CS Resume Review Toolkit for Internships & New Grads

Start with one project and one real posting

A long list of languages does not tell a reviewer what you built. Pick one internship or junior software role, underline its three most important requirements, and find the project work you can actually explain.

Use this fictional example to practice the method. It illustrates editing decisions; it is not a customer result or a claim about hiring outcomes.

• Target role: a junior backend developer building REST APIs, testing changes, and working through code review.
• Project: a four-person campus equipment booking app. The student built the reservation API and wrote six integration tests. Teammates built the interface and deployment.

Worked example: make the contribution visible

Before: “Worked on a full-stack booking application using Python, React, PostgreSQL, and AWS.”

Evidence: the student implemented the FastAPI reservation endpoints, stored reservations in PostgreSQL, and tested overlapping bookings. Six integration tests cover successful reservations and conflicts. The student used pull requests; a teammate deployed the project to AWS.

After: “Built FastAPI reservation endpoints backed by PostgreSQL for a four-person campus booking project; wrote six integration tests covering successful reservations and booking conflicts.”

The edit makes API and testing work easy to find. It removes React and AWS from this bullet because this student did not own that work. Keep those skills elsewhere only if the student has separate evidence. Do not copy the example’s test count into your own resume.

Requirement → evidence → decision

For each requirement, decide whether to strengthen an existing line, ask yourself a specific question, or leave a true gap visible.

• REST APIs → reservation endpoints the student implemented → lead with the endpoint behavior, framework, and database.
• Testing → six integration tests and their scenarios → state what the tests verify; do not invent coverage percentages.
• Team collaboration → pull requests in a four-person project → identify one reviewed change before claiming code-review ownership.
• Production cloud operations → deployment was a teammate’s work → do not claim production AWS experience. Explain your own local development work if relevant.

Copy this worksheet for your next application

Keep the worksheet on your own device. No account or email is needed to read or download it. Fill one row per requirement before editing your resume.

• Target job and top requirement:
• Where I did related work (course, project, internship, or job):
• What I personally implemented or decided:
• Evidence I can explain (behavior, artifact, test, or observed result):
• What my teammates did instead:
• What remains unknown or is a true gap:
• Original bullet → revised bullet:
• One interview question I should be able to answer:

Use the tools for two different checks

The keyword matcher helps compare your wording with a posting; a missing term is a prompt to inspect your evidence, not permission to add a skill. The ATS checker reviews document structure and extraction. Neither predicts whether an employer will interview you.

• Compare one real job description with your resume after finishing the evidence worksheet.
• Review the final PDF or DOCX for recognizable headings, readable dates, selectable text, and a sensible reading order.
• Read each changed bullet aloud. Keep it only if you can explain your contribution and its limits.