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Name the project, explain your contribution and state the output. Give the team credit for the team result, then make your individual work easy to see.
Select a project that demonstrates relevant work
A group project can help a student or graduate explain skills when paid experience is limited. Choose it because the tasks relate to the vacancy: analysing information, writing clearly, testing a solution or coordinating a delivery. A relevant small project can be easier to explain than a large one where your contribution was slight.
NUS's resume guidance includes relevant coursework and projects among the options for showing experience. Give the entry a clear setting, such as Academic project, with the course or institution and actual dates. A descriptive title helps the reader understand the subject without knowing your module code.
List your actions before writing a bullet
Open the project files, task board or version history and reconstruct the division of work. This fictional research project produced a team report. One student organised interview notes and wrote the methods summary; a teammate made the charts.
Scroll the table sideways to compare all columns.
| Project record | Attribution | Useful CV material |
|---|---|---|
| The group submitted a research report | Team deliverable | State the output and project setting. |
| You grouped interview notes into themes | Your action | Describe how you organised the material and what it supported. |
| You wrote the methods summary | Your action | Name that section and its role in the report. |
| A teammate created the charts | Teammate's action | Do not claim chart creation as your own contribution. |
| No implementation is recorded | Outcome not established | Stop at submission; do not claim business improvement. |
If you collaborated on a task, say what you handled within it. Reviewed the survey questions with two teammates is more informative than claiming the whole research programme. Use the cover letter sample and template to connect your contribution to a role.
Connect your action to a concrete output
Use a simple structure: action, task and output. Include a method or tool when it matters to the vacancy and you actually used it. The reader needs enough detail to understand the work, without a paragraph describing the entire course.
Led an end-to-end research project and improved business strategy.
Academic research project | [course, institution and dates] Synthesised interview notes into recurring themes and wrote the methods summary for the team's submitted report.
- Academic identifies the setting; the title does not imply employment or a client engagement.
- The two verbs identify the student's own contribution.
- Submitted report is the established output. Leadership, implementation and business improvement are absent from the project record.
A genuine grade, test result or other measure can be included when relevant and accurately attributed. You do not need a percentage to make the entry useful. A working prototype, documented method or completed report is a concrete output too.
Adjust the emphasis for the vacancy
For a research-heavy role, the interview-note analysis may be the most relevant part. For a coordination role, a real contribution to scheduling or reviewing the final submission could matter more. Change the emphasis only where you have the evidence; the same project does not establish every skill in a job description.
Keep a short project note for interview preparation: the question, your task, the method, the team output and one limitation. Check whether files may be shared before linking them. You can explain your approach using a non-confidential summary when the original contains participant, client or teammate information.
Write an entry you can explain out loud
Complete this pattern with one or two contributions. Then read it aloud and ask whether you could explain every verb, tool and result. If a teammate would not recognise the attribution, revise it before sending the application.
[Descriptive project title] | Academic project [Course / institution] | [actual dates] [Action I personally took] on [specific task] using [relevant method or tool], contributing to [team output]. [Optional second contribution with its own concrete detail.]
- 1Keep the setting
Use academic, volunteer or other accurate context so the reader understands the experience.
- 2Own the verb
Choose a verb that describes what you did. Coordinated, tested and reviewed imply different work.
- 3Attribute the output
Contributing to a team output lets you describe the deliverable without claiming everyone else's tasks.
Sources & example notes
Reviewed 3 November 2026. Worked examples and suggested wording are ApplyLah editorial illustrations. Sources below support the factual guidance; examples do not report hiring outcomes.
