Student CV Template: How to Write + 10+ Examples

Whether you’re a school-leaver, a student or a fresh graduate, you obviously don’t have much professional experience under your belt. The good news is, you can still come away with the best student CV possible.

Your student CV will be how you introduce yourself to your potential new employer, it’ll be how you make a good impression and get your foot in the door in the form of an invitation to a job interview. 

This article will show you the best student CV template along with tips on how to use your student knowledge and skills to get a job. Follow along and you’ll be preparing for that interview sooner than you think. 

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Student CV template

Here’s how to write a CV for a student:

1. Write a personal statement for your student CV

If your CV is a foot in the door of the recruitment process, then your personal statement is the leading toe of that foot. What is a personal statement in a student or graduate CV? It’s a short, succinct paragraph that comes right after your personal details and before anything else. It’s where you introduce yourself as a candidate and start making a case for why you’re perfect for the job.

So, what are you aiming for and how do you get there? You want to end up with 3 or 4 sentences, 50-100 words (no more) that tell the recruiter:

1. Who you are
2. What you have to offer
3. What you’re aiming for

You can find solid and compelling things to say on each of these three topics even if you have no work experience whatsoever. Start by brainstorming a list of the transferable skills you have and relevant experience you’ve gained (whether as an employee, a volunteer, a student or thanks to your hobbies). 

Also, remember to tailor your CV to each job for which you apply. Tailoring is important, because it helps you pass the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) test. Simply seed keywords from the job description and add them to your personal statement. 

Whether or not a given company uses an ATS, a human recruiter will skim through your CV looking for many of the same keywords. So if the job ad asks for “teamwork skills”, use this term rather than “collaboration skills”. For more customization, use the name of the company and the name of the position you’re applying for in your student personal statement.

This section usually starts a CV but is easier to write last, once you have the rest of your CV in front of you (and that's why it's often called a CV summary).

Personal statement for a student CV

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 student CV work experience section

The all-important and often-dreaded work experience section of a CV. As a student (school or university), school-leaver or graduate you’re not likely to have a lot of prior work experience under your belt. Provided you’re applying for jobs that are at your experience level, that’s exactly as expected.

If you have absolutely no experience whatsoever then simply skip this section. Remember, though, that at this early stage in your working life volunteer work, work experience programmes (or vacation work programmes), internships, freelance gigs and so on may well be relevant. (That said, do avoid padding of any kind—recruiters will see right through it but not before being annoyed by the extra reading they’ve had to do.)

The best student CV layout is the reverse-chronological format. This means putting your most recent job description first and working your way back from there. For each job description, include the name of the position, your employer, when you started and finished working there (or if you’re still working there), and no more than six bullet points describing what you did in your role.

Start each bullet point with an action verb like “performed”, “checked” or “managed”. Focus on quantifiable achievements instead of job duties. Use the PAR (Problem-Action-Result) formula to phrase your bullet points. And as always, keep it tailored to the job advert to which you’re responding and keep it positive but real.

Student CV job description examples

4. Include an education section in your student CV

Your work experience section has every right to be a little on the sparse side, but your education section should be right on the money for the job you’re after. If you struggled to cobble together much of a work experience section, then consider putting the education section before your work experience section until you build up more of a work history. 

There's usually no need to include grades or list all your GCSEs (except for Maths and English—some employers will be on the lookout for these as a minimum). Do list all your A-levels subjects, though.

If you’re a university student, then include your expected graduation date. Don’t go into individual subjects, just the name of the degree and the name and location of the university (you can list extracurricular activities if they're relevant). Of course, if you’ve already graduated then include only the actual graduation date.

Student CV education section example

5. Mention transferable skills in your student CV

If you think that as a student with little or no professional experience you have no skills to brag about in your CV, you’re more than wrong. 

First, pull up a copy of the job advert and pay close attention to the skills they're looking for. Make a list of relevant skills that you can back up with evidence from your work, school and personal life. There'll be skills on your list that don't match up with the advert, that's fine—save those for future job applications.

Choose 5-10 relevant skills (aim to have a mix of hard and soft skills) and back each one of them up with a concrete example. Think of this as a bit of show and tell. Don't just claim to have these skills, describe situations in which you've demonstrated them. Anyone can make a list of awesome-sounding skills, stand out by bringing concrete evidence to the table.

Skills in a student CV template for a first job

5. Help your student CV reflect who you are with additional sections

A perfect CV is a snapshot of you as an employee, a concise record of your education, qualifications, and experience. But these sections are what everybody has in their student CVs. To stand out from that crowd, add extra sections to your CV.

You can list projects in which you’ve been involved, volunteer work that doesn’t quite qualify as work experience, awards you’ve won, languages you speak, or even your hobbies.

The key here is to keep it relevant to the job you’re going after. This isn’t about putting your whole personality on display, only the parts of it that are relevant to the kind of work you want to be doing. Adding yoga makes sense if you’re applying for a very stressful role, for example. One more thing. There is no need to add references on your CV, as recruiters know they can ask for them.

University student CV example (extra sections)

6. Add a cover letter to your student CV

Writing cover letters might seem painful at first, but not including one is a fairly reliable way of having your CV rejected before it’s even read. Around half of employers still expect to receive a cover letter (although they might not mention it in the job ad).

When writing a student cover letter, keep it positive and enthusiastic, but don’t go overboard. Start your cover letter by hooking the recruiter with previous achievements and passion for the role. Show how your skills and experience can help the company. End your cover letter with a call to action and ask for an interview. Above all, tailor your cover letter to the company in question as much as possible and format it like a standard business letter.

How long should a cover letter be? No longer than one page. For a higher readability, use a simple cover letter template without fancy infographics.

7. What else should you keep in mind as you sit down and write your CV?

As much as you want this CV to set you apart, you don’t want to depart from the standard CV format too much. Here’s why: recruiters are busy people and they’ll only have as little as a few seconds (7 seconds, according to some studies) to scan through your CV the first time. 

So, stick to reverse-chronological order as recruiters are most familiar with it. Use standard section names and leave your contact details at the top to make it easy for whoever is reading your CV to find what they're looking for.

For a clear student CV layout, use a standard, professional-looking CV font such as Calibri or Arial. Use 1.15 line spacing and double space after subheadings in your CV, making it clear and pleasing to the eye. 

Use a basic CV template without fancy graphics if you're applying to a traditional company. And try not to make your CV too long. Student CVs and CVs in general should be one page long (you can get rid of unnecessary details such as your date of birth).

One last piece of CV advice. Send your student CV in PDF format unless asked to do otherwise. PDFs will keep your CV structure intact. And if you don't hear from them for a week, write a follow-up e-mail. It’s a small gesture, but hiring managers expect it. 

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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Has this guide been what you were looking for? Is there something here I should go over in more detail? Do you have any tips, tricks, success stories or cautionary tales to share? Getting a new job can be a little daunting or even overwhelming at times, but it’s definitely well worth it. Good luck out there!