How to Write a Graduate CV (and Cover Letter)

Recruiters often spend just seconds on each CV on the first pass — so a graduate CV’s job isn’t to list everything you’ve done, it’s to make the few most relevant things impossible to miss.

The graduate CV is the document that stands between you and almost every job you will apply for after university, and most students write their first one badly — not through lack of ability, but because nobody teaches how. A good graduate CV is a particular skill: it is not a life history, it is a targeted marketing document whose only job is to get you to the next stage. The good news is that it is entirely learnable, and once you understand what recruiters are actually looking for, writing one stops being guesswork. This guide covers how to write a graduate CV that gets read: what it is for, how to structure it, the single biggest shift that improves most student CVs, how to tailor it, how to draw on experience you do not think you have, and how to handle the cover letter that goes with it.

It is written for any student or recent graduate facing the blank page — including those panicking that they have “no experience” worth putting down (you have more than you think). The single most useful thing to understand is that recruiters spend a very short time on each CV — often just seconds on the first pass — so your CV’s job is not to list everything you have ever done but to make the few most relevant things impossible to miss. This is the document at the centre of the graduate job hunt, and it works hand in hand with internships and work experience. The rest is how to get it right.

What a graduate CV is for

Before the how, the why: a CV is a marketing document, not an autobiography, and getting that into your head changes how you write everything else. Its sole purpose is to persuade an employer that you are worth taking to the next stage — an interview or assessment — by showing, quickly and clearly, that you fit what they are looking for. It is not there to record everything you have done; it is there to make a targeted case.

This matters because of how CVs are actually read. Recruiters and hiring managers typically have many CVs to get through and spend very little time on each at first — often just seconds scanning for relevance before deciding whether to read properly or move on. That single fact drives most of the advice that follows: your CV has to communicate the right things fast, be easy to scan, and put the most relevant, impressive information where it will be seen. A graduate CV also has its own particular challenge — you are early in your career with limited work experience, so the task is partly about presenting the experience you do have (study, part-time jobs, volunteering, projects) in the strongest, most relevant light. Understanding the CV as a quick-read persuasion document, not a complete record, is the foundation everything else builds on.

How to structure a graduate CV

A good graduate CV has a clear, conventional structure, because recruiters know where to look and you do not want to make them hunt. Keep it to two pages maximum (one is often fine for a graduate), clean and easy to scan.

The standard sections, roughly in order: your name and contact details at the top (no need for a heading saying “CV”, and you do not include a photo, age or other personal details in the UK). A short personal statement or profile — a few lines summarising who you are, what you offer and what you are looking for, tailored to the role. Your education, which for a recent graduate usually comes high up, with your degree, classification (or predicted), university and relevant modules or projects. Your work experience, including part-time jobs, internships, placements and volunteering, most recent first. A skillssection where relevant (including technical skills, languages, software). And often sections for achievements, extracurricular activities and interests where they add something. The exact order flexes — put your strongest, most relevant material highest, so a graduate with little work experience but a strong degree leads with education, while someone with a relevant placement might lead with that. The table below sums up the core sections.

Section	What goes in it
Contact details	Name, phone, professional email, location, LinkedIn
Personal profile	A few tailored lines on who you are and what you offer
Education	Degree, classification, university; relevant modules/projects
Work experience	Jobs, internships, placements, volunteering — achievements led
Skills	Technical skills, software, languages
Activities / interests	Where they show relevant qualities

Achievements, not duties — the key shift

If there is one change that improves most graduate CVs, it is this: write about achievements and impact, not just duties. This is the single most common weakness in student CVs and the easiest high-value fix, so it gets its own section.

A weak CV lists responsibilities: “Responsible for serving customers”, “Worked on a group project”. A strong CV shows what you achieved and the effect you had: “Served up to 200 customers a shift in a busy café, consistently praised for speed and accuracy”, “Coordinated a five-person group project, managing the timeline to deliver on deadline and earning a first”. The difference is that achievements demonstrate your value and back it with evidence, while duties just describe a role anyone could have held. Wherever you can, quantify — numbers, results, scale (“raised £500”, “increased attendance by 30%”, “led a team of four”) — because specifics are far more convincing than vague claims. And frame everything around the skills and qualities the employer wants: teamwork, leadership, communication, problem-solving, initiative. A useful habit is to look at each thing you have done and ask “what did I achieve, and what does it demonstrate?” rather than “what was I responsible for?”. Making this shift across your whole CV is what turns a flat list into a persuasive case.

Tailoring your CV to the role

A generic CV sent to every employer is one of the commonest graduate mistakes, and tailoring is one of the most effective things you can do — so it is worth the effort even though it takes time.

Tailoring means adjusting your CV for each role (or at least each type of role) so it speaks directly to what that employer wants. Read the job description and person specification carefully, identify the skills and qualities they are asking for, and make sure your CV foregrounds your relevant experience and uses language that echoes theirs. This is not about lying or reinventing yourself; it is about emphasis — leading with the most relevant things, framing your experience in terms of what they need, and not burying the point under irrelevant detail. A tailored CV shows the employer you have understood the role and genuinely fit it, which a generic one never does, and it is increasingly important where automated systems screen CVs for relevant keywords before a human sees them. You do not have to rewrite from scratch each time — keep a strong master CV and adapt it — but sending the same untailored document everywhere is a reliable way to be overlooked. Tailoring is the difference between a CV that could be for anyone and one that is clearly for this job.

Drawing on everything: the “no experience” problem

Many students freeze at the CV stage convinced they have “no experience” worth putting down. This is almost never true, and reframing what counts as experience is one of the most freeing things in this guide.

Experience is not only graduate-level professional jobs. It includes your part-time and casual jobs (which demonstrate reliability, customer service, teamwork, time management — all valued), your volunteering (genuine, demonstrable skills and commitment — the volunteering guide covers building this), your involvement in societies and clubs (especially committee and leadership roles, which show organisation and initiative), your course itself (projects, presentations, dissertations, group work, technical and analytical skills), and any other roles — course rep, ambassador, sports captain, tutoring. All of these are legitimate CV material that demonstrate the qualities employers want. The task for a graduate is to recognise the value in what you have done and present it well, rather than dismissing it because it was not a “proper job”. A student who lists a café job, a society committee role and a strong dissertation, all framed around achievements and skills, has a genuinely strong CV. The point is not to invent experience but to value the experience you have — and to go and build more through internships and work experience while you are still studying, because that is exactly what these articles are for.

Cover letters

Many applications ask for a cover letter alongside your CV, and since it trips up as many students as the CV does, it is worth covering. A cover letter is a short, tailored letter (usually no more than a page) that complements your CV by explaining why you are applying and why you are a good fit for this specific role and employer — it adds the motivation and the narrative the CV’s bullet points cannot.

The basics of a good one: tailor it to the specific role and company(a generic cover letter is worse than none); open with why you are applying and what attracts you to this role and this employer specifically; make the case in the body by connecting your skills and experience to what they need, drawing out two or three of your strongest, most relevant points rather than repeating your whole CV; show you know something about the organisation, which demonstrates genuine interest; and keep it concise, professional and well-structured. The mistakes to avoid are the generic one-size-fits-all letter, simply restating your CV in prose, and basic errors of spelling or addressing it to the wrong company. Done well, a cover letter is your chance to show personality and motivation and to make the “why us, why you” case that turns a qualified applicant into a compelling one. Like the CV, it rewards tailoring and a careful read-through before sending.

Common mistakes and getting it checked

Finally, a few common pitfalls to avoid and the single best thing you can do to improve your CV. The frequent mistakes: spelling and grammar errors (which sink otherwise good CVs instantly — proofread, and have someone else check); going over two pages or cramming with irrelevant detail; listing duties instead of achievements (the big one, above); a generic, untailored CV; poor, cluttered formatting that is hard to scan; gaps or vagueness that raise questions; and dishonesty, which tends to unravel at interview and is never worth it. On formatting, keep it clean, consistent and simple — clear headings, consistent fonts and spacing, plenty of white space, saved and sent as a PDF unless asked otherwise so it looks the same on every device.

And the most useful step of all: use your university careers service.Every UK university has one, it is free, and reviewing CVs and applications is one of the main things it does — they will give you specific, expert feedback that improves your CV far more than guessing alone, and they often offer drop-ins, appointments and templates. Students consistently under-use this, and it is genuinely one of the best resources you have, available even for a while after you graduate. Getting your CV professionally checked, alongside avoiding the common mistakes, is what turns a decent CV into one that gets you interviews. The graduate jobs guide covers the wider hunt this CV is the centrepiece of.

Conclusion

If you take one thing from this guide, take this: a graduate CV is a targeted marketing document, not a life history — its only job is to make the few most relevant things about you impossible to miss in the seconds a recruiter spends on it. Everything else follows from that: a clean, scannable, two-page structure with your strongest material highest; achievements and impact rather than dull lists of duties; and tailoring to each role so it clearly fits the job.

The “no experience” panic is almost always misplaced. Part-time jobs, volunteering, society roles, course projects and your dissertation are all legitimate, valuable experience that demonstrate exactly the skills employers want — the task is to recognise and present them well, and to keep building experience through work and internships while you study. Pair your CV with a tailored cover letter that makes the “why you, why us” case, avoid the common mistakes (typos, generic content, duties over achievements), and keep the formatting clean.

The single most useful thing you can do is the one students most often skip: take your CV to your university careers service for a free, expert review. They do this all day, the feedback is specific and genuinely transformative, and it’s available even for a while after you graduate. A checked, tailored, achievement-led CV is what turns applications into interviews.

For where to go next, graduate jobs covers the wider job hunt, internships and work experience covers building the experience your CV needs, and the careers hub brings the rest together.

Frequently asked questions

How long should a graduate CV be? Two pages maximum, and one page is often perfectly fine for a graduate — recruiters scan quickly, so a concise, well-targeted CV beats a long, padded one. Keep it clean and easy to scan, lead with your strongest, most relevant material, and cut anything that doesn’t help make your case for the specific role.

What do I put on a CV with no work experience? Far more than you think: part-time and casual jobs, volunteering, society and committee roles, course projects, your dissertation, and roles like course rep or sports captain. All demonstrate skills employers want — teamwork, organisation, communication, initiative. Present them around achievements and the qualities they show, rather than dismissing them because they weren’t “proper” graduate jobs.

What’s the difference between listing duties and achievements?Duties describe a role (“responsible for serving customers”); achievements show what you accomplished and its impact (“served 200 customers a shift, consistently praised for speed and accuracy”). Achievements demonstrate your value with evidence, while duties just describe a job anyone could have held. Quantifying with numbers and results makes achievements far more convincing — it’s the single biggest fix for most student CVs.

Do I need to tailor my CV for every job? Ideally yes — at least for each type of role. Tailoring means foregrounding the experience and using language that matches what that employer asks for, which shows you fit the role and helps you past automated keyword screening. You don’t have to rewrite from scratch each time; keep a strong master CV and adapt it. Sending the same generic CV everywhere is a reliable way to be overlooked.

Do I need a cover letter as well as a CV? Often, yes — many applications ask for one. A cover letter is a short, tailored letter explaining why you’re applying and why you fit this specific role and employer, adding the motivation and narrative your CV’s bullet points can’t. Tailor it, show you know the organisation, draw out two or three of your strongest relevant points, and keep it to a page — don’t just restate your CV.

Should I put a photo or my age on my CV? No — in the UK, CVs don’t include a photo, your age, date of birth, or other personal details like marital status, and you don’t need a heading that says “CV”. This differs from some other countries. Keep the top of your CV to your name and professional contact details (including a LinkedIn profile if you have one).

Where can I get help with my CV? Your university careers service — it’s free, available to all students (and for a while after you graduate), and reviewing CVs is one of the main things it does. The feedback is specific and expert, and improves your CV far more than guessing alone. They often run drop-ins, appointments and provide templates. Students badly under-use this; it’s one of the best resources you have.

References

Editorial note: in-text references use APA 7. UK CV conventions are stable; the “recruiters spend seconds per CV” point is widely cited and framed as approximate. Sources are established careers-advice authorities.

• Prospects. (n.d.). How to write a CV. Prospects. https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/cvs-and-cover-letters/how-to-write-a-cv
• University of Oxford Careers Service. (n.d.). CVs. University of Oxford. https://www.careers.ox.ac.uk/cvs
• National Careers Service. (n.d.). How to write a CV. National Careers Service. https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/careers-advice/how-to-write-a-cv

Further reading

• Prospects: how to write a CV — a thorough graduate-focused guide with examples and templates.
• National Careers Service: how to write a CV — clear, official UK guidance.
• Your university careers service — free, expert CV reviews and templates; the best resource you have.
• anonfess: Graduate jobs · Internships and work experience · Assessment centres and graduate interviews · Networking and LinkedIn for students · Volunteering at university