How to Write a Graduate CV (with template)

Whether you’ve already thrown your grad cap in the air, or are about to, one thing remains: securing that all-important grad job.

A graduate role will be your first job out of uni, your chance to take everything you’ve learned during your degree into the real world. Tackling the graduate CV is your first step towards securing that role.

So we’ve put together some tips and examples, plus a downloadable template, to help you craft the best graduate CV in the world.

• What goes in a graduate CV?

• Graduate CV extras

• Hot tips for writing a Graduate CV

What goes in a graduate CV?

Glad you asked. Chances are, you’ve already written a CV if you managed to secure a placement or internship during your studies. Great. That’ll help you a lot.

There’s not much difference in what each CV will do. However, it’s super important to know what you should always include.

A meticulously written graduate CV will include all the relevant information and hit industry keywords all while being concise and short enough for an employer to understand who you are professionally in a matter of seconds.

Contact details

Every good CV starts with a name and contact details. You’ll need to include your full name, email address and telephone number.

There’s no real need to put your full address on a CV, especially if it’s going out to multiple employers. If some jobs you apply for require you to be within a certain distance, then there’s no problem adding the area you live in. So if a graduate job you apply for is based in Sheffield and you live in Doncaster, put that in.

Personal Statement

This will be the first thing an employer reads when they scan your CV. So it needs to be good. Pulitzer Prize good.

Your personal statement is a short introduction to who you are professionally and should include your skills and your career ambitions. It’s always a good idea to include your confirmed grade or predicted grade.

For example, ‘A recent graduate with a [grade] in [subject] from [University] with experience in…’

Your personal statement doesn’t need to be any longer than a short paragraph, think around 150 words. 

Education

Graduate CVs are a type of chronological CV that aims to list all your experience so far by the recent date of completion.

Next up is your education history. Here you need to include everything you’ve done academically. So start with your undergraduate course and go backwards. You’ll need to include the following information;

• Name of university

• Start and end dates (months and years are fine)

• Course name

• Grade

For example,

City, University of London (September 2022 - August 2023)

BA Journalism

2:1

If you want to include some relevant modules, that’s fine too. Just be wary of space.

Written the perfect CV? Get your cover letter sorted too. Click below to find out more.

Employment history

If you had any work experience whilst at university, here’s the time to shout out about them and all the cool experiences and skills you developed.

All experience is good experience. Employers actually want to hear about the two weeks you did at Wilkinsons. This section is your chance to show off all types of work experience. The trick is to make them relevant to the graduate role you’re applying for. You can include;

• A placement or an internship

• Volunteering work

• A summer job.

Don’t just say what you did, be specific about your tasks and how they impacted the business. Kat, Hiring Manager at The University of Law says,

about the responsibilities and skills you picked up and include any achievements. 

For example,

Biomedical Scientist Placement Student (June 2022 - June 20230

NHS

Responsibilities:

• Processing patient samples

• Reading the previous day's Agar plates to look for significant bacterial growth

• Perform antibiotic sensitivity testing and report results.

Hobbies and interests

You might think that this has nothing to do with work. Think again.

Employers want to see your personality, they’re not looking for robots but for real people who can add to their culture. Especially when you're at the beginning of your career journey, showing your personality is one of the best ways to get your CV noticed. Love anime? Like to cook? Play netball? DJ? Show it off!

It also emphasises that you've developed extra skills too, such as…

• Leadership skills (being a team captain for a sports team)

• Business management skills (running a side hustle)

• Quick decision-making skills (being part of an improv group).

Some of your interests might even be a direct influence of what you’ve studied at uni.

If you’re an agricultural science graduate and also happen to be a member of a botany club, or even own your own allotment, that shows an employer that you’re really serious about the industry you’re trying to break into.

References

It’s the classical way to end and it doesn’t change for a graduate CV.

Ending with a simple ‘References available upon request’ will be enough, unless some roles you apply for ask for references straight up.

Best practice for providing references is to include the following;

• The referee’s full name

• The company they work for

• Relationship to you

• Contact details, usually a telephone number and an email address.

Always ask your referee before adding them. Having a referee not know that they’re one is highly embarrassing and won’t work out well for you. You should also have at least two.

Graduate CV Extras

Not all graduate CVs are the same, and some schemes might need something extra. This especially rings true if you’re looking to secure a job in the creative sector.

Portfolio links

This should be placed very early on in your CV. Whether that’s part of your contact details or a line elsewhere.

Your portfolio is an extension of your CV and is the best way that an employer is going to see your work, especially if you can’t get a physical one to them right away. There are two ways to host your portfolio.

• Online portfolios. There are some websites you can use to create your online portfolio, Canva and Adobe are FREE to use. There are loads of options for journalists too

• Social media. Instagram is an invaluable resource for portfolio work. It’s free and all it takes is a few taps and voila, a portfolio. Tumblr is another super resource.

Key Skills

There are a few ways to do this. You can always include your key skills as its own section filled to the brim with all the hard and soft skills you’ve gained over your course. Or, make sure you litter your previous employment with these skills.

Technology Summary

Depending on what you’re applying for, this section is your opportunity to show off all the programs you’re skilled at using. Whether that’s Microsoft Office or Adobe Suite, you can include those plus the level you’re skilled at.

Hot tips for writing a Graduate CV

Here are some ways you can make sure your graduate CV shines above the rest.

Keep your CV to one page. Your CV should be able to show off your best assets without becoming a novel. List all your important and most impressive experiences.

Choose a simple layout. Make sure sections have headers and that you’re using bullet points to outline bits like key skills and job responsibilities.

Always look at the job description. You should tailor your graduate CV to the role you’re applying for. Having the job description in front of you helps you to remember to match up the skills to the ones an employer is looking for.

Proofread your CV. It won’t look good if your CV is littered with speling mistakez. If it helps, use spellcheck or a program like Grammarly to avoid your CV getting e-shredded.

Include your LinkedIn profile. If you don’t have one, make one. Yesterday. LinkedIn is a useful tool to use when it comes to professional self-branding. Also, make sure your CV and LinkedIn profile match.

Once you’ve got the basics of CV writing down, working on CVs for future roles will become second nature.

Good luck in your search! Click below to find out more about our graduate roles and what’s available.