In addition to job or internship experience, projects – things you’ve worked on at school or through volunteering – are good examples of what you’ve accomplished and how you move through problems.

It’s important that you know how to list projects on resume; to write about them in a way that the hiring manager can see that you are promoting your most relevant qualifications.

Herein we’ll offer a roadmap on how to best place projects on your document in order to make a maximum impact and increase your chances of securing that coveted interview.

What are projects on a resume?

Projects are examples of undertakings, which you have completed in the past that exhibited your specific abilities, knowledge or experience. They can come from a variety of places.

Types of projects in resume:

  • Academic
  • Work
  • Personal
  • Volunteer or Non-Profit

Now let's have a closer look at these kinds of projects.

Academic projects in resume

This resume project section describes substantial work that you undertook during your school or university time, for which you may have received an academic grade. These could be your capstone project, group assignments or papers that you submitted during your research.

Such projects help you provide evidence of your skills, knowledge and capability of applying the concepts in other contexts. They are useful for students or recent graduates who have little or no professional background.

And so resume with projects demonstrates an ability to handle more complex work, to collaborate and cooperate, and to apply theory to action.

Resume project examples:

1. Data Analysis Project

  • Title: Data Analysis of Customer Purchase Behavior
  • Description: Analyzed a database of 10,000 customer transactions to determine purchasing habits in order to foresee future sales. Cleaned data using Python, employed statistical models and created visualizations in Tableau with a 15% increase in prediction.

2. Software Development Project

  • Title: Web-Based Learning Management System
  • Description: Developed Learning Management System (LMS) from ground up. HTML, CSS and JavaScript were the used technologies. Functionality and user engagement increased by 25%.

3. Marketing Research Project

  • Title: Market Entry Strategy for Sustainable Fashion
  • Description: Conducted in-depth market research of US sustainable fashion including competitor strategies, customer behaviour and pricing model. Created a market entry strategy that improved the perceived penetration potential by 20 per cent.

4. Senior Thesis Project

  • Title: Renewable Energy
  • Description: Presented findings to faculty and peers, earning recognition for innovative research methodologies and practical applications.

Work projects

These projects in resume are initiatives you took on in a work setting – whether that’s a job, internship or freelance position.

They provide concrete and measurable evidence of how you solved problems and contributed to business goals, while also highlighting the skills you employed to achieve success.

Resume project examples:

1. Financial Analysis Project

  • Title: Cost Reduction Analysis for Manufacturing Division
  • Description: Conducted a detailed cost analysis of manufacturing processes, identifying inefficiencies and recommending cost-saving measures. Successfully implemented changes that led to a 15% reduction, saving the company $200,000 annually.

2. Recruitment Project

  • Title: Talent Acquisition Strategy Overhaul
  • Description: Revamped the company's talent acquisition strategy, incorporating new tools and social media platforms. Reduced time-to-hire by 25% and improved candidate quality.

3. Sales Initiative Project

  • Title: Sales Territory Expansion
  • Description: Expanded the company's sales territory by identifying new market opportunities in the Midwest region. Increased regional sales by 30% over a one-year period, contributing $1 million in additional revenue.

4. Website Redesign Project

  • Title: E-Commerce Business
  • Description: Designed a whole new e-commerce experience for the company’s online platform including enhanced user experience and mobile responsiveness. Boosted sales by 40 per cent in the quarter after launch, because it was easier to find things and easier to check out.

Personal projects

Independent projects – things you do on your own, away from formal employment or academic settings – that show you have skills, imagination and persistence. This can be something you built or coded, or some piece of design. It can also be for a cause you believe in: a prototype, a group you organized, an article you wrote.

These resume projects are great compliments, if related, to the job for which people are applying. They show that you are, and will continue to be, self-motivated and proactive with regard to skills-building.

Resume project examples:

1. Website Development

  • Title: Portfolio Website Development
  • Description: Developed and introduced online a thorough personal portfolio website for my skills and ongoing projects; using a working knowledge of HTML, CSS and Javascript; embracing responsive design and SEO principles. As a result: my web traffic rose by 50 per cent in just three months.

2. E-book

  • Title: Book on Time Management
  • Description: Wrote and published a 100-page e-book that specializes in teaching effective time management techniques. Marketed it quite successfully via social-media channels. So far, more than 1,000 users have downloaded it, and the feedback has been very positive, with people exalting the practicality of the tips.

3. DIY Electronics Project

  • Title: Home Automation System
  • Description: Built our own home automation system using a Raspberry Pi and Python for remote control of the household lighting and temperature. Supplemented it with Google Assistant for voice control, which has reduced the household’s energy consumption by approximately 15 per cent.

4. Finance Blog

  • Title: Personal Finance Blog
  • Description: Created a website with financial advice and tricks and housed more than 15,000 monthly visits. Developed a content marketing strategy and provided more and better contact with the social media channels.

Volunteer projects

These are run-on sentences for resumes. They are independent resume projects (unpaid, by definition) you have been involved with or done outside of work. They could be for a non-profit organization, community group, charity or other reason.

Such projects in resume show philanthropy and a commitment to social responsibility and teamwork – all soft skills that employers prize.

Whether or not derived from your field of study, they help emphasize transferable skills, including communication, project management, problem-solving, and leadership.

Resume project examples:

1. Environmental Cleanup Project

  • Title: Project Lead for Beach Cleanup Initiative
  • Description: Helped to organize a series of beach cleans for local community. Project was led by a group of 50 volunteers. Responsibilities included coordinating logistics, collecting all required supplies, and setting up beach clean locations. Project was held to raise awareness about the pollution in the local shoreline. A total of 2 tons worth of waste was collected.

2. Mentorship Program

  • Title: Mentor for Youth Career Development Program
  • Description: Mentored a number of high school students in career planning and professional skills development. Edited resumes, practiced interview questions, helped each student with networking, secured 10 internships and admissions to college.

3. Charity Gala

  • Title: Volunteer Event Coordinator for Annual Charity Gala
  • Description: I arranged vendors and volunteers, and worked with sponsors to host a prominent charity ball. Raised $50,000+ for a local children’s hospital, and connected donors with hospital staff and administrators.

4. Community Garden

  • Title: Organizer for Community Garden
  • Description: Hosted free, organized community gardening workshops to help participants develop sustainability skills, with almost 150 local residents participating. Collaborated with local schools to provide materials and children’s programming that demonstrated the need to become a 'steward of creation’.

How to put projects on resume?

Listing projects on a resume is a good practice, especially for those who have limited experience in a professional setting.

Decide where to put projects on resume based on their relevance to the job.
  • If you have several significant entries, consider creating a dedicated projects section on resume.
  • If the projects are linked to a work or internship experience, list them under the related job entries.
  • For university projects; put them in your education section.
Each project should have a clear title and description.

Quantify your successes where possible, in terms of impact (eg., 'increased our conversion rate by 20 per cent') or measurement (eg., 'over 1 million unique visitors to the site'). Open your bullet points with powerful verbs.

Tailor your descriptions to the specific job you’re applying for. Be concise (2-5 bullets per entry).

Conclusion

In conclusion, adding projects to resume is important because it can help you to qualify as better candidate by demonstrating the skills, experiences and results that you have obtained.

With a little practice, you can compose descriptions of your projects, highlighting strengths and framing things in the way that will best appeal to HR.

Keep your resume brief and clear so potential employers can see in one glance you’ve got what it takes.

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