I'm Momin, founder of CVFit in Ottawa. I build a resume-tailoring tool that uses only work you have actually done.

Full disclosure: this is my product area — CVFit sells a resume tool, so I benefit if you believe tailoring matters. I have kept the evidence against tailoring in here too.

Over two weeks in October 2026, we asked recruiters, talent acquisition leads, HR leaders and hiring managers on LinkedIn: what should a new grad put on a resume so it earns an interview? By October 25 we had logged 49 replies from 43 people, about 28 of them on the hiring side. Not a scientific survey — see the limitations. This is what they said in public, in their own words, including where they disagreed.

The market

The New York Fed reports unemployment for recent US college graduates stayed at about 5.6% through the second quarter of 2026, and underemployment edged up to 42%. Recent computer science grads sat at 7.0% unemployment, computer engineering at 7.8%. In Canada, youth unemployment (ages 15 to 24) was 13.0% in September 2026, against a 2017 to 2019 average of 10.8%. NACE's spring survey projected 5.6% more Class of 2026 graduate hires, mostly at large companies. But in Enhancv's interviews with 25 US recruiters, software openings, especially hybrid or remote ones, could get 1,500 to 2,000 applications before screening began.

1. Skills and output, not a title you don't have yet

Zena Contreras, a corporate hiring expert: "Early-career candidates aren't expected to have years of experience. They're expected to demonstrate potential, foundational skills, initiative, and the ability to learn." Rodney B., a talent management leader: "For all roles I look for skills and output first." On coursework: "some recruiters will skip over coursework, so it should be a small section so that the student has more space to highlight what they have accomplished with their projects."

2. Dependability — including the part-time job you almost cut

Stephanie Carroll, in talent sourcing and executive search, looks for "examples of follow-through: holding a part-time job throughout school, being trusted to train a new employee, or completing a project with clear deadlines and deliverables." Joshua Samowitz, a talent acquisition specialist: "If I see less experience but they have maintained good tenure at their previous positions, I am more inclined to interview them."

3. Impact over duties — and you don't need fake metrics

Manasi Joshi Bidkar, a director and global head of HR: "A resume that clearly communicates achievements rather than just listing responsibilities immediately stands out." Jessie Elkin, a director of recruiting: "They don't have to have metrics, but can include any skills that they've learned through projects, school or internships."

4. Tailor lightly — don't rewrite the whole resume

Breonna Suarez, RACR: "Keep one solid updated resume, but make small changes depending on the job you're applying for. You don't have to redo the whole thing." Aaron Rivers, a talent acquisition lead: "It doesn't need to be a whole resume reset, but something to draw the recruiter to the experience you know best fits, should be your goal." Jonathan Hershaff, a senior scientist at Uber: candidates should "find 1-3 roles that seemed the closest fit and apply to them," and "when you get to 8-12 or more that it starts to look ridiculous."

5. Use AI as a second set of eyes, not a ghostwriter

Mishika Gupta recommended "treating AI match scores as a starting point, not a final verdict," and checking the posting's "3-5 must-have requirements" yourself. "A lower match score doesn't always mean you're a weaker candidate!" Andrew Henke, an executive search recruiter: "The goal isnt to have AI reinvent your experience, but to make sure youre presenting it in the best possible light!" Daniel Umstead, an AVP of HR and talent acquisition, said heavy polish often shows "in the format," such as bold on skills "that aren't necessary," and when he's unsure, "I will ask a couple of key questions related to their experience to determine if they are a fit."

Where the advice conflicts

The summary. Maiyah Mercer: "It's best to skip the professional summary, especially if most of your experience consists of internships and fellowships." Jessie Elkin: the summary "should include what kind of role they're interested in, talk about their excitement for growth." Chelsé Rader: "A 2-4 sentence summary." Ron White: "I quickly review it and move on." Jeff Altman: "When it's only in the summary and the rest of the resume doesn't support what the summary says, the message is very clear." Keep it short and backed up below; skip "excitement for growth."

Titles vs skills. James Kennedy: the first few seconds go to "titles you've had, location (are you where the role is)." Billy Kopeikin wanted "A resume that says what the person is good at, not what titles they've held." Jobscan reports resumes whose titles matched the posting had a 10.6 times higher interview rate — from its own users, correlation, not cause. Don't rename a job you held. Sheldon Indryas: keep "the official title as the main title, then add the market-facing one in parentheses," as long as it "accurately describes the role."

Inventing a LinkedIn role. Rachael Gingery, a career coach and former tech recruiter, recommends "creating a new role under your experience section with the title you're targeting and relevant context" — only if honestly labelled as independent project work you really did. Her sharper point: "most junior candidates don't have enough experience to know how to tie their skills to the requirements of the role."

Does tailoring even pay off? Jeffery Y., a job seeker: "Honestly, it rarely seems to pay off. Last time I was job searching it took me 7 months to get a good hit." Kerri Rewerts: "if the bigger problem is sheer volume, how much does tailoring help if your resume never gets far enough into the pile to be read?" In Enhancv's interviews, 52% of recruiters said submission timing influences who makes the shortlist, and teams often pause postings after the first few hundred applications. A tailored resume sent a week late may never be opened.

"Get involved" assumes free time. Rodney B. warned students who skipped projects, clubs, work and volunteering "will get overlooked in comparison to a student who was involved." Fanny Y. suggested using free time to "volunteer at any big/small/start-up organisations." Students working to pay rent often don't have that time — the job that got you through school counts.

Cover letters. Aaron Rivers: "I am also a big believer in a strong cover letter for new grads," and "not every recruiter weighs them heavily." Write one when you have a real story; it won't rescue a resume that doesn't fit.

Do ATS systems reject entry-level resumes automatically?

In Enhancv's interviews, 92% of recruiters said their ATS doesn't auto-reject applicants based on format or content. All of them used knockout questions (work authorization, location, minimum education), and those can reject you instantly. Jobscan's survey of 384 recruiters found 99.7% use filters in their ATS or a similar system, and 76.4% filter by skills. Both companies sell resume tools, so read the numbers with that in mind.

Entry-level resume checklist

• One page. Jessie Elkin: new grads "should limit their resume to one page."
• Projects like jobs — what you built, tools, result. Coursework small.
• Part-time jobs kept, one bullet about responsibility.
• Most relevant item first.
• The posting's exact skill names, only for skills you can discuss.
• No invented numbers or titles.
• A summary, if any, of two to four lines, backed up below.
• The 3 to 5 must-haves checked yourself.
• Apply early, only to the few roles you fit best.

Where to get help without wasting money

Career centre — free while you're a student, often after. AI: Carlene Brown, Ph.D., suggested giving AI "a few examples of your own writing so it can get a feel for how you naturally communicate." Recruiters directly: Haviva Karon wished hiring teams were "responding to DMs or emails sent from candidates." Keep notes short.

Limitations

• Small sample: 49 replies from 43 people, about 28 hiring-side. Anecdote at scale, not data.
• Self-selected: people who post about resumes on LinkedIn replied; many sell coaching or recruiting.
• Not all tech: some examples don't map to a software internship.
• Some early comments were leading: before October 24, some stated a view rather than asking. We didn't use "great tip!" replies as evidence.
• No outcomes: what recruiters say they look for, not measured interview rates.
• We sell a resume tool: CVFit benefits if you believe tailoring matters.

FAQ

How do I get interviews with no experience? Show skills and output from projects, internships and part-time work; tailor lightly; apply early to roles you fit. Recruiters judge potential, not years.

Should an entry-level resume have a summary? Recruiters disagree — some say skip it, others want two to four lines naming the role. If you include one, back every claim below it.

How do I tailor my resume? Keep one master resume, move the most relevant project to the top, use the posting's exact names for skills you really have. It "doesn't need to be a whole resume reset."

Do ATS systems reject resumes automatically? Usually not on content alone, but knockout questions can. Use the plain names of skills you actually have.

Is it OK to use AI to write my resume? Yes, as a second set of eyes — check it against the posting yourself and rewrite it in your own voice.

Tailor what you have. Don't invent what you don't.

That was the common thread in almost every reply, and it's what CVFit does: it matches your real experience to a job description, shows which must-haves you can back up, and never adds skills you don't have. You review every change — 1 month of Pro free, no credit card required.

Thanks to everyone who answered on LinkedIn. If we've quoted you and you'd like a correction or your name removed, message the CVFit page and we'll update this article.

Read the original post on CVFit: Entry-level resume tips from recruiters: how new grads get interviews in 2026 Try the free match score at CVFit — paste a job description and see how your resume lines up, with no account needed for a first check.

I'm Momin, founder of CVFit in Ottawa. I build a tool that tailors a resume to a specific job using only work you have actually done. Federal hiring is where that rule matters most.

Full disclosure: this is my product area. The facts below come from the Public Service Commission (PSC), Treasury Board, and other official Government of Canada sources.

CVFit is independent. We're not affiliated with the Government of Canada, the Public Service Commission or GC Jobs.

A yes is not an answer

A federal application adds a layer most private-sector ones don't: the poster lists essential qualifications, and the application asks you to prove each one, in a text box. Writing "yes" is not enough. The PSC says you may need to answer screening questions about the qualifications on the poster — give details or examples, don't just claim them.

The reason is merit. Under the Public Service Employment Act, a person must meet every essential qualification to be appointed. Treasury Board's hiring page is blunt: it isn't enough to say you have a qualification or to list responsibilities — you need concrete examples of what, when, where and how. If your answers lack detail, "your application will not be given further consideration."

For each experience criterion, that page wants three things: the organization; your job title, level and dates, in month and year; and specific tasks or projects, told as situation, task, action and result.

STAR, the way the Government of Canada describes it

The PSC recommends the STAR method — Situation, Task, Action, Result — for screening answers, and again for interview prep. Situation is where you were and when; Task is what you were responsible for; Action is the steps you personally took — most of the marks live here; Result is what changed, with numbers if you have them.

PSC rules change how you write: use "I," not "we" — your specific role, not the team's. Use the question's exact words, preferring its keywords, not synonyms. Read "and" versus "or": "Participating in and leading a team" means both; "Planning meetings or events" means one is enough. Avoid acronyms.

Read the AI rules on the poster first

The PSC has published guidance on artificial intelligence in the hiring process. It strongly recommends that hiring managers say in the ad whether candidates can use AI. "AI permitted" still requires disclosure of any AI-generated content and its source, and warns you may be asked to explain your answers later. "AI prohibited" requires you to complete the assessment without any AI tools.

In a 2026 investigation summary, the PSC found that a policy-analyst candidate committed fraud by using AI-powered tools on a written assessment where AI was explicitly prohibited. The candidate said the tools were mostly for grammar, phrasing and organizing research. That didn't matter. The person now has to notify the PSC before accepting any federal public service job for two years.

Before you use CVFit or anything else: check the poster and every assessment invitation for an AI statement — rules can differ between screening, written tests and interviews. If AI is prohibited for a stage, don't use it for that stage, including "just polishing." If AI is permitted, follow the disclosure instructions exactly. If the poster says nothing, ask the contact listed on it. Don't guess. Never paste secure test material into any AI tool. Where AI helps is preparation. The final words should be yours.

Answering with CVFit: a demo walkthrough

CVFit's rule is simple: suggestions come only from experience you provide. If the poster asks for something your history doesn't support, it's flagged as a gap and you're asked about it, not filled in for you.

This walkthrough is a demo session: a fictional candidate, Sam Taylor, applying to a public FINTRAC Workday Analyst (IT-02) poster. The resume is made up; the workflow is what you'd use on your own history.

Upload your resume, add older projects, volunteer roles or student jobs to your Experience Library, and bring in the full poster.

Then check what you can actually prove. In the demo, the FINTRAC IT-02 poster showed a 50% match score, zero strong matches and eleven gaps, including Canadian citizenship and Top Secret clearance requirements. If an essential qualification has no evidence in your history, the PSC's advice is clear: only apply if you have all the essential qualifications. Required items you don't have — here, Workday HCM configuration and security — stay gaps. Don't invent them.

Next, ask the Assistant to find your evidence, one question at a time, using the poster's wording. In the demo, the Assistant's Result section cited a Power BI dashboard that cut monthly report preparation from two days to three hours, drawn from the same CV.

Then push back until it meets the GC checklist, and delete anything you can't defend. Write the final answer yourself, in your own words, in a separate document; the PSC suggests saving answers outside GC Jobs — the system doesn't save automatically. If the poster allows AI, follow its disclosure rules; if it doesn't, do this step without AI. Finally, export a plain resume: the PSC recommends an unformatted resume with no bullets, underlines or bold, because GC Jobs strips most formatting.

Interview questions, answered from your CV

Match each prepared example to a qualification listed in your interview invitation. For "Describe a time you had to prioritize multiple tasks or projects with competing deadlines," ask the Assistant which roles show parallel deliverables, then pick the one where you can explain how you decided what came first. A demo Assistant draft — structure only; use your own facts. From the Sam Taylor walkthrough: as an IT Business Analyst at Northbridge Consulting, I coordinated three concurrent system-upgrade projects for two public-sector clients; I set up a shared priority tracker and weekly check-ins; all three upgrades launched within one week of the planned schedules.

"Why are you interested in working for the Government of Canada?" Motivation has to come from you; fit can come from your CV — tie two or three points to the department's mission.

Tips and FAQ

Don't stretch an example to fit. Use a different example for each qualification where you can. Make your resume and screening answers agree: same titles, same dates. Keep an answer bank: save each finished answer with the qualification it proves — many federal posters reuse similar wording, and the PSC suggests repurposing answers.

How long should a screening answer be? Long enough to prove the qualification: organization, title, dates and a STAR example — the PSC's model complete answer is one detailed paragraph; check your poster for a word or character limit. Can I use AI? Only if the job poster or assessment instructions allow it, and then you must follow the disclosure rules. If AI is prohibited, using it can be treated as fraud. If the poster doesn't say, ask the contact listed on it. Do I need to answer asset questions? No, but if you have an asset, prove it the same way — assets can decide who gets appointed. Behavioural versus situational? Behavioural questions ask what you did in a real past situation; situational ones ask what you would do in a hypothetical. Your CV is the source for behavioural answers. Is CVFit connected to GC Jobs? No. CVFit is independent and doesn't submit anything for you. You copy your own reviewed answers into GC Jobs yourself.

CVFit helps with that part: it reads the poster, shows which qualifications your history supports, flags the gaps, and lets you ask the Assistant about your fit, all from experience you've provided. You review everything. You write the final answer. Try it on your next application — 1 month of Pro free, with no credit card required.

For federal roles, what's the hardest screening question you've had to answer?

Read the original post on CVFit: How to answer Government of Canada screening questions from your résumé (with AI help)

Try the free match checker — paste a job description and see how your resume lines up, with no account needed for a first check.

I'm Momin, founder of CVFit in Ottawa. I build a tool that helps people tailor a resume to a specific tech job using only work they have actually done. The summary at the top of a resume causes more confusion than almost any other section, and the answer is less absolute than most advice makes it sound.

Full disclosure: this is my product area, and I have a point of view. The evidence below comes from published studies and surveys, plus conversations with recruiters and hiring managers. Where the research is old or limited, I'll say so.

The first look is very short

The most quoted timing figure still comes from an eye-tracking study by Ladders in 2018, which recorded an average first screen of 7.4 seconds. That work was done in a lab, years ago, so treat it as a rough guide rather than a rule. Newer data points in the same direction: a 2025 survey by Novorésumé of more than 200 HR professionals found 42% spend under 10 seconds on an initial review. Canada's Job Bank, by contrast, gives a more generous estimate of about 30 seconds to skim a resume.

Whatever number you trust, the first pass is brief, and the top third of the page carries a lot of weight.

Recruiter Ron White turns that into a test: set a timer for seven seconds and ask whether a reader can tell what role you want, your strongest measurable result, and your level — without scrolling. A summary is not a personal statement. It is where those three answers can sit together.

Recruiters usually start with experience

The same Novorésumé survey found 79.4% of HR professionals check work experience first, while only about 10% said the summary or objective is where they look first. The Ladders study also found recruiters spent more time on job titles than on any other element. At the same time, that study listed an overview at the top of the first page among the traits shared by the best-performing resumes.

Those findings fit together. Most readers jump to your titles and most recent role, then glance back to check whether the summary matches. Hiring manager Krista Kelly notes that what a reader encounters first carries extra weight and shapes how they read everything after it. So a summary rarely wins an interview on its own — it frames the rest of the page. When it is vague, or claims more than the bullets below can support, it works against you.

What the screening software does with it

Much summary advice is really keyword advice, built on the idea that software rejects your resume before a person sees it. The picture is more mixed.

Harvard Business School's Hidden Workers report found more than 90% of employers surveyed use their systems to initially filter or rank candidates, and 88% agreed that qualified, high-skill candidates get screened out because they do not match the exact criteria in the job description.

On the other hand, when Enhancv interviewed 25 US recruiters in 2025, 92% said their ATS does not auto-reject resumes based on content or design; rejection mostly came from knockout questions such as work authorisation or location. What recruiters clearly do is search: Jobscan's survey of 384 recruiters found 99.7% use filters, and 76.4% filter by skills. So the summary is a reasonable place to use the posting's exact name for a skill you really have — "React" instead of "front-end frameworks." It is a poor place to stuff in skills you cannot point to below. The Ladders study flagged keyword stuffing as a trait of the worst resumes.

Should a new grad use one?

This is where advice splits most. Washington University in St. Louis tells students that most college students can skip a summary, but that a summary is highly recommended for technical and engineering resumes. Virginia Tech says a professional summary is typically recommended for more seasoned candidates, and suggests an objective for students and career changers who do not yet have a strong history in the field. The University of Toronto Mississauga career centre gives the most practical test: use a summary of qualifications when your skills come from a mix of projects and jobs that would take a reader time to piece together, and skip it when the top half of the page already shows you are qualified.

For a new graduate applying to a junior developer or data role, that test usually points toward a short summary. Your strongest evidence is often spread across a capstone, an internship and a side project, and none carries the job title the posting asks for. Two lines that name the target role and connect those pieces save the reader the work. What does not work is a generic line like "Motivated computer science graduate seeking opportunities to grow" — it adds nothing the education section does not already say. Heidi Ram of The Product Recruiter makes the same point: contrast a resume that lists tools and tasks with one that shows use cases, business value and outcomes.

How to write a summary you can stand behind

A useful summary has three parts, each pointing to something lower on the page. First, the role and level you are targeting, in the posting's words — "Junior backend developer" is clearer than "software professional." Second, two or three skills the job asks for that your resume proves. If the posting lists Python, SQL and AWS and your projects use Python and SQL, name those two. Leave AWS out unless it appears in a bullet. Third, one concrete result, even a small one, with a number that is yours and not a template's.

Then rewrite the summary for each kind of role you apply to. It is the cheapest part of your resume to tailor and the part a reader sees first. The rule is that every claim in those lines must be one you could defend in a screening call.

Four questions before you keep it or cut it

• If someone covered everything below your summary, could they name the role you want and your level?
• Does every skill in the summary appear again in a project or experience bullet?
• Is the summary doing something your most recent role doesn't already do on its own?
• Would you change at least one line of it for the next job you apply to?

If you answer no to most of these, the summary is probably costing you space. Cut it, or rewrite it around the one job you are applying to now.

If you want a quick read on whether your resume and summary line up with a specific posting, CVFit's free match checker compares the two, and a first check does not need an account. New accounts get one month of Pro free, with no credit card.

For tech roles, do you read the summary, or go straight to the first bullet of the latest role? If you hire for tech, I'd like to hear how you read it — I'll be in the comments.

Read the original post on CVFit: Does the resume professional summary still matter for tech jobs?