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Create ResumeA strong graduate CV is not a list of everything you have ever done. It is a focused argument for why you are ready for a graduate job, even if you do not yet have much formal work experience. For UK graduate roles, recruiters are usually looking for three things: evidence of ability, signs of professional judgement, and a clear match between your background and the role. Your degree matters, but your CV cannot rely on education alone. It needs to show how you think, what you have done with your opportunities, and whether you understand the kind of work you are applying for. That is where many graduate CVs fall apart. They are often polite, packed with generic skills, and strangely unconvincing.
When I read a graduate CV, I am not expecting ten years of experience. That would be ridiculous, although some “entry level” job adverts do seem to have missed that memo.
What I am looking for is evidence that the candidate can step into a professional environment and learn quickly without needing constant hand holding. A graduate CV has to prove potential, but potential on its own is too vague. You need to make it visible.
A good graduate CV should answer these questions quickly:
What role or industry are you targeting?
What relevant knowledge, skills or experience do you already have?
Have you done anything that shows initiative, reliability, communication, analysis, organisation or commercial awareness?
Can I understand your value within 20 to 30 seconds?
Does your CV feel tailored to this job, or does it look like the same version has been fired at every graduate vacancy in the UK?
Graduate CVs often fail because they try to sound impressive instead of useful. “Hardworking graduate with excellent communication skills” tells me almost nothing. I do not know what you worked hard on, who you communicated with, what the outcome was, or whether any of it matters to the job.
For most UK graduate jobs, use a clear, reverse chronological CV. That means your most recent education and experience come first. Recruiters and hiring managers are used to this format, and applicant tracking systems usually handle it better than creative layouts.
A strong graduate CV structure usually looks like this:
Name and contact details
Short professional profile
Education
Relevant experience
Additional work experience
Projects, placements or volunteering
Skills
The strongest graduate CVs do not shout. They show evidence.
Certifications, achievements or interests where relevant
The order can change depending on your strongest evidence. If you have a placement year, internship or relevant part time work, bring that higher. If your degree is your strongest selling point, education can sit near the top. If you have no direct experience, projects, volunteering and transferable work experience need to do more of the heavy lifting.
What you should not do is hide your best evidence halfway down page two because a template told you to put “hobbies” above experience. Templates can be useful, but they do not think. You have to.
Your profile should be short, specific and relevant to the graduate job you want. It is not your life story. It is also not a motivational speech.
The profile has one job: to help the recruiter understand your direction and your strongest evidence quickly.
Weak Example
Recent graduate with excellent communication skills, strong teamwork abilities and a passion for learning. I am hardworking, motivated and looking for an opportunity to develop my career in a dynamic company.
Why this fails: It could belong to almost anyone. There is no degree subject, no target role, no evidence, no useful context and no reason to keep reading.
Good Example
Economics graduate with strong analytical and research skills developed through quantitative university projects, a retail team leader role and a final year dissertation on consumer pricing behaviour. Now targeting UK graduate roles in commercial analysis, operations or consulting where I can apply data interpretation, problem solving and stakeholder communication.
Why this works: It gives direction, evidence and role relevance. It does not pretend the candidate is already a senior analyst. It positions the candidate as a credible graduate applicant.
A good graduate CV profile should include:
Your degree or academic background
The type of graduate role you are targeting
Two or three relevant strengths backed by context
A brief link between your experience and the role
Keep it around four to six lines. If it becomes a paragraph full of adjectives, cut it.
For graduate jobs, your education section matters more than it would for an experienced candidate. But that does not mean you should dump every module, society and school award into it.
Your education section should make your academic background easy to understand and relevant to the role.
Include:
University name
Degree title
Classification or predicted classification
Graduation year
Relevant modules, dissertation or projects if they support the role
Academic achievements if they are genuinely useful
Good Example
BA Business Management, University of Leeds, Leeds
Expected 2:1, 2026
Relevant modules: Strategic Management, Business Analytics, Marketing Research, Financial Decision Making
Final year project: Analysed customer retention strategies across UK subscription businesses, using survey data and competitor benchmarking to identify practical retention drivers.
This is much stronger than simply writing the degree title and hoping the recruiter works out the relevance. Hiring teams are busy. Do not make them dig for the useful parts.
If your degree is not directly related to the job, do not panic. Many UK graduate roles are open to multiple disciplines. What matters is how you translate your academic work into useful evidence.
For example:
A history graduate can show research, writing, critical thinking and evidence evaluation
A psychology graduate can show data interpretation, human behaviour insight and report writing
An engineering graduate can show technical problem solving, modelling and structured analysis
An English graduate can show communication, stakeholder understanding and analytical judgement
The mistake is assuming the degree title speaks for itself. It usually does not.
This is where most graduate CVs become either too thin or too dramatic.
If you worked in retail, hospitality, tutoring, admin, volunteering, student societies or part time roles, that experience can absolutely matter. But only if you write it in a way that connects to the graduate job.
Recruiters do not dismiss part time work. We dismiss badly explained work.
A supermarket role, for example, can show customer service, workload management, reliability, problem solving and working under pressure. A bar job can show pace, judgement, communication and conflict handling. A tutoring role can show explanation, patience, planning and adapting your communication style.
But you need to write the bullet points properly.
Weak Example
Worked as part of a team
Served customers
Handled payments
Developed communication skills
Good Example
Served up to 80 customers per shift in a busy retail environment, handling enquiries, complaints and payments while maintaining accuracy under pressure
Trained two new team members on till processes, stock routines and customer service expectations
Balanced part time work alongside full time study, building strong time management and reliability
The second version gives me evidence. It shows scale, responsibility and behaviour. That is what hiring managers need.
For each role, ask yourself:
What did I do?
Who did I do it for?
What skill did it demonstrate?
What changed, improved or worked because of my contribution?
Why would this matter in the graduate job I want?
Do not exaggerate. Do not turn a Saturday job into “strategic customer operations leadership” unless you want the recruiter to quietly lose the will to live. Just write it clearly and commercially.
Tailoring does not mean rewriting your entire CV from scratch every time. It means changing the emphasis so the most relevant evidence is easiest to find.
A graduate job description usually tells you what the employer cares about, but not always in plain English. You need to decode it.
When an employer says they want “strong communication skills”, they may mean:
Can you explain ideas clearly?
Can you write professionally?
Can you speak to clients, colleagues or stakeholders without sounding lost?
Can you adapt your tone depending on the audience?
When they ask for “commercial awareness”, they may mean:
Do you understand how the business makes money?
Do you understand customers, costs, competitors or risk?
Can you think beyond your own task?
When they ask for “problem solving”, they may mean:
Can you work through ambiguity?
Can you use evidence before jumping to conclusions?
Can you suggest practical solutions instead of only identifying problems?
Your CV should reflect this language, but naturally. Do not copy and paste half the job advert into your CV. Recruiters can spot that quickly, and ATS keyword stuffing is not the clever loophole people think it is.
Instead, match your evidence to the role.
For a graduate marketing role, emphasise:
Campaign projects
Customer insight
Writing
Social media
Research
Data interpretation
Brand or audience understanding
For a graduate finance or analyst role, emphasise:
Excel
Numeracy
Data projects
Accuracy
Forecasting
Research
Problem solving
For a graduate operations role, emphasise:
Organisation
Process improvement
Stakeholder coordination
Time management
Customer or supplier interaction
Practical decision making
For a graduate HR or recruitment role, emphasise:
Communication
Confidentiality
Organisation
People judgement
Administration
Interviewing, mentoring or society leadership
The point is not to become a different person for every job. The point is to make the right parts of your background visible.
Most candidates imagine recruiters read every CV slowly from top to bottom. Lovely idea. Not usually reality.
In the first scan, recruiters usually notice:
Degree subject and university
Graduation year
Work experience or placements
Relevance to the role
Clear structure
Evidence of communication and attention to detail
Whether the CV feels targeted or generic
If your CV is confusing, too dense or full of vague claims, the recruiter may never reach the strongest part. That is harsh, but it is also how screening works when there are hundreds of applications.
For graduate jobs, the biggest early questions are:
Does this person meet the basic requirements?
Is there enough evidence to justify progressing them?
Do they understand the type of role they are applying for?
Is their experience stronger than other applicants at the same stage?
Are there obvious red flags, such as poor formatting, spelling errors or unexplained gaps?
A graduate CV does not need to be perfect. But it needs to be easy to assess.
Hiring managers are not looking for poetic ambition. They are looking for signals they can trust.
Graduate CV mistakes are often not dramatic. They are small judgement errors that make a candidate look less ready than they actually are.
Being motivated, enthusiastic and eager to learn is fine. But everyone says that. Evidence separates you from the pile.
Instead of saying you are organised, show how you managed deadlines, shifts, projects, events or responsibilities.
Many graduates ignore academic projects because they do not feel like “real experience”. That is a mistake.
A dissertation, group project, lab report, business case, design project or research assignment can be highly relevant if written properly.
Good Example
That tells me more than “completed dissertation”.
Unless you are applying for a design role and know exactly what you are doing, keep the layout clean. Fancy columns, icons, skill bars and graphics often create more problems than they solve.
Recruiters do not reject plain CVs because they are plain. They reject confusing CVs because they are hard to assess.
A skills section can help, but only if it is specific.
Weak Example
Communication
Teamwork
Leadership
Microsoft Office
Good Example
Excel: pivot tables, VLOOKUP, data cleaning and basic dashboard creation
Research: survey design, literature reviews, competitor analysis and academic source evaluation
Communication: customer service, written reports, group presentations and stakeholder updates
Skills need proof. Otherwise they are just decoration.
This is one of the most common reasons graduates get poor results. The CV may be decent, but it is too broad. A broad CV often feels safe to the candidate, but vague to the recruiter.
A CV for a consulting graduate scheme should not read exactly the same as a CV for a marketing assistant role, a data analyst graduate role and an HR graduate programme. Same candidate, different evidence emphasis.
Many graduates assume the only way to improve their CV is to get a formal internship. Internships help, of course, but they are not the only route.
You can strengthen your CV by improving how you frame what you already have.
Look for evidence in:
University projects
Group presentations
Dissertations
Part time jobs
Volunteering
Student societies
Sports teams
Freelance work
Personal projects
Online courses
Competitions
Tutoring or mentoring
Family business support
Community work
The question is not “Was this a formal graduate internship?” The question is “Does this show something useful for the role?”
For example, if you helped organise a university society event, that may show budgeting, supplier contact, promotion, attendance tracking and stakeholder coordination. If you ran a small online shop, that may show customer service, basic finance, marketing, stock handling and problem solving.
Do not undersell yourself because the experience was not glamorous. At graduate level, evidence of responsibility matters.
That said, be careful with overinflation. Recruiters are not impressed by exaggerated wording. If a bullet point sounds like it was written by someone trying to turn a group project into a board level transformation programme, it creates doubt.
Strong graduate CV writing is honest, specific and relevant.
If you have no direct experience, your CV needs to lean on transferable evidence. This is not second best. It just needs to be written with more care.
Use sections such as:
Education
Relevant academic projects
Part time work
Volunteering
Leadership or society involvement
Skills
Certifications or online learning
Achievements
A no experience graduate CV should still show action. Employers are usually more forgiving of limited experience than they are of passivity.
A weak no experience CV says, “I have studied and now I would like a job.”
A stronger one says, “Here is how my education, projects, work ethic, communication and initiative connect to this role.”
Good Example for Academic Project
Consumer Behaviour Research Project, University of Manchester
Researched purchasing behaviour among UK students using survey responses from 120 participants
Analysed findings in Excel to identify pricing, convenience and brand trust as key decision factors
Presented recommendations in a 15 minute group presentation, receiving a first class mark for research quality and clarity
This gives me evidence of research, analysis, presentation and commercial thinking. That is useful.
For most UK graduate jobs, one to two pages is appropriate. One page can work if you have limited experience and can present your evidence clearly. Two pages is fine if you have placements, internships, projects, volunteering and part time work that genuinely support your application.
Do not force a strong CV onto one page if it becomes cramped and unpleasant to read. Also do not stretch a thin CV to two pages with filler. Both choices create problems.
A recruiter friendly graduate CV is usually:
Clear
Skimmable
Focused
Evidence led
Consistent in formatting
Free from unnecessary personal details
You do not need to include your date of birth, marital status, full address, photo or National Insurance number. For UK applications, your name, phone number, email, LinkedIn profile and general location are enough.
Use a professional file name, such as:
Simar Malhi Graduate Marketing CV.pdf
Not:
CV final final updated new version 3.pdf
Small details matter because they signal judgement. Nobody gets hired because of a file name, but messy presentation can quietly damage confidence.
The best bullet points show action, context and result. Not every bullet needs a number, but every bullet should give the reader something concrete.
A useful structure is:
Action plus context plus outcome
For example:
Analysed customer feedback from 200 survey responses to identify common service issues and recommend improvements for a university business project
Managed weekly stock checks during weekend retail shifts, improving accuracy and helping reduce repeated stock discrepancies
Coordinated room bookings, speaker communication and attendee updates for a student society careers event with 70 registered participants
Created Excel trackers to monitor group project deadlines, responsibilities and research sources across a five person team
Delivered one to one tutoring sessions for GCSE maths students, adapting explanations to different ability levels and improving student confidence before exams
Notice that these bullet points do not rely on empty claims. They show what happened.
Avoid bullet points that begin with “responsible for” too often. It is not always wrong, but it can become passive. “Responsible for customer enquiries” is weaker than “Handled customer enquiries”.
Also avoid stuffing every bullet with dramatic verbs. You do not need to “spearhead” everything. Sometimes you just coordinated, analysed, supported, improved, organised, presented, researched or resolved. That is enough.
Applicant tracking systems are often misunderstood. Candidates imagine the ATS as a mysterious machine rejecting CVs because they used the wrong synonym. In reality, the bigger problem is usually poor relevance, unclear formatting or missing evidence.
To keep your graduate CV ATS friendly:
Use standard headings such as Education, Experience, Skills and Projects
Avoid text boxes, tables, graphics and heavy design elements
Use a simple font and consistent formatting
Include relevant keywords naturally from the job description
Save and submit the file in the format requested by the employer
Spell out important terms where needed
Avoid hiding keywords or copying the full job advert into the CV
ATS optimisation should make your CV clearer, not weirder.
The best approach is simple: write for the human recruiter, but format so the system can read it. If your CV only works because you are trying to trick software, it probably will not survive the human review anyway.
Recruiters screen for fit. Hiring managers often read for evidence they can imagine using in the job.
A hiring manager looking at a graduate CV may think:
Can this person learn the role quickly?
Will they need a lot of supervision?
Can they communicate clearly?
Have they shown initiative before?
Do they understand what this job involves?
Do they seem realistic about the work?
That last point matters more than candidates realise. Some graduate CVs sound as if the candidate wants a glamorous version of the job, not the actual job. Employers notice this.
For example, a graduate marketing role may involve reporting, admin, campaign coordination and data entry, not just creative brand strategy. A graduate finance role may involve spreadsheets, compliance, reconciliation and accuracy, not just investment decisions. A graduate recruitment role may involve sourcing, screening, follow ups and database work, not just “working with people”.
Your CV should show that you understand the practical work, not just the attractive job title.
That is where many graduates gain an edge. The candidate who sounds realistic often feels safer to hire than the candidate who sounds impressive but vague.
Before sending your CV, check it like a recruiter would.
Ask yourself:
Is the target role clear within the first few lines?
Does the profile say something specific?
Is my strongest evidence on page one?
Have I tailored the CV to this type of graduate job?
Are my education, projects and experience written with enough context?
Have I shown transferable skills through examples?
Are my bullet points specific rather than generic?
Is the formatting clean and easy to scan?
Have I removed irrelevant personal details?
Would a hiring manager understand why I am applying?
Have I proofread names, dates, headings and spelling?
Does the CV sound like a real person, not a template?
If the answer to any of these is no, fix it before applying.
A graduate CV does not need to make you look like you have already done the job for five years. It needs to make you look credible, prepared and worth interviewing.
Written by Simar Malhi, a recruiter and headhunter with international recruitment experience. I write about CVs, job applications, hiring decisions, and the reality behind recruitment processes. My goal is to help candidates understand more honestly how employers, recruiters, and hiring managers actually select candidates.
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