As a new graduate, your qualification is your strongest selling point. A good graduate CV puts it first, then shows what you can do through projects, vacation work, tutoring and leadership.
The right order
- Contact details and a link to LinkedIn or a portfolio.
- A short profile naming your degree and the kind of role you want.
- Education: degree, university, year, major subjects and your average if it is good.
- Projects, research and practical work.
- Work experience, including vacation work, part-time jobs and tutoring.
- Skills, languages and leadership roles.
Make projects count
Write about a final-year project or group assignment the way you would write about a job: the problem, what you did and the result. “Built a stock tracking app in Python for a campus shop, used by 5 staff every day” says more than a list of modules.
Builder tip: Use one of the builder’s clean templates and keep it to one or two pages. Graduate recruiters read hundreds of CVs, and a clear layout helps.
Graduate programmes
Many large employers open graduate programme applications early in the year for the following year. Check their careers pages from February and apply before the closing dates, which are often months before you graduate.
Avoid: listing every module you took, leaving out your average when it is strong, and writing the same profile for every application.