get an IT internship in Pakistan explains where they come from.

Skills

Six to ten skills you can actually talk about. If you list React, expect a React question. Group them if it helps: "Languages: Python, JavaScript" and "Tools: Git, Figma, Excel". Leave out skill bars and percentages ("Photoshop 80%"): they mean nothing to the reader.

Certifications and languages

Keep certifications that match the role and that you completed, one line each with the issuer. For languages, write what you can actually use: "English (professional), Urdu (native), Pashto (native)".

What recruiters look at first

Recruiters skim before they read. In an eye-tracking study by the job site Ladders, recruiters spent an average of 7.4 seconds on the first screen of a resume, and simple layouts with clear section headings, bold titles and bulleted achievements did best; cluttered layouts, multiple columns and long sentences did worse (HR Dive on the Ladders study). That study was not done in Pakistan, but the practical lesson travels: make the top third of your page do the work.

In practice, these are the things that earn a fresh graduate CV a second look:

What the reader checks	What you should make easy to find
Is this person relevant to the role?	A headline that names the field you are applying for
Can they actually do something?	One or two projects with links, near the top
Have they worked with others?	An internship, a group FYP, a society role, freelance work
Can I reach them quickly?	A phone number on WhatsApp and a working email

Make your CV ATS-friendly

Larger companies and many online job portals use an applicant tracking system (ATS) that reads your CV into a database before a person sees it. These systems handle plain layouts best. The University of Georgia's career centre advises traditional headings such as "Education" and "Work Experience", warns that many systems cannot read headers, footers, tables or columns, and suggests using the exact keywords from the job description (UGA Career Center).

In practice:

• One column, standard headings. "Education", "Projects", "Experience", "Skills". Not "My Journey".
• Contact details in the body, not in the Word header or footer.
• No text inside images, icons or skill charts. The software cannot read them.
• A common font such as Calibri, Arial or a similar clean sans-serif, at 10-12 pt.
• Words from the job ad. If the post says "social media marketing", use that phrase, not just "SMM".
• PDF, named properly: Your-Name-CV.pdf, not final final CV (2).pdf. Send a Word file only if the employer asks for one.

Common mistakes on Pakistani CVs

Many CV templates that circulate in Pakistan were made for a different era. They ask for personal details that are optional, often unnecessary, and take up space your projects need.

Often included	Do you need it?
Photo	Optional. Most private-sector applications do not need one; add it only if the job post asks
CNIC number	Not on the CV. Share it later, if you are selected, through the employer's own form
Father's name	Usually unnecessary on a private-sector CV; government forms ask for it separately
Religion, sect, marital status	Not needed; they say nothing about your ability to do the job
Date of birth, age	Optional; leave it out unless the post asks (some government posts have age limits)
"Objective: to work in a challenging environment..."	Replace it with a real summary
Three pages, hobbies, "References available"	One page; references only when asked

The UK's National Careers Service, for example, tells applicants not to include age, date of birth, marital status or nationality on a CV (National Careers Service). That is UK guidance, so treat it here as practical advice rather than a legal rule in Pakistan. For government posts, Pakistan's Constitution says a qualified citizen shall not be discriminated against in appointments on grounds including religion, caste, sex and place of birth (Constitution of Pakistan, Article 27), and government applications use their own forms that ask for CNIC, domicile and the like. Fill those exactly as asked.

Other mistakes worth fixing:

• Spelling errors and mixed fonts. Read it aloud once; ask a friend to read it once.
• The same CV for every job. Change the headline and the top project for each role.
• Listing duties instead of results. "Responsible for social media" says less than "Planned and posted 3 Reels a week for the university society page".
• Unprofessional email or a number that is always off. Recruiters in Pakistan often call or WhatsApp; answer.

A fill-in CV template

Copy this, replace every bracket, and delete any line that does not apply to you.

YOUR NAME
[Headline: degree + field, e.g. "BS Computer Science graduate, web development"]
[Phone on WhatsApp] | [email] | [City] | [LinkedIn URL] | [GitHub / portfolio URL]

SUMMARY
[2-3 lines: what you studied, your strongest project or internship, the role you want.]

EDUCATION
[Degree], [University], [City] | [Year or "Expected Month Year"] | CGPA [x.xx] (optional)
[Intermediate: board, year] (optional)

PROJECTS
[Final year project name] | [tools] | [link]
- [What it does and who it is for]
- [Your part in it, with one concrete detail]
[Second project] | [tools] | [link]
- [One line]

EXPERIENCE
[Role], [Organisation], [City or Remote] | [Month Year - Month Year]
- [Verb + what you did + what changed]
- [Verb + what you did + what changed]

SKILLS
[Group]: [skill], [skill], [skill]
[Group]: [skill], [skill], [skill]

CERTIFICATIONS
[Certificate], [Issuer], [Year]

LANGUAGES
[Language (level)], [Language (level)]

Example 1: BS Computer Science fresh graduate

Everything below is a fictional placeholder. Replace it with your own details.

YOUR NAME
BS Computer Science graduate, web development
03XX-XXXXXXX | your.name@email.com | Mardan | linkedin.com/in/yourname | github.com/yourname

SUMMARY
BS Computer Science graduate who built a clinic appointment system as a final year
project. Comfortable with JavaScript, React and SQL. Looking for a junior web
developer or internship role.

PROJECTS
Clinic appointment system (FYP) | React, Node.js, MySQL | github.com/yourname/clinic
- Patients book a slot online; the receptionist sees the day's list on one screen
- Built the booking API and the database schema in a team of three
Personal portfolio site | HTML, CSS, JavaScript | yourname.github.io
- Lists my projects with screenshots and short write-ups

EDUCATION
BS Computer Science, [Your University], Mardan | [Year] | CGPA [x.xx]

EXPERIENCE
Web development intern, [Company name], Mardan | [Month - Month]
- Fixed layout bugs on client websites and tested pages on mobile
- Wrote the contact form for a client site with form validation

SKILLS
Languages: JavaScript, Python, SQL
Web: React, Node.js, HTML, CSS
Tools: Git, GitHub, VS Code

LANGUAGES
English (professional), Urdu (fluent), Pashto (native)

Example 2: BBA fresh graduate

YOUR NAME
BBA (Marketing) graduate, digital marketing and sales
03XX-XXXXXXX | your.name@email.com | Peshawar | linkedin.com/in/yourname

SUMMARY
BBA graduate with a marketing major and a summer internship in a retail company.
Ran social media for a university society. Looking for a marketing or sales
trainee role.

EDUCATION
BBA (Marketing), [Your University], Peshawar | [Year] | CGPA [x.xx]
Final year project: Customer survey on online grocery buying in [City]

EXPERIENCE
Marketing intern, [Company name], Peshawar | [Month - Month]
- Prepared the weekly sales report in Excel for the branch manager
- Helped plan and run an in-store promotion
Social media lead, [University] Business Society | [Year - Year]
- Planned posts for events and ran the page during the annual career fair

SKILLS
Marketing: social media planning, market research, customer surveys
Tools: Excel (pivot tables), Canva, Google Forms, Meta Business Suite

CERTIFICATIONS
[Course name], [Issuer], [Year]

LANGUAGES
English (professional), Urdu (fluent), Pashto (native)

Notice the BBA CV puts education first and folds the final year project into it, because the experience section is stronger than the project list. The CS CV does the opposite.

Cover messages for WhatsApp and email

In Pakistan, many jobs and internships are applied for on WhatsApp or by email. The CV gets you the interview; the message decides whether anyone opens the CV.

On WhatsApp, send the PDF and one short message, not five:

Assalam-o-Alaikum. I am [Your Name], a [degree] graduate from [University]. I am applying for the [role] you posted on [where]. My CV is attached; my main project is [one line]. Thank you for your time.

By email, put the role in the subject line ("Application: Web Development Intern - Your Name"), keep the body to four or five lines, attach the PDF, and do not leave the body empty. Use the same wording the job post uses for the role.

A few rules for both:

• Send during working hours, not at 1 a.m.
• If there is no reply after about a week, send one polite follow-up. Then move on.
• Apply to the role that is open. Softhat lists current openings on its jobs page and internships page.

Key takeaways

• One page is enough for a fresh graduate or an internship applicant.
• Order: contact, headline and summary, education, projects (FYP included), experience, skills, certifications and languages. Move projects up if they are your strength.
• Recruiters skim, so make the top third count: a clear headline and your best project.
• Keep it ATS-friendly: one column, standard headings, no tables or images for text, the job ad's own keywords.
• CNIC number, religion, father's name and a photo are optional and usually unnecessary on a private-sector CV.
• Send it as a PDF with a short, specific message, and follow up once.

Make your CV in 5 minutes

You now know what goes on the page. The quickest way to get it there is our free CV maker: fill in the form, and your ready PDF CV arrives on your WhatsApp from Softhat's business number (+92 315 9300600), with a download as well.

When it is ready, apply for an opening on our internships page or jobs page.