"No experience" is rarely true — it usually means no paid full-time work experience yet. Three years of coursework, group projects, a dissertation, part-time jobs, and whatever you did outside your degree all count as evidence. The job is building a CV that presents that evidence properly, instead of apologising for a gap that isn't really there.
Lead with education, and make it work harder than usual
As a graduate, your education section sits near the top and carries more weight than it will later in your career. Beyond the degree title and grade, include relevant modules, your dissertation topic if it's applicable to the roles you want, and any academic projects that demonstrate skills an employer would care about.
- Degree, institution, grade (or expected grade), and graduation date
- Relevant modules or your dissertation topic, if it supports your target role
- Group projects with a brief note on your specific contribution and the outcome
Treat part-time work as real work experience — because it is
A part-time retail job, bar work, or campus role taught you things that are directly relevant to almost any job: reliability, working under pressure, dealing with people, handling responsibility. Describe it the way you would a "real" job — what you did, and what came of it — rather than dismissing it as unrelated.
Placements, internships, and volunteering deserve full treatment
If you did a placement year, internship, or sustained volunteering, give it the same structure you'd give a paid role: employer, dates, and 2-3 bullet points on what you contributed and achieved. Don't undersell it just because it was unpaid or short-term — to an employer, it's still evidence of how you perform in a workplace.
Write a personal statement that sells potential, not tenure
You're not competing on years of experience, so don't write a personal statement that tries to. Focus it on your specialism, your strongest and most relevant skills, and what you're specifically looking for — a statement that's confident about what you do have reads far better than one that hedges around what you don't.
A structure that works well for graduates
Education first, then any placements or internships, then part-time or campus work, then a compact skills section pulling together what all of it demonstrates. This order puts your strongest, most relevant evidence at the top.
Keep it tight, and get the fundamentals right
One page is usually plenty. For the underlying formatting rules — fonts, length, ATS compatibility — our guide to UK CV format applies just as much to a first CV as any other. And once your CV's ready, it's worth reading our breakdown of personal statement examples that actually work before you finalise it.
Frequently asked questions
Should I include my A-level grades if I already have a degree?
Briefly, yes, especially early in your career — a short line with subjects and grades under your degree entry is enough. As you gain more experience, this detail naturally drops off, but as a graduate it can still round out the picture, particularly if the grades are strong.
What if my degree is unrelated to the job I want?
Focus your personal statement and skills section on the transferable capabilities the degree built — research, analysis, written communication, project management — rather than the subject matter itself. Plenty of successful careers start with a degree in something unrelated to the eventual role.
How long should a graduate CV be?
One page is usually enough, two at most if you have a genuinely full set of relevant projects, placements, and part-time work. Without much paid work history, padding a CV to fill space is more likely to dilute it than strengthen it.
Should I include hobbies and interests?
Only if they're genuinely relevant or say something useful about you — captaining a sports team, running a student society, or a side project all demonstrate real skills. A generic "reading, socialising, travel" line adds nothing and can be safely cut.
Starting from scratch is easier with help
We build graduate CVs around the evidence you actually have — coursework, projects, and part-time work — so it reads as genuinely strong.
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