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Graduation season brings a familiar problem. You have spent three or four years learning a subject, and now every graduate job seems to ask for experience you have not had the chance to build. A graduate CV has to do something slightly unusual: prove you are ready to work using material that mostly comes from a classroom.
It can be done, because employers hiring graduates do not expect a track record. They look for signs that you can finish what you start, work with other people and understand what the role involves. Your CV should answer those three questions on one page, using specifics rather than adjectives.
What changes once you have finished your degree
A CV written during your studies and a graduate CV are close cousins, but a few things shift.
You now have a target role. While studying you might apply for anything: a summer job, a placement. Once you graduate you are applying for a particular job, and your CV should name it. "Junior marketing executive" or "Graduate civil engineer" gives the reader something to hold on to; a vague "seeking opportunities" does not.
Education leads, for now. Your degree is your most recent and strongest credential, so it sits above work history until you have a year or so in a role. After that it moves down.
Placements become real experience. A six-month placement or year in industry is your first workplace experience, and it deserves the same care as a permanent job. Our guide to the internship CV for students covers how to word it.
A one-page structure that works
For a first job, one page is the norm in the UK, Ireland and most English-speaking markets, and a full second page rarely helps a graduate. This order suits most situations:
- Header: name, city, phone, a professional email, and a link to a portfolio or LinkedIn profile if it adds something.
- Personal statement: two or three lines naming the role you want and your strongest relevant asset.
- Education: most recent degree first, with a few lines on what matters for the job.
- Experience: placements, part-time jobs, volunteering, freelance work, newest first.
- Projects: dissertation, group projects or personal work that do not fit under a job.
- Skills and languages: short, honest lists.
- Interests: one line, only if it says something useful.
If you are unsure about layout, our article on CV formats and how to choose one compares the main options.
Making the degree section work harder
Many graduates write the degree title and stop. "BSc Business Management" tells a recruiter very little, because they have seen hundreds. Add what sets your course apart.
- Modules directly relevant to the job: three or four, not the full transcript.
- A flagship project: dissertation, capstone, client brief delivered for a real organisation.
- Your classification, if it helps. A first or 2:1 is worth stating; if it does not help, you are not obliged to include it.
- Time abroad: a semester overseas shows independence and gives context for language skills.
- Recognised certifications, covered in our guide to education and certifications on a CV.
Example degree entry (fictional):
MA Communication and Digital Marketing, University of Leeds, 2024-2026 Dissertation: content strategy review for a local independent shop (three-month editorial calendar, monthly performance tracking) Key modules: search engine optimisation, web analytics, paid social campaigns
The entry gives context, a deliverable and a skill. A recruiter hiring a junior marketer has something concrete to ask about.
Describing placements and part-time jobs
You probably have a placement or two, a part-time job and some society or volunteering work. For each line, answer: what did I do, with which tools, and what was the result?
| Weak wording | Stronger wording |
|---|---|
| Marketing placement | Six-month marketing placement: wrote 24 blog posts, scheduled LinkedIn and Instagram content weekly |
| Involved in group projects | Led a five-person project team over three months and presented findings to a panel of four |
| Part-time work in a restaurant | Worked independently during peak service, covering 15 tables and training one new colleague |
| Helped the student society | Treasurer of the student society: managed a £2,500 budget and processed 12 expense claims a term |
The figures above are made up to show the form. In your own CV, include only numbers you can back up, and prefer an honest range to false precision. Our article on quantifying your experience shows how to recover the numbers after the fact.
What if your placements are unrelated to the job?
Keep them, but choose what to emphasise. Handling an unhappy customer in a summer job transfers to client-facing roles; the accuracy needed in a bookkeeping placement helps in almost any admin or finance role. Describe the transferable skill, not just the task.
Writing a graduate personal statement
The statement is the only place to state your goal. Skip phrases that fit anyone ("a motivated and hard-working graduate"). Aim for three elements: your degree, a concrete fact, and the role you want.
Example (fictional): "Communication graduate who ran social media for a local shop during a final-year project. Looking for a junior content role where I can build on my skills in editorial planning and campaign reporting."
For more examples with before and after versions, see our guide to the personal statement and professional profile.
Sample graduate CV (fictional)
Here is a realistic extract, entirely invented, for a finance graduate:
Emma Fletcher, Bristol: Junior Management Accountant
Personal statement: MSc Finance graduate comfortable with Excel and budget tracking dashboards. Looking to join a finance team and contribute to monthly reporting and forecasting.
Education
- MSc Finance and Management Control, University of Bristol, 2024-2026
- BA Economics, 2021-2024
Experience
- Finance placement, manufacturing SME, 6 months (2026): updated the monthly management report, reconciled data between two systems, prepared a slide pack for the leadership meeting
- Sales assistant, supermarket, summers 2023-2025: cash handling, quarterly stock counts
Skills: Excel (pivot tables, XLOOKUP), Power BI (basic), Word, PowerPoint Languages: English (native), Spanish (B1) Interests: treasurer of the university netball club
It fits on one page, names the role, and every line is something Emma could talk through in an interview.
Common mistakes graduates make
- Two pages for one year of history. Padding hides your strongest material.
- Qualities without evidence. "Reliable, self-motivated, great team player" carries no weight unless an example backs it. Our piece on the skills employers look for shows how to illustrate them.
- An unprofessional email address. Use your name, not a nickname from school.
- No link to the job. An identical CV for every application ignores the words in each posting.
- Unexplained gaps. A gap year or resits need one line, not a long apology.
Tailoring your CV to each application
A graduate has limited material, but can change order and wording. Pick four or five items from the posting (tools, tasks, qualities), check that the ones you genuinely have appear in your CV, and move the closest project or placement higher. The full method is in how to tailor your CV to a job posting.
If you are weighing a structured training contract instead of a standard job, read our guide to the apprenticeship CV as well.
Three angles for describing a degree
The same degree is not told the same way in every field. The aim is always to bring out what transfers to the job.
Science or technical degrees. Stress tools and methods: analysis software, programming languages, lab protocols, standards. A final-year project with a brief, a team and a deliverable weighs more than a list of modules. Say what you measured, designed or tested.
Humanities, social science or communication degrees. The risk is staying abstract. Translate skills into tasks: wrote a five-page briefing note, ran an interview-based survey, structured a research file. These actions appear in many communications, publishing and HR roles.
Business, management or law degrees. Many CVs look alike here. What sets yours apart is real practical work: a study for a partner company, a negotiation simulation, a placement with a specific figure or deliverable.
In all three cases, two or three distinguishing details beat a list of courses. If you are short on material, our guide to a CV with no experience lists other sources: volunteering, personal projects, jobs.
Handling the special situations graduates face
A degree unrelated to the target job
This is common and not an insurmountable obstacle. Keep the degree, but give it no more space than it deserves. Bring forward what connects: a module, a placement, a project, a short course. The statement then explains the choice in one sentence: "Biology graduate moving into data analysis after a six-month course in Python and SQL." For people changing course, our article on transferable skills gives a fuller method.
A degree not yet awarded
If results are not yet known, write "in progress" with the expected date. Do not say the degree is awarded before it is: employers sometimes check, and the exact wording ("degree expected June 2026") does not hurt you.
A gap year or resits
One factual line is enough: "Gap year: travel and volunteering in Spain, 2023-2024". No need to justify yourself. If the time was used for learning or work, say so. Our article on employment gaps on a CV offers precise wording.
Applying abroad or to an international company
Conventions change: photo, personal details, length. Before sending, check the norms of the target country. Our guide to CV or resume: country differences covers the main ones.
A two-week action plan
Rather than redoing everything at once, spread the work.
- Days 1 to 2: gather the material. List placements, jobs, projects, societies, tools and certifications, unfiltered.
- Days 3 to 4: choose a target (one specific role) and select what serves it.
- Days 5 to 7: write a first one-page version using the structure above.
- Days 8 to 9: have two people read it: a friend for clarity and, if possible, someone in the field for relevance.
- Days 10 to 12: tailor the CV to two or three real vacancies.
- Days 13 to 14: send, then log each application in a tracker.
This pace is a guide, not a rule, meant to avoid both procrastination and rushing.
Checklist before you send it
- The target role appears at the top.
- Everything fits on one page.
- Education is first, with two or three distinguishing details.
- Each placement or job has at least one specific fact.
- No invented numbers and no overstated skills.
- Email and phone number are correct.
- The file is a PDF named firstname-lastname-cv.
- A trusted person has proofread it.
Frequently asked questions
Should education go before or after experience on a graduate CV?
For most graduates, education comes first because it is your strongest and most recent credential. If you have a placement that closely matches the job, you can move it up.
How do I write a graduate CV with no placement?
Lean on projects, your dissertation, volunteering, part-time work and relevant coursework. Our guide to a CV with no experience offers a structure for exactly this case.
Do I have to include my degree classification?
Only if it helps you. A strong result is worth stating; if it is not a strong point, projects and skills can carry more weight.
Should a graduate CV have a photo?
In the UK, Ireland and the US it is generally left out. If you apply in a market where photos are normal, see our article on photos on a CV.
Can a CV guarantee an interview?
No. A clear, targeted and honest CV simply makes sure your strengths are read properly.
