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Class of 2026 · Graduate schemes & first jobs

Graduate CV: Template and Examples for Your First Job

Writing a graduate CV when your work history is mostly seminars and a part-time job is a different exercise from a normal CV. This guide shows you how to turn your degree, projects and campus experience into a page that wins interviews — plus a real example to copy.

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The graduate market

What graduate employers actually look for

Graduate recruiters — from the Big Four to NHS graduate schemes and tech scale-ups — know you have little professional history. They are screening for three things: evidence you finished something difficult (your degree), evidence you can work with other people (teams, societies, part-time jobs), and evidence you understand what the role involves (relevant projects, internships, a personal statement that is about them, not you).

A graduate CV that leads with a strong education section and translates university experience into workplace language will beat a two-page list of bar work every time. The skills are there — the job of this page is to make them visible in the order recruiters scan.

Section order

Graduate CV structure when experience is thin

Unlike an experienced hire, a graduate puts education above part-time work history. Here is the order that works for the UK graduate market:

  • Personal statement (3 lines) Degree, classification (or expected result), the field you are targeting and one concrete strength. “Recent 2:1 economics graduate with a dissertation on UK housing policy, targeting research analyst roles” — that is the whole job of the section.
  • Education — first, not last Degree, classification, university, dates. Add your dissertation title if it is relevant to the role, plus 2–3 modules with grades that match the job. State predicted grades honestly if you have not graduated yet.
  • Relevant projects & placements Final-year projects, consultancy modules, hackathons and placement years count as experience. Write them like jobs: what you built, who it was for, what the outcome was.
  • Work experience — any kind Part-time retail, tutoring, hospitality. The content matters less than what it proves: reliability, customer contact, working to targets. Two or three bullets per role is enough.
  • Skills & extras Technical skills (Excel, Python, Adobe), languages with an honest level, and one line of interests that says something real — captain of a sports team beats 'reading and travelling'.

Translating university

Turning university experience into CV lines

The single hardest part of a graduate CV is writing bullets for things that were not jobs. The trick is the same one experienced hires use: verb, task, number.

Before and after

“Was treasurer of the climbing society” tells a recruiter almost nothing. “Managed a £3,200 annual budget for an 85-member society; negotiated a 15% discount with two equipment suppliers” is a finance bullet. “Wrote my dissertation on renewable energy” becomes “Analysed 8 years of Ofgem tariff data in Excel and R for a 12,000-word dissertation awarded a first-class 78%”.

Group projects, coursework presentations, society committee roles, volunteering, part-time shifts — all of them contain numbers if you look: people, money, time, quantities. Those numbers are what separate a graduate CV that gets interviews from one that gets skimmed.

Avoid these

Graduate CV mistakes that cost interviews

  • Hiding a 2:2 State it plainly and let the rest of the CV do the work. Some schemes ask for a 2:1, but lying gets offers withdrawn; omitting the classification invites the worst assumption.
  • A generic statement for every scheme Graduate scheme recruiters read hundreds of applications. A statement naming the employer and scheme by name consistently outperforms one fit for any job on earth.
  • Lists of modules with no outcomes “Modules: microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics” is on your transcript, not your CV. Keep only the modules that built a named skill the job asks for.
  • An unprofessional email address Set up firstname.surname@… before you apply anywhere. It takes two minutes and recruiters genuinely notice the alternative.

Worked example

A graduate CV you can copy

A psychology graduate applying to marketing assistant roles. One page — education first, part-time work translated into skills, no filler.

Graduate example — Psychology BSc → Marketing Assistant

Class of 2026 · one page · no internships

Emma Lawson Sheffield, S1 · 07700 900 124 · emma.lawson@email.co.uk · linkedin.com/in/emmalawson PERSONAL STATEMENT 2:1 psychology graduate (University of Sheffield, 2026) applying consumer-behaviour research to marketing assistant roles. Ran survey-based projects with 300+ respondents; comfortable in Excel, SPSS and Canva. EDUCATION BSc (Hons) Psychology, 2:1 — University of Sheffield, 2023–2026 • Dissertation: "How framing affects charitable giving" — survey of 312 respondents, awarded 74% • Relevant modules: Consumer Psychology (71%), Research Methods & Statistics (68%) A-levels: Psychology (A), Sociology (B), English Language (B) — Sheffield Sixth Form, 2023 PROJECTS Consumer Research Project — Sheffield Students' Union | Jan – Apr 2025 • Designed a 22-question survey on student spending; 300+ responses analysed in Excel • Presented findings to a 12-person committee; two recommendations adopted for the 2025/26 campaign WORK EXPERIENCE Barista (part-time) — Steam Yard Coffee, Sheffield | Oct 2023 – May 2026 • Served 150+ customers per shift in a fast-paced independent café • Trained 3 new starters on drinks menu and closing procedure • Suggested a pre-order card for regulars, now used by ~40 customers a week KEY SKILLS Excel & SPSS · Survey design · Canva · Report writing · Time management · Social media basics INTERESTS Climbing club member · regular volunteer at Sheffield food bank

No internships, no placement year — and it still makes a case. The dissertation and SU project do the work a job would normally do.

Graduate-ready templates

Templates that suit a first CV

One page, education-friendly, ATS-safe. Open one, swap in your details and export.

Resume templateminimal

Pure Minimal

Ultra-clean minimal resume with sky-blue accent, generous whitespace and a left-aligned header. Perfect for tech and product roles.

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Resume templateeuropean

London British CV

British CV template in UK format: no photo, two A4 pages, personal statement and reverse-chronological roles. Free download for UK job applications.

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Resume templatemodern

Cobalt Modern

Bold cobalt banner header with white text and modern indigo accents. Designed for business, consulting and finance professionals.

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Keep going

Next steps for graduates

FAQ

Graduate CV questions

How long should a graduate CV be?

One A4 page. Graduate recruiters and scheme coordinators are unusually consistent on this: until you have three or more years of professional experience, one page is the expectation.

Should I include my degree classification?

Yes. A 2:1 or first is a selling point; a 2:2 stated plainly beats a suspicious omission. If you have not graduated yet, state your predicted classification — employers making conditional offers expect it.

Do part-time jobs count as experience?

Absolutely. Two years of weekend retail proves reliability, customer service and handling pressure — exactly what a first employer needs to see. Write two or three achievement-focused bullets rather than a duty list.

What if I have genuinely nothing to put on it?

You have more than you think: coursework projects, dissertations, society memberships, volunteering, caring responsibilities, sports teams. Each becomes a bullet with a verb and a number. The example above was built from exactly those ingredients.

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