A graduate CV should usually be two pages, starting with a short professional summary, then your key skills, then your education, then any work experience, followed by achievements and responsibilities from outside paid work. The trick is to start with the job you want, work out what that employer is looking for, and then find the evidence for it in your degree, part-time jobs, placements, sport, societies and volunteering. You almost certainly have more of that evidence than you think.
Graduating is a big achievement. You’ve spent years studying and working towards your degree. The hard part often comes when you have to turn all of that into a CV that makes an employer want to meet you.
A graduate CV is very different from the CV of someone with ten or fifteen years behind them. You may not have a long employment history, but that doesn’t mean you haven’t got plenty to offer.
Start with the job you want, not with your history
Most graduates start by writing down everything they’ve done. I’d do it the other way round.
Start with the role. What type of position are you applying for, and what is that employer likely to want from someone coming into it? Usually it’s some mix of communication, commercial awareness, analytical ability, organisation, problem solving, teamwork, customer service and the ability to take responsibility.
Once you know that, work backwards through your own experience looking for evidence.
Perhaps your degree has given you strong research and analytical skills. Perhaps you captained a sports team. Perhaps your part-time job meant dealing with difficult customers on a busy Saturday.
The question isn’t “What have I done?” It’s “What have I done that shows this employer I can do what they need?” That’s a very different way of writing a CV, and it’s the one that gets interviews.
How to structure a graduate CV
A graduate usually has limited full-time work experience, so putting work history near the top can hide some of your strongest evidence. I normally use this order:
- Contact details
- Professional summary
- Key skills
- Education
- Work experience, including part-time jobs, internships, placements and holiday work
- Achievements and responsibilities outside work
That last section matters more for graduates than for anyone else. You may have been a school prefect, captain of a sports team, a member of a debating team, a student rep or on a society committee. You may have organised university events, raised money for charity or led a group project.
Those things tell an employer a great deal about you, as long as you explain what you actually did.
You probably have more experience than you think
The most common thing graduates tell me is that they don’t have enough experience. What they usually mean is that they don’t have enough full-time paid experience. Those aren’t the same thing.
Think about what each part of your life has given you:
- Your degree: research, analysis, written communication, project work and meeting deadlines
- University projects: teamwork, organisation, presenting and problem solving
- Internships and placements: real experience of a professional workplace
- Part-time jobs: customer service, reliability, working under pressure and dealing with people
- Volunteering: initiative and commitment
- Sport: discipline, teamwork and leadership
The aim isn’t to pretend you’ve got more experience than you have. It’s to recognise the experience you’ve already got and show an employer why it matters.
Make your part-time work count
I’ve no problem at all with part-time jobs on a graduate CV, even when they’ve got nothing to do with the career you’re trying to start. What matters is what you did.
Say you worked in a restaurant while you were studying. A basic CV says you served customers, took orders and worked as part of a team. That’s true, but it tells the employer very little.
Dig a bit deeper. Did you deal with complaints? Train new staff? Handle cash or cash up at the end of the night? Open or close up? Get trusted with extra responsibility because the manager knew you’d get it right?
Those things may be exactly what a graduate employer wants to see. The same goes for retail, admin, warehouse and hospitality work.
Your achievements outside work are valuable
Graduates often tell me they were a prefect, captained a team or did some debating, then add that it probably isn’t relevant. I see it differently.
Being a prefect shows you were trusted. Captaining a team shows leadership, organisation and the ability to get the best out of other people. Debating shows research, confidence and the ability to build an argument and present it. Organising a university event shows planning and coordination, and usually some problem solving when things didn’t go to plan.
None of this becomes valuable just because it’s listed on your CV. The value comes from explaining what you did and what it shows about you. If you can add a number, even better: how many people, how much money raised, how many events.
My guide to key achievements on a CV explains how to write these up properly.
Education still matters
Your degree, university and classification should be clear and easy to find.
Depending on the role, it may be worth adding relevant modules, your dissertation or a major project. If your dissertation involved detailed research and you’re applying for a role where research matters, give it a line or two.
Your CV shouldn’t become a university transcript, though. Every piece of information has to earn its place. Ask yourself whether it helps show you’re right for this job.
Your professional summary needs to work hard
Your summary is one of the first things an employer reads, so it needs to say something useful.
I don’t want to see a graduate CV opening with hard-working, enthusiastic, motivated and excellent team player, with nothing to back any of it up. Everybody writes that.
A good summary says who you are, what you’ve got to offer and the direction you want to go in. It should also reflect the type of role you’re applying for. A graduate going for a commercial role needs a different emphasis from one going into engineering, marketing or finance.
I’ve written a full guide on how to write a personal profile if you want to go into more detail.
Skills need evidence
Don’t fill your skills section with a list of generic phrases. Pick the skills the employer is asking for, and make sure the rest of your CV proves you’ve got them.
If you say you’re a good leader, the reader should be able to see the team you captained. If you say you’re organised, they should be able to see that you balanced a degree, a part-time job and a society role at the same time.
Graduate CVs and ATS
Many graduate employers use applicant tracking systems to store and search applications. Recruiters search them using the words in their job advert, so use the same terminology wherever it’s true for you.
Keep the layout clean and simple. A graduate CV doesn’t need graphics, columns or a clever design to stand out. The content should do the work. My ATS-friendly CV guide explains how it all works.
How long should a graduate CV be?
For most graduates, I’d expect two pages. That’s enough room for your education, experience, skills and achievements without trying to include everything you’ve ever done.
Don’t pad it out to fill two pages, though. A strong page and a half is far better than two pages of repetition.
How to make a graduate CV stand out
It doesn’t mean bright colours or an unusual layout. It means relevance.
An employer should see evidence of ability rather than a list of claims: responsibility, initiative, achievement and potential. Most of all, they should understand why your experience is relevant to the role they’re trying to fill.
Your experience doesn’t change when you apply for a different job, but the parts of it that deserve attention can change a lot. That’s why you should adjust the emphasis of your CV for every application.
Two graduates with almost identical degrees can end up with completely different CVs. Your CV shouldn’t just explain that you’re a graduate. It should explain why you’re a graduate worth meeting.
Graduate CV FAQs
How do I write a graduate CV with little or no experience?
Use everything you’ve got: your degree, university projects, part-time work, placements, volunteering, sport and societies. Treat each one the way you’d treat a job, by showing what you did and what it proves about you.
What should I include on a graduate CV?
A professional summary, key skills, education, work experience and achievements outside work, in roughly that order. The exact emphasis depends on the role you’re applying for.
How long should a graduate CV be in the UK?
Usually two pages. What matters more is that those two pages contain the right information for the job.
Should I tailor my graduate CV for every job?
Yes. Your background stays the same, but the emphasis should change with the role. Start with what the employer is likely to want, then pick the evidence that shows it.
Should I put my A levels and GCSEs on a graduate CV?
Yes, briefly. As a recent graduate they still help, especially English and maths. Keep them short and put your degree first.
Want some help with your graduate CV?
If this is your first CV, my guide on how to write a CV walks through the basics step by step. If you’d like someone to go through it with you, have a look at my graduate CV writing service, send me your CV for a free CV review or book a free consultation. There’s no pressure to go ahead.
About the author
John Logan is a professional CV writer based in Portsmouth, working with clients across the UK. He served in the Royal Navy, including aboard HMS Fearless during the 1982 Falklands Conflict, then spent more than 40 years in senior management, running his own businesses and leading a multi-million-pound retail operation with a team of over 500. Along the way he has recruited and interviewed hundreds, probably thousands, of people. He has appeared on regional television as a CV expert, has written career guidance for US military transition readers and has worked with over 500 clients, from school leavers to senior military officers and company directors.