Graduate CV Guide: How to Write One That Gets Interviews in 2026

The Graduate CV: Different Rules Apply

A graduate CV is not just a short professional CV. It's a different document with a different purpose — you're not selling a track record, you're selling potential.

Recruiters who hire graduates know you don't have 5 years of experience. They're looking for evidence that you're smart, motivated, and can learn fast. Your CV needs to prove those things through everything you *have* done — not apologise for everything you haven't.

Graduate CV Structure (In Order)

Unlike a professional CV where work experience comes first, a graduate CV follows a different order:

1. Contact details
2. Personal statement
3. Education
4. Work experience (any — even part-time, volunteering, internships)
5. Projects and extracurriculars
6. Skills
7. Interests (optional)

Education moves higher because it's your primary credential. Once you have 3+ years of professional experience, this flips back.

1. Contact Details

Name, email (professional), phone, LinkedIn, location (city). No photo (UK), no date of birth.

2. Personal Statement

Your most important section. 4–5 lines that tell a recruiter who you are, what you offer, and what you're looking for.

The graduate formula:

[Degree and class] + [relevant skills or experience] + [one concrete achievement] + [what you're seeking]

Example (Marketing graduate):

"Marketing graduate from the University of Leeds (First Class, 2026) with hands-on internship experience running paid social campaigns at a FTSE 250 retailer. Grew the brand's TikTok channel from 2,000 to 31,000 followers in 8 weeks as part of a summer placement. Seeking a graduate marketing role where I can combine analytical thinking with creative campaign execution."

What makes this work:

• •Specific degree result (not "studied marketing")
• •Real achievement with numbers
• •Clear objective
• •Confident tone

3. Education

For graduates, this is typically your strongest credential.

Include:

• •University name and location
• •Degree title and classification (e.g. BSc Marketing, First Class / 2:1)
• •Graduation year
• •Relevant modules (if directly applicable to target role)
• •Dissertation title (if relevant — include it)
• •A-levels: subjects and grades
• •GCSEs: one summary line ("9 GCSEs A*–B including Maths and English")

Don't include:

• •Primary school
• •Individual GCSE grades if you have A-levels and a degree
• •Grade if below a 2:2 (mention the degree, skip the grade)

4. Work Experience

You have more than you think. Include anything:

• •Internships and placements (even 1 week)
• •Part-time jobs during term (retail, hospitality, tutoring)
• •Summer jobs
• •Freelance work
• •Family business involvement

The key: write achievement bullets, not task descriptions.

• ✗*"Served customers at Pret A Manger"*
• *"Delivered high-volume customer service across peak morning shifts (200+ customers/hour), maintaining service standards and handling payment queries"*

• ✗*"Helped with social media at internship"*
• *"Created and scheduled 3 posts/week across Instagram and LinkedIn for a B2B SaaS brand, growing combined following by 18% in 8 weeks"*

5. Projects and Extracurriculars

This is where graduate CVs are won or lost. Most graduates skip this section. Don't.

What to include:

• •University society roles (especially leadership)
• •Sports — especially at a competitive level or as captain
• •Student newspaper, radio, or media
• •Hackathons, case competitions, coding projects
• •Dissertation or significant academic project
• •Any side project (app, YouTube channel, blog with traction)

How to write it:

Treat it like work experience. Organisation, role, dates, 1–2 achievement bullets.

Example:

`

President, University of Leeds Marketing Society (2025–2026)

• Grew membership from 120 to 340 students, making it the largest society in the business school

• Organised 8 industry speaker events, attracting 200+ attendees including speakers from Unilever, PepsiCo, and Meta

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6. Skills

List hard skills and tools. Soft skills are shown through your bullets — don't list them here.

For most graduates, include:

• •Microsoft Office suite (be specific: "Excel — pivot tables, VLOOKUP")
• •Google Workspace
• •Any specialist software from your degree or placement
• •Programming languages or data tools if relevant
• •Language skills with level

Common Graduate CV Mistakes

Leaving half the page blank — If your CV isn't full, expand your bullets and add more extracurricular detail. A half-empty 1-pager looks like you're hiding something.

Writing "References available on request" — Wastes space, everyone knows.

Putting hobbies that say nothing — "Reading, music, socialising" adds nothing. Leave it out or include something specific and interesting.

Same CV for every job — At least change your personal statement for each application. It takes 10 minutes and doubles your hit rate.

Unprofessional email — firstname.lastname@gmail.com only.

Length: 1 Page for Graduates

Almost always 1 page. You don't have enough content for 2 pages yet — and padding to reach 2 pages with filler makes it worse, not better. Fill 1 page properly with real content.

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