What resume mistakes do freshers make for Java backend jobs?

The biggest resume mistake freshers make is treating it like a course catalog instead of proof they can code. I see this all the time: huge skills sections listing 15 technologies like Java, Spring Boot, Hibernate, MySQL, Docker, Kubernetes, and then the projects section is just two lines saying "built an e-commerce site." That doesn't work because recruiters need to see what you actually built with those skills. For freshers, your projects are everything. You don't have professional experience, so you need to describe academic or personal projects like they're real products. Instead of saying "developed a web application," say something like "built a REST API with 12 endpoints handling product catalog and orders, used at-Transactional for data consistency, and load tested with 50 concurrent users." Those numbers prove complexity. Another mistake is claiming expert-level skills after brief exposure. If you mark Spring Boot as expert on your resume, the interviewer will ask about dependency injection, bean scopes, or transaction propagation in the first five minutes. When you can't answer, you've lost credibility immediately. It's better to be honest and say intermediate. Keep the resume concise and easy to scan. One page is often enough for an early-career candidate, but do not remove strong relevant evidence merely to obey a universal page rule. Finally, make sure every technology in your skills section appears in at least one project description. If you list Hibernate but no project mentions it, that looks like keyword stuffing. Your resume should tell a coherent story: here are my core skills, and here's the evidence I used them to build real things.