How to write a CV with no experience: students and fresh graduates

Everyone's first CV has the same problem: the section employers read first, work experience, is short or empty. The fix is not to stretch what you have. It is to change the order, and to treat everything you have done, from projects to part-time jobs, as evidence of what you can do.

This guide covers the layout, each section and the wording, for students, fresh graduates and school leavers. It works for a CV in the UK, the UAE or India and for a US or Canadian resume.

The layout for a CV with no experience

1. Header: name, phone, email, city and LinkedIn. Add a portfolio or GitHub link if you have work to show.
2. Profile: two or three lines on what you studied, what you are good at and the role you want.
3. Education: degree, university, year and your grade if it is strong, with relevant modules, a thesis or awards.
4. Projects: two to four, each with what you did and what came of it.
5. Experience: internships, part-time jobs, volunteering and society roles.
6. Skills: tools and methods, matched to the job ad.
7. Optional: certifications, languages, awards and interests that say something about you.

Keep it to one page. Education goes above experience while it is your strongest section; once you have a year or two of full-time work, swap them round.

The profile: what you offer and what you want

A graduate profile has less to summarise, so make it specific. Name your degree, one or two strengths with evidence, and the kind of role you want. Avoid lines that fit anyone, like “hard-working team player seeking a challenging role”.

Example: “Economics graduate with a first-class dissertation on housing costs and two internships in financial analysis. Confident in Excel, SQL and Power BI, and looking for a graduate analyst role in Dubai. Available immediately.”

Education: more than one line

With little work history, education carries more weight, so give it more room. Beyond the degree name and year, add:

• Your grade, if it helps: a 2:1 or First in the UK, a GPA of 3.5 or more in the US, or your CGPA or percentage in India.
• Three to five modules relevant to the job.
• Your dissertation or final-year project, in one line with its result.
• Scholarships, prizes and dean's list places.

School leavers can list their final school results, such as A-levels, the Leaving Certificate, Class 12 board results or an IB diploma. Once you have a degree, school results can shrink to a line or go.

Projects: your best substitute for experience

Projects show that you can do the work, not only study it. Coursework counts, as do personal projects, hackathons and competitions. For each one, give a title, the tools you used and a result. For example:

• Built a Python scraper and dashboard tracking 4,000 rental listings across three cities, and presented the findings to a class of 60.
• Led a four-person team to write a marketing plan for a local café; the owner adopted two of our three ideas.
• Designed and 3D-printed a low-cost prosthetic hand prototype for a final-year project, placing second of 22 teams.

Part-time jobs and volunteering count

Retail, hospitality, tutoring and delivery work all show things employers want: reliability, dealing with customers and working under pressure. Write them like any other job, with a result where you can find one.

• Weak: “Worked at a café, served customers.”
• Better: “Served up to 200 customers a shift at a busy campus café and trained four new staff on the till and opening routine.”

Volunteering, student societies and sports teams belong here too, especially where you held a role such as treasurer, event lead, captain or mentor.

Skills: specific and honest

List tools and methods you have actually used, such as Excel, Python, Figma, AutoCAD or Google Analytics, and match them to the job ad. Leave out skill bars and percentages, which say nothing and confuse screening software. Soft skills like communication are better shown in your bullets than listed.

Local notes for a first CV

• UK and Ireland: one page, no photo or date of birth, British spelling.
• UAE and the Gulf: one page, with nationality, visa status and availability. A photo is optional but common.
• India: one page, with CGPA or percentage, projects and internships near the top. The declaration line is not needed.
• US and Canada: a one-page resume on Letter paper, no photo, and a GPA only if it is strong.

Mistakes that make a first CV look thin

• A long objective about what you want, with nothing on what you offer.
• Tiny text or huge margins to force the page to fit.
• Every school club listed with no detail.
• An unprofessional email address.
• The same CV sent to every job, with no tailoring to the ad.
• Typos. On a short CV, every one is noticed.