How to Use the Smeal College of Business Resume Template (And What Actually Gets You Interviews)
The Smeal College of Business resume template is Penn State's official career document for undergrads and MBA students applying to internships, full-time roles, and grad school. It's free through the Smeal Career Services website, formatted to the standards recruiters at top firms expect, and built around the belief that your background should speak louder than fancy design. That said, the template alone won't land you interviews. You still have to fill it out right. I've reviewed hundreds of these during my time working in campus recruiting and career advising, and the same problems keep showing up. Let's talk about how to actually use this template without making the mistakes most students make.
Smeal College Of Business Resume Template — Where to Find It
The template lives on the Smeal Career Services page. You'll need your Penn State credentials to access it if you're a current student. Go to the Smeal website, navigate to Career Services, and look for the resume resources section. The template comes in both Word and PDF formats. Save it immediately after downloading because the URL can shift when they update the site each semester. If you're an alum, you still have access through the Penn State career portal. Former students sometimes get locked out after graduation, so grab the file while you can. Third-party sites sell this template for $5 to $20. Don't pay for it. The official version is free and updated regularly.
What the Template Looks Like and Why It Matters
The Smeal template uses a clean, single-column layout with clear section headers: Education, Experience, Leadership, Skills, and Projects. There's no photo, no graphics, no columns that confuse applicant tracking systems. This matters because companies like Deloitte, PwC, JPMorgan Chase, and Accenture all use ATS platforms that strip away fancy formatting and read plain text. A template that passes ATS cleanly gives you an edge before a human ever sees your name. The font is typically Times New Roman or Arial at 10 to 12 points. Margins are set to one inch. Everything fits on one page unless you're a graduate student with extensive experience. I've seen MBA candidates use the two-page option legitimately, but for undergrads, one page is the standard expectation at most firms.
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How to Fill It Out Without Looking Like Everyone Else
Most students treat this template like a form to check off. They list their duties instead of their impact. Here's what that looks like in practice: Weak example: "Responsible for managing social media accounts and creating content." Strong example: "Grew Instagram following by 40% over six months through weekly content calendars and targeted engagement campaigns reaching 12,000 students."
The second version tells a recruiter something they can actually evaluate. The first version is filler. Every bullet point under Experience and Leadership should answer one question: what did you change, improve, or create? Quantify whenever possible. If you can't put a number on it, describe the scope — team size, budget managed, audience reached, process improved. One common mistake I see constantly: students list every club they joined. Smeal students are involved. You don't need ten extracurriculars. Pick three to four where you had real responsibility. Being a member of the marketing club doesn't distinguish you. Leading the sponsorship committee for that same club does. Depth beats breadth every time.
Education Section — The Details Most Students Skip
The template has a dedicated education block. Put it at the top if you're a current student or recent graduate. Include your expected graduation date, major, minor if relevant, GPA if it's 3.3 or above, and any honors. Dean's List, cum laude, relevant coursework — all of this goes here if it strengthens your case. Here's a nuance most people miss: if your GPA is below 3.3, you can omit it. No explanation needed. Just remove the line. Some students feel obligated to include it and then watch their interview callback rate drop. There's no penalty for leaving it out. Honors programs or relevant coursework can compensate if your overall GPA isn't strong.
A Problem I Ran Into and How I Fixed It
Last spring, a student came to me with a perfectly formatted Smeal template that still wasn't getting responses. Her problem was invisible on the surface. She had listed three consulting projects under Experience, but each one was described in three vague bullet points with no specific tools or methodologies mentioned. A recruiter scanning for two seconds would see identical language to every other business student's resume. The fix was straightforward but took work. We went through each project and added concrete details: what software she used (Tableau, Alteryx, Excel pivot tables), what frameworks she applied (SWOT, Porter's Five Forces, funnel analysis), and what the measurable outcome was. One project went from "Conducted market research for a local retail client" to "Analyzed 18 months of sales data using Excel and Tableau to identify a 15% revenue gap in the mid-market segment; recommendations adopted by client for Q3 planning cycle." She started getting calls within two weeks. The template didn't change. The content did.
Common Pitfalls with This Template
Formatting drift: Once you start editing in Word, the spacing can shift. The template has precise margins and line heights. If you add a bullet that runs two lines, check that the rest of the document stays aligned. Misaligned text looks careless to recruiters who compare dozens of resumes back to back. Overloading the Skills section: The template includes a skills area. Don't fill it with generic terms like "Microsoft Office" or "team player." List specific tools: Salesforce, Bloomberg Terminal, SQL, Python, SAP, Hyperion. If you've used them in a real academic or professional context, include them. If you've only seen them in a lecture, leave them off. Recruiters will ask follow-up questions you can't answer. Wrong file naming: Save your file as "FirstName_LastName_Smeal_Resume.pdf" not "Resume_Final_v3_updated.docx." Recruiters download hundreds of files. A clear filename helps them organize and find yours later. I've seen candidates lose opportunities because their file was named "document.pdf" and got mixed into a folder of 200 other unnamed files.
Forgetting the keywords: Many Smeal students apply to the same employers each year — Deloitte, EY, KPMG, PwC, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs. These firms use ATS filters that scan for specific keywords from the job description. Before you submit, compare your resume against the posting and add any relevant terms you're missing. If the job description mentions "financial modeling" and your resume says "built financial models," change it to match their language exactly.
When the Template Isn't Enough
The Smeal template works well for traditional business roles: consulting, finance, accounting, marketing, operations. It's less ideal if you're applying to tech product management, data science, or creative roles where a different format might better showcase your work. In those cases, consider building a custom resume that still follows ATS-friendly principles but highlights portfolio links, GitHub repositories, or project demos. You can also adapt the template structure for cover letters and LinkedIn summaries. Career Services provides a matching cover letter template. Using consistent formatting across both documents shows attention to detail, which is a trait every employer values.
Final Thoughts on Using This Template Effectively
The Smeal resume template is a solid foundation. It's designed by people who know what hiring managers at major firms look for. But the template is only 20% of the equation. The other 80% is how you write the content, how tailored each application is, and whether your resume tells a coherent story about who you are and what you can do. Take the time to customize each bullet point for the role you're applying to. Don't send the same resume to every employer. The template handles the structure. You handle the substance.
