How to write a graduate CV when you have no experience

What employers look for in a graduate

Less experience than you might expect. A 2024 survey asked 252 UK employers for the three things that matter most to them when they hire a graduate. The four most often chosen were:

• enthusiasm and attitude towards the role, chosen by 68%,
• skills other than academic knowledge, 55%,
• the subject studied and how it fits the role, 52%,
• vocational and industry experience, 42%.

The grade came a long way behind at 15%, and which university you went to at 8%. The survey was commissioned by a group of universities, who have an interest in that last figure, but the order of the first four is the useful part. A graduate CV is read for signs that you have the skills and want the job. Industry experience is one way of showing that, and there are others.

The same survey used “experience” broadly: internships and placements, but also practical projects and any other work.

The grade works as a threshold. In a 2025 survey of large UK graduate employers, 47% asked for a 2:1, and 23% set no minimum at all, a share that has more than doubled. So state your grade clearly, once, and spend the rest of the page on what you've done.

What counts as experience

Before you write anything, list everything from the last four or five years that falls under one of these:

• Degree work. Your dissertation or final-year project, a group project, a piece of coursework where you built something.
• Things you made in your own time. An app, a website, a game, a script that saved someone an afternoon, a fix to someone else's open-source code.
• Paid work of any kind. A bar, a shop, a warehouse, tutoring, a summer job.
• Events. A hackathon, a competition, an insight day at an employer.
• Positions. A society committee, course rep, team captain, volunteering.

Most people who start from “nothing” finish this list with more than will fit. The CV is the best five or six entries, written well.

The layout: one page, four sections

The average UK graduate role draws 141 applications, and an eye-tracking study put a recruiter's first look at a CV at about seven seconds. A page that can be read at that speed has one column, ordinary headings and no decoration. The applicant tracking system (ATS) that files your application reads the same kind of page best: see what an ATS really does with your CV.

The usual UK careers advice is no more than two sides of A4. For a new graduate one side is right. A full single page reads better than a thin page and a half, and it makes you choose. Use one plain font at 10 to 12 points.

Under your name, put the sections in this order:

1. Education, because your degree is the most recent and most relevant thing you've done.
2. Projects, because they are the evidence that you can do the work.
3. Experience, for paid work and positions of responsibility.
4. Skills, as one short grouped list.

If you have an internship or a placement, Experience moves above Projects. That is the only change.

The top of the page

Your name, then one line: email, phone, town or city, and a link to your GitHub or LinkedIn. A town is enough. Leave off the street address, your date of birth, your nationality and a photo.

A summary under that is optional. If you write one, keep it to two or three lines that say what you studied, what you've built and the role you're after, and rewrite it for each job. Without one the page opens on your degree, which is a good place to open.

Education: more than one line

This is the section you have most to say in, so use it. Give the degree, the university, the dates and the grade, or your predicted grade if you haven't finished. Then add:

• three or four modules, chosen to match the jobs you're applying for,
• your dissertation or final-year project in one line: what it was, what you used, what came of it,
• anything that marks you out, such as a prize, a scholarship or a mark near the top of your year.

A-levels take one line. GCSEs take one more at most: “9 GCSEs including Maths and English”.

Projects: where the experience goes

A project is the nearest thing to the job that you can do without having the job. Pick two or three. Give each a title, the tools you used, a link to the code or the live thing, and two or three bullets. University projects count. If it was a group project, say which part was yours.

A good bullet has four parts: a verb to open, what you did, a number, and the tool.

If you don't have the number to hand, leave yourself a note in the draft, such as [how many users?], and go and find out. When nothing was launched there is still something to count: the people in the team, the tests you wrote, the rows of data, how much faster it ran, the mark it got.

If you have no project you'd want to show, that is the gap to close first, and it is the one that needs nobody's permission. Something small that works, with its code online and a few lines explaining what it does, is a couple of weekends. Build something you'd use yourself and you'll have plenty to say about it in an interview.

Experience: the job you think doesn't count

A bar job doesn't show that you can code. It shows that you turn up, deal with people and can be left in charge, and that is much of what employers say they hire on. In the 2024 survey, 84% of employers named interpersonal and communication skills as what most decides an interview.

Write it like any other job: title, employer, dates, then one or two bullets on what you were trusted with and how much of it there was.

Society roles, volunteering and tutoring go in the same way: “Treasurer, Computing Society: managed a £2,000 budget and ran 12 events for 150 members.” Jobs from your school years can shrink to a line each.

Skills: short and grouped

One list, in groups: languages, frameworks, tools. Keep to what you'd be comfortable being asked about in an interview. Leave off levels such as “intermediate”, and leave off Microsoft Office. Teamwork and communication don't belong in this list either: the bullets above are where you show them.

This is also the section a filter reads. In a 2025 survey of 384 recruiters, 76% said they start by filtering applicants on skills, so use the names the listing uses. How to do that for one job is in seven small changes that fit your CV to the job.

What to leave out

• “References available on request”. Employers ask when they want them.
• Interests anyone could list, such as reading, travel and music. Keep one only if it is specific enough to start a conversation.
• Adjectives about yourself: hard-working, passionate, team player. Give the example that shows it and the adjective isn't needed.
• “I” and “my”. Start each bullet with the verb.
• Anything from before sixth form, apart from the one line of GCSEs.

A whole CV, start to finish

Here is a made-up final-year student with no internship, on one page:

There is no internship anywhere on it, and nothing on it needed one. Every line can be asked about in an interview and answered.

Common questions

How long should a graduate CV be?

One page. Two sides of A4 is the most a UK employer expects, and a new graduate rarely needs the second.

Do I need a personal statement?

No. A short summary can help when it is written for one job. A general one about being motivated and hard-working takes up the best space on the page, and the CV is stronger without it.

Should I put a part-time job on a graduate CV?

Yes. It is experience, and it covers the things a degree can't show: reliability, working with people, being trusted with money or with training others.

What if I don't have my grade yet, or it's a 2:2?

Before you graduate, give the predicted grade: “predicted 2:1”. With a 2:2, state it and let the projects do the work. In the 2025 survey, one employer in five asked for a 2:2 and nearly one in four set no minimum, so a large share of graduate roles are open to you.

Do I need a different CV for every job?

You need one good CV, and then a version of it for each application with the order and wording changed to suit. That takes about twenty minutes once the first is written, and the seven changes are set out here.

Before you send it

1. It fits on one page, in one column, and you can select the text in the PDF.
2. Degree, grade and dates can be found in five seconds.
3. Each project has a link, and the link works.
4. Every bullet opens with a verb, and most have a number.
5. Someone else has read it for spelling.

A CV with no internship on it can still be a full page of things you built, ran and were trusted with. That is what the employers in these surveys say they are looking for.