For international students in Canada

Resume for International Students in Canada

Your degree is real, your skills are real, and your part-time job counts. What usually holds a student resume back is format: it was written for another country, or for a teacher. Here is how to turn coursework, co-op and a first job into a resume Canadian employers read.

Updated

Build my resume

Check my resume score

  • Free account to start
  • No credit card needed

How should an international student write a resume in Canada?

Use the Canadian format: a short Professional Profile at the top, then Education, Work Experience and Skills, with dates written as month and year. Leave off your photo, date of birth, marital status and immigration status. Put your Canadian program first in Education, and list your home degree too. Treat co-op placements and internships as real jobs, with the employer, your title, dates and two or three results each. Part-time work, campus jobs and volunteer roles belong on the page as well. Keep it to 1 to 2 pages, and match the skills to each posting.

Length
1 page for most students, 2 with co-op
Leave off
Photo, birth date, permit type
Co-op
Listed as work experience
Dates
Month and year, like May 2025
Spelling
Canadian: colour, centre, program
Cost to start
Free account, first PDF free

Why a good student resume still gets passed over

Most of the time, it is not your qualifications. It is one of these three things, and all of them can be fixed on the page.

  • "No Canadian experience"

    Recruiters look for employers and job titles they recognize. You probably have more Canadian experience than you think: a campus job, a co-op term, a retail shift, volunteering. The trick is putting it where they look, under Work Experience.

  • Words that do not match

    Your degree and old job titles may use different words for the skills a Canadian posting asks for. Applicant tracking systems and busy recruiters both look for the words in the ad, so a different word can hide a skill you have.

  • Rules no one told you

    No photo. No date of birth. A Professional Profile, not an Objective. Canadian spelling. None of it is hard, but getting it wrong tells a reader you have not job hunted here before.

Hiring in Canada usually happens in two passes. Larger employers use applicant tracking software to sort applications, then a recruiter skims the ones near the top, often for well under a minute. Your resume has to be readable by the software and make sense to a person who has never heard of your university.

For the full list of format rules, see the Canadian resume format guide. The rest of this page is about the parts that are different for students.

What goes on an international student resume

Put it on

  • Name, city and province, phone, email, LinkedIn
  • A 2 to 3 line Professional Profile aimed at the role
  • Your Canadian program, with expected graduation date if you are still studying
  • Your home degree, with the school and country
  • Co-op terms and internships, written like jobs
  • Part-time, campus and volunteer work with results
  • Skills the posting asks for, including languages you speak

Leave it off

  • A photo, age or date of birth
  • Marital status, religion or nationality
  • Your study permit or work permit details
  • Your student ID or SIN
  • An Objective Statement
  • High school, once you have a degree
  • References (share them when asked)

How to list your Canadian program and your home degree

For most students, Education goes near the top, right after the Profile. Once you have a year or more of relevant work, move it below Work Experience.

A clearer Education section

Before
B.Tech (CSE), 8.4 CGPA, VIT, 2021. PG Diploma, 2025.
After
Postgraduate Certificate, Business Analytics, Conestoga College, Kitchener, ON, April 2025. Bachelor of Technology, Computer Science and Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, India, May 2021.
Why it works
Full names, the city and country, and month and year dates. A recruiter should not have to decode abbreviations or grading scales.

Small things that help

  • Write the Canadian credential first, even if the home degree is higher.
  • If your degree title does not map clearly, add a short plain note, such as "(four-year bachelor's degree)".
  • Leave grades off unless they are strong and the employer asks. A GPA on a different scale confuses more than it helps.
  • Add relevant courses or a capstone project only if you have little work experience, and keep it to one line.
  • For regulated jobs, a credential assessment from WES or a similar service can be listed under Education.

Writing up co-op, internships and part-time jobs

This is where most students undersell themselves. A co-op term is a job. So is a shift at a coffee shop, if you write it well.

Put co-op terms and internships under Work Experience, with the employer, your title, the city and the dates. You can add "(Co-op)" after the title so the reader knows it was a work term. Then write two to four bullets about what you did and what changed because of it.

Part-time and campus jobs belong there too, even if they are not in your field. Canadian employers read a retail or food service job as proof you can show up, work a shift and deal with customers in English or French. Pick the bullets that fit the job you want. The cashier, barista and server examples show what those bullets look like on a finished resume.

Turning duties into results

Before
Worked as cashier at Tim Hortons. Handled customers and cash.
After
Served 200+ customers a shift at a high-volume location and balanced the till with no discrepancies over 14 months.
Why it works
Volume, accuracy and length of time show reliability, which is what a first employer is really checking.
Before
Co-op student in the finance department. Helped with reports.
After
Built a monthly spend report in Excel for 12 cost centres, cutting the manager's month-end prep from two days to half a day.
Why it works
Name the tool, the scope and what got better. That is the difference between an assistant and a contributor.
Before
Group project on customer churn for a class.
After
Capstone project: built a churn model in Python on 40,000 telecom records and presented the three biggest drivers to a panel of faculty and an industry sponsor.
Why it works
With little work history, a real project written like work fills the gap. Put it in a Projects section.

What CVMaple does for student resumes

The format rules are built in, so you can spend your time on what you did, not on margins and headings.

  • Canadian format from the start

    Every template follows Canadian rules, with no photo field and standard section names. The AI resume builder turns your notes into achievement-first bullets. The free plan includes 1 AI-built resume a month.

  • Import what you already have

    Upload your current resume as a PDF or Word file, or your LinkedIn profile saved as a PDF. It becomes an editable resume you can fix up instead of retyping. Your first import is free.

  • Resume score and top fixes

    Upload your resume and get a score out of 100 with the top fixes to make first. Your first check needs no account at all. Check my resume

  • Job posting analyzer

    Paste a posting to see the skills and keywords it asks for, so you can tell which ones your resume already shows. Five analyses a month are free, and unlimited on Pro.

On Pro, the job optimizer rewrites your resume against a specific posting and gives you an ATS match score, 10 times a month. If you apply in Quebec, Pro also converts your resume to Quebec French. See the pricing page for everything in each plan, or try Pro for 7 days for $3.99.

Start my student resume

Where you are in your studies changes what goes first

  • First or second year

    You want a part-time or campus job. Lead with a one-page resume: Profile, Education, any work or volunteering, and Skills. Keep your hours within what your study permit allows. The international student resume example shows one filled in.

  • Applying for co-op

    Your school's co-op office may have its own template or portal, so check that first. Put relevant courses and projects near the top, and treat each earlier work term as a job.

  • Final term, job hunting

    You are applying for full-time roles before you graduate. Write "Expected April 2026" for your program and put your strongest experience, co-op or not, right after the Profile. The college and university student example shows this layout with a co-op term.

  • Graduated, on a PGWP

    The clock on your permit is running. Target roles in your field and tailor every application. PGWP resume guide

If you arrived in Canada after already working for some years, the newcomer resume guide may fit better, because it deals with translating a longer career from another country.

Common questions

How do I list my international degree on a Canadian resume?

The same way as any degree: the full degree name, the school, the city and country, and the month and year you finished. You do not need to explain why you studied abroad. If the title does not translate clearly, add a short note in brackets, such as "(four-year bachelor's degree)". For regulated professions, you can also list a credential assessment from WES or a similar service.

Should I list my home country degree or only my Canadian program?

Both. Put the Canadian credential first because employers recognize it, then your home degree. Your earlier education is part of what you bring, so there is no reason to hide it.

How do I put co-op or internship experience on a resume?

Under Work Experience, like any other job: the employer, your title, the city and the dates, then two to four results. You can add "(Co-op)" after the title. Canadian employers value co-op terms because they show you already know how a Canadian workplace runs.

Should I include my study permit or immigration status on my resume?

No. Leave your permit type, your status and your SIN off the resume. If an application form asks whether you are legally entitled to work in Canada, answer it there.

Is part-time work like retail or food service worth including?

Yes, especially if it is your only Canadian work. It shows reliability, customer service and working in a Canadian team. Write it with results, like how many customers you served or how long you stayed, rather than listing duties.

How long should an international student resume be?

One page for most students. Two pages is fine if you have co-op terms plus earlier work experience from home that is relevant to the job.

Does ATS software treat international students differently?

No. The software only reads what is on the page. The problem is that a resume written for another market often uses different section names, date formats or job title words, so it matches the posting poorly. Using Canadian format and the posting's own words fixes most of it.

Can CVMaple help me as an international student?

Yes. You can build a Canadian format resume on a free account, import your current resume or LinkedIn PDF, check it for a score out of 100, and analyze job postings to see which skills they want. Pro adds job-by-job optimization with an ATS match score and French conversion.

Your first Canadian job starts with a resume that gets read.

Build it in Canadian format on a free account. Your first PDF download is free, and you can upgrade later if you want the full toolkit.

Build my resume

Related Canadian resume guides

From the CVMaple blog