In this guide
Resumes and cover letters
How to add projects to a resume
When a projects section earns its place on a resume, how to write each entry so your own contribution is clear, and what to check before you link to work.
When a projects section earns its place
- You are early in your career and your projects are more relevant than your part-time work.
- You are changing career and a project is the clearest proof that you can do the new kind of work.
- The field values visible work, such as software, design, writing, research or data analysis.
- You built something substantial during a career break or alongside your main job.
If none of these applies, a relevant project can still appear as a bullet under the job or course where it happened, rather than as a separate section.
What a good project entry contains
| Part | What to write |
|---|---|
| Name and date | A plain, descriptive name and when you did it |
| Purpose | One line on what it was for and who it served |
| Your contribution | What you personally did, especially in team projects |
| Method or tools | The techniques, software or approach you used |
| Result | What it produced, who used it, or what you learned that the job needs |
| Link | Where the reader can see it, if it is public and yours to share |
Project entries rewritten
Illustrative example
A personal software project
Before
Made a budgeting app.
After
Household budget tracker (2026): built a small web app in JavaScript that imports bank CSV files and groups spending by category; used weekly by three family members.
Illustrative example
A community project
Before
Organised a charity event.
After
Community quiz night (2025): planned budget, venue and volunteer rota for an event of 120 guests, and set up online ticketing that replaced cash sales at the door.
Illustrative example
An academic project
Before
Dissertation on retail.
After
Dissertation: analysed two years of public footfall data for a town centre, using regression in R to compare weekday and weekend trends; findings presented to the local business forum.
Naming the method and the audience turns an academic title into evidence an employer can use.
Making your part clear in a group project
Group work is common, and employers know it. What they need is your share. Name the team size and then state the part you owned: 'one of four; built the data pipeline and wrote the testing plan'. Avoid 'we' throughout, and never present a team result as yours alone.
Before you add a link
Check every link you put on a resume
- It opens without a login, on a phone as well as a computer.
- The work is mine to share, with nothing confidential from an employer or client.
- The repository, portfolio or page has a short description at the top.
- Nothing personal I would not want an employer to see is reachable from it.
- The link text is readable when printed, not only clickable.
Ordering and length
Order projects by relevance to the role, not by date. Two to four entries of two or three lines each is usually enough. If you have many, keep a fuller list in a portfolio and choose the ones that match each application.
Common questions
Can unfinished projects go on a resume?
Yes, if they already show something useful and you label them as in progress. Be ready to explain what is left to do and why.
Should projects go above or below work experience?
Above when they are your strongest relevant evidence, which is common early in a career or during a career change; below when your work history already proves the skills.
Put it into practice
See how Luceria helps with thisDrafted with AI assistance and checked against Luceria’s editorial standards. Examples are illustrative, not real people’s results. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.