Graduate CV Examples, Templates & How to Write in 2024

Graduation. The magical moment where fun stops, and you become a fully responsible, conscious adult. It’s time to take your first steps on the path to success you have been planning for so long.

In this guide, we’ll help you write a graduate CV that outperforms your peers. You’ll see a graduate CV example perfectly suited to fresh graduates and a ready-to-use graduate CV template.

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Graduate CV example for the UK

How to write a graduate CV?

Your first CV should give an overview of your previous education and work or volunteer experience if you have any. Your CV should also emphasize your distinctive skills and positive attitude; attributes highly sought after by employers.

Here’s a breakdown of the graduate CV sections you should include:

• Contact information: The key contact details you put at the top to ensure they’re well-seen.
• Personal statement: A brief introduction to your key achievements, skills, and talents.
• Education and training: Your degrees and qualifications, which prove you’re well-prepared for the role.
• Relevant skills: The key traits that make you a candidate suited to the role.
• Hobbies and interests: Your personal interests and extracurricular activities that match your candidate profile.

That’s what to include in your CV. If you’re writing your first-ever CV, start from the basics, like understanding what a good CV is and choosing the right style.

You’ll often come across three CV formats: chronological, functional, and hybrid. The hybrid CV format is typically recommended for graduates because it allows them to highlight both their relevant skills and experiences.

If you’ve already done that part, see this detailed guide on how to write your graduate CV:

1. Create a graduate CV personal statement

First impressions matter. And the first impression you make isn’t when you walk into the interview room. The real first impression is your CV's personal statement.

This is why it’s important to grab attention, avoid waffle, and show them your value.

Instead of being descriptive about everything you ever did, put yourself in the employer’s shoes and think about what’s the most important to them.

Answer the following questions with one sentence each:

1. Who are you? I.e. What programme did you graduate from, and where?
2. What can you offer to the employer? I.e. What relevant experience do you have? If you don’t have work experience, what about your studies makes you different from other candidates?
3. What are your more long-term career goals? Make sure they align with the company’s goals, also.

Here’s the most useful advice: Leave writing your graduate CV personal statement until last.

Once you have written out all your education, skills, and experience, and have read the job ad multiple times in the process. It will write itself.

And yes, you should write a targeted CV for every position, rounding off your CV personal statement with an objective statement like: “Looking to leverage my proven research skills to help J.T Investments make better, more profitable decisions.”

Graduate CV example—personal statement template

A strong CV summary will convince the recruiter you’re the perfect candidate. Save time and choose a ready-made personal statement written by career experts and adjust it to your needs in the LiveCareer CV builder.

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2. Add a top-of-the-class graduate CV education section 

When writing a CV, especially a CV with no experience, I always advise to prioritise your strongest section, be that education, work experience, or skills. For most fresh graduate CVs, the education section will be the strongest. 

If you have some prestigious internships completed, feel free to start with your work experience section, and shift education down.

Whatever you do, record your degree in the following way: 

[University Name]

[Degree Class] BSc [Degree Name](Year Graduated)

Follow by a list of bullet points describing the strengths you acquired during the course of study. You can also incorporate extracurricular activities that have directly contributes to your academic or professional development. These can be sports, community service, clubs, or organizations that present you as a well-rounded individual with diverse experiences and interests.

Should you include your school grades on your graduate CV? The answer is: Does the employer ask for any? If not, you may be well served to save the space, and just put something in the style of:

[School Name]

[Number of subjects] A*- [your lowest grade] A-Levels

The A*- [lowest grade] trick is much safer if you have at least one A*. However, writing an impressive degree description and personal statement should render this aspect almost irrelevant.

Graduate CV example—education section template

3. Fill your graduate CV with desirable skills

Sure, you might lack extensive experience. But remember those 'transferable skills' they kept preaching about at school? Turns out they're pretty darn important. Emphasizing them in your CV could be your ticket to success, just like they said.

The graduate CV we are building is in a hybrid format, meaning we will prioritise these skills over listing work experience. They will work perfectly unless you have something super-relevant and impressive, as already mentioned.

So, how do you know which skills to put on your CV? Just scour the job ad and try to put yourself in the employer’s shoes and determine which ones are the most important to them.

Besides transferable skills that can be applied across various roles and functions, there are hard skills that make you an expert in a specific area. They enable you to perform effectively and contribute to the company’s success.

See this example:

Graduate CV example—skills section template

4. List your work experience

If you are still following our graduate CV format, simply record your work history as following:

[Job Title]

[Employer Name, Location]

[Dates of Employment]

And you’re almost done.

If, however, you have a lot of impressive and relevant experience, and have opted to shift your work experience section up, you may choose to record your work experience like this:

Graduate CV example—work experience section template

5. Don't forget about additional sections in your graduate CV

When writing a CV, we abide by one rule of thumb above all: Include anything that will help your chances. Anything that’s relevant.

Volunteering is relevant, because it shows your ability to juggle multiple responsibilities, as well as showing off your human side. 82% of managers would rather hire someone with volunteering experience.

Foreign languages always advance the chances of your application. Other sections of your CV could include achievements, awards, projects, or hobbies and interests. Keep it relevant.

Fresh graduate CV example—additional sections template

6. Attach a graduate cover letter

You’re not getting a job without a cover letter. For some applications, they will ask you to paste it into their applicant system instead of sending a separate document. Either way is fine, as long as you follow the correct cover letter format. 

How to write a graduate cover letter? Hook them in your first paragraph showing your biggest achievement. Next, present how your skills and experience will help you to excel at your job. Remember to include a cover letter ending with a call to action asking to meet or schedule a phone call to discuss the role further.

7. Make your graduate CV template easy on the eyes

Now you know how to write your graduate CV. But, it should also be easy to read and scan. On average, recruiters spend only a few seconds on each CV, so if you want your graduate CV to be read, follow those CV formatting rules:

• Apply a clear CV layout, ordering sections as follows: personal statement, education, skills, work experience.
• Use clear headings for each section and white space between them to guide their eyes.
• Use a clear, easy-to-read CV font.
• Don’t go over one page, it’s the perfect CV length.
• Unless you are asked not to, send your CV as a PDF.
• Use our CV builder to do most of the boring work for you, so you can focus on enjoying your last days of being free.

If you don’t hear back after a while, follow up. It’s an expression of interest that might tip the scales.

You don’t have to be a CV writing expert. In the LiveCareer CV builder you’ll find ready-made content for every industry and position, which you can then add with a single click.

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Does that answer your questions on how to write a graduate CV? Got any job hunting tips and tricks you’d like to share? Did you enjoy our graduate CV template? Use the comments section below. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

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Our editorial team has reviewed this article for compliance with Livecareer’s editorial guidelines. It’s to ensure that our expert advice and recommendations are consistent across all our career guides and align with current CV and cover letter writing standards and trends. We’re trusted by over 10 million job seekers, supporting them on their way to finding their dream job. Each article is preceded by research and scrutiny to ensure our content responds to current market trends and demand.