1. Graduate CV: Examples, Templates, and Tips for 2024

Graduate CV: Examples, Templates, and Tips for 2024

LiveCareer Editorial Team
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Graduation. The magical moment where fun stops, and you become a fully responsible, conscious adult, and take your first steps on that long path to success that you have been planning for so long. You know exactly what you’re going to do with your life, right?

Even if you don’t, don’t worry. Whatever you decide, we are here to help you write a graduate CV to effortlessly beat the competition, Tyson Fury style.

This guide will show you:

  • How to write a job-winning graduate CV.
  • A graduate CV example that's better than most. 
  • A ready-to-use template for graduate CV.
  • Writing tips on how to make the most of your graduate CV. 

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Graduate CV example

Kiera Hopkins

79 Southlands Road

Poldean

DG106SA

07025862939

kiera@hopkins.com

linkedin.com/in/kierahopkins

Personal Statement

King’s College graduate with a 2.1 BSc in Philosophy and Logic. My broad interdisciplinary choice of modules throughout my study allowed me to gain broad knowledge, and learn to approach problems from different perspectives, including but not limited to Law, Sociology, Public Policy, Statistics, as well as through classical and modern Philosophy. Looking to transfer my skill set to a policy analyst role at Deep Think Tank.

Education

King’s College London

2.1 BSc Philosophy & Logic (2019)

  • Thesis Title: ‘The Modern Right to Privacy’ (Supervisor: Dr. Mill)
  • Developed the ability to apply classical and modern philosophical themes to issues in Public Policy, Law, Sociology.
  • Focused on real-world applications of philosophy.
  • Developed the ability to analyse and interpret complex problems, finding solutions, compromises or discrepancies and communicating the synthesis in an articulate and effective manner.
  • Developed an advanced understanding of statistics for social policy research, including hypothesis testing, measures of central tendency, regression, standard deviations parametric and non-parametric tests, degrees of dispersion.
  • Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, developed through numerous essays and presentations on complicated subject matter.

Highsted Grammar School, Sittingbourne

  • A Levels: Sociology (A*), Philosophy (A*), Psychology (A), History (A), General Studies (A)
  • 11 A* GCSE grades including Mathematics and English 

Relevant Skills

Statistical Analysis

  • Ability to perform hypothesis testing using regression, standard deviations, measures of central tendency.
  • Software: STATA, R Statistical Programming Language

Organisation

  • Manage to balance full-time university study, part-time customer service work, as well as being regionally competitive in tennis, and volunteering to help disadvantaged children at the community centre. 
  • Involved in the Student Union’s Philosophical Society, performing the role of Treasures, managing a budget of £5,000 per term, organising bi-weekly events and invited 12 guest speakers.

Communication & Leadership

  • Developed leadership and mentoring skills through leading bi-weekly tennis classes for 120+ disadvantaged children at the Southwark Community Centre.
  • Developed excellent interpersonal and conflict resolution skills as a Crew Member at McDonald’s in one of the poorest boroughs of London, Bethnal Green.

Work Experience

Crew Member

McDonald’s Bethnal Green Road

2017-2019

Volunteering

  • Volunteer Tennis Coach — Southwark Community Centre (2017-2019)

That’s what to include in your CV.

Here’s a guide on how to write a graduate CV:

1. Create a graduate CV personal statement

First impressions matter. And the first impression you make isn’t when you walk in the interview room. This is the first impression—your CV personal statement.

This is why it’s important to grab attention, avoid waffle, and show them your value.

Instead of being descriptive about everything you ever did, put yourself in the employer’s shoes and think about what’s most important to them.

Answer the following questions with one sentence each:

  1. Who are you? I.e. What programme did you graduate from, and where?
  2. What can you offer to the employer? I.e. What relevant experience do you have? If you don’t have work experience, what about your studies makes you different from other candidates?
  3. What are your more long-term career goals? Make sure they align with the company’s goals, also.

Here’s the most useful advice: Leave writing your graduate CV personal statement until last.

Once you have written out all your education, skills and experience, and have read the job ad multiple times in the process. It will write itself.

And yes, you should write a targeted CV for every position, rounding off your CV personal statement with an objective statement like: “Looking to leverage my proven research skills to help J.T Investments make better, more profitable decisions.”

Graduate CV personal statement example

Personal Statement

King’s College graduate with a 2.1 BSc in Philosophy and Logic. My broad interdisciplinary choice of modules throughout my study allowed me to gain broad knowledge, and learn to approach problems from different perspectives, including but not limited to Law, Sociology, Public Policy, Statistics, as well as through classical and modern Philosophy. Looking to transfer my skill set to a policy analyst role at Deep Think Tank.

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 top-of-the-class graduate CV education section 

When writing a CV, especially a CV with no experience, we always advise to prioritise your strongest section, be that education, work experience, or skills. This is why we are using a hybrid CV format. For most fresh graduate CVs, the education section will be the strongest. 

If you have some prestigious internships completed, feel free to start with your work experience section, and shift education down.

Whatever you do, record your degree in the following way: 

[University Name]

[Degree Class] BSc [Degree Name](Year Graduated)

Followed by a list of bullet points that describe your strengths that you acquired during the course of study.

Should you include your school grades on your graduate CV? The answer is: Does the employer ask for any? If not, you may be well served to save the space, and just put something in the style of:

[School Name]

[Number of subjects] A*- [your lowest grade] A-Levels

The A*- [lowest grade] trick is much safer if you actually had at least one A*, though. You should write an impressive degree description and personal statement though, that should render this almost irrelevant.

Graduate CV template— education section

King’s College London

2.1 BSc Philosophy & Logic (2019)

  • Thesis Title: ‘The Modern Right to Privacy’ (Supervisor: Dr. Mill)
  • Developed the ability to apply classical and modern philosophical themes to issues in Public Policy, Law, Sociology.
  • Focused on real-world applications of philosophy.
  • Developed the ability to analyse and interpret complex problems, finding solutions, compromises or discrepancies and communicating the synthesis in an articulate and effective manner.
  • Developed an advanced understanding of statistics for social policy research, including hypothesis testing, measures of central tendency, regression, standard deviations parametric and non-parametric tests, degrees of dispersion.
  • Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, developed through numerous essays and presentations on complicated subject matter.

Highsted Grammar School, Sittingbourne

  • A Levels: Sociology (A*), Philosophy (A*), Psychology (A), History (A), General Studies (A)
  • 11 A* GCSE grades including Mathematics and English

3. Stud your graduate CV with desirable skills

Alright, you don’t have that much experience. Ever hear the phrase ‘transferable skills’? Yeah, that stuff they drilled into your head in school to get you to go to university. Turns out they weren’t wrong.

The graduate CV we are building is in a hybrid format, meaning we are going to prioritise these skills over listing work experience. (Unless you have something super-relevant and super-impressive, as we already mentioned.)

So, how do you know which skills put on your CV? That’s easy. Just scour the job ad for them, and try to put yourself in the employer’s shoes and determine which ones are the most important to them. Describe how they make you relevant for the role. Here’s an example:

Graduate CV template — skills section

Relevant Skills

Statistical Analysis

  • Ability to perform hypothesis testing using regression, standard deviations, measures of central tendency.
  • Software: STATA, R Statistical Programming Language

Organisation

  • Manage to balance full-time university study, part-time customer service work, as well as being regionally competitive in tennis, and volunteering to help disadvantaged children at the community centre. 
  • Involved in the Student Union’s Philosophical Society, performing the role of Treasures, managing a budget of £5,000 per term, organising bi-weekly events and invited 12 guest speakers.

Communication & Leadership

  • Developed leadership and mentoring skills through leading bi-weekly tennis classes for 120+ disadvantaged children at the Southwark Community Centre.
  • Developed excellent interpersonal and conflict resolution skills as a Crew Member at McDonald’s in one of the poorest boroughs of London, Bethnal Green.

4. List your work experience

If you are still following our graduate CV format, simply record your work history as following:

[Job Title]

[Employer Name, Location]

[Dates of Employment]

And you’re almost done.

If, however, you have a lot of impressive and relevant experience, and have opted to shift your work experience section up, you may choose to record your work experience like this:

Graduate CV example — work experience section 

Work Experience

Summer Intern

Citibank, London

2018

  • Developed two pitch books for two acquisitions, £3.5m and £8m respectively, both of which were successful and profitable for Citi.
  • Developed advanced Excel skills, including Pivot tables and VLOOKUP, 
  • Developed economic analysis skills using STATA, SAS, SPSS, R Studio.
  • Commended by Head of Acquisitions for quality of research on two occasions.

5. Don't forget about additional sections in your graduate CV

When writing a CV, we abide one rule of thumb above all: Include anything that will help your chances. Anything that’s relevant. 

Volunteering is relevant, because it shows your ability to juggle multiple responsibilities, as well as showing off your human side. 82% of managers would rather hire someone with volunteering experience.

Foreign languages always advance the chances of your application. Other sections of your CV could include achievements, awards, projects or hobbies. Keep it relevant. 

Fresh graduate CV template — additional sections

Volunteering

  • Volunteer Cook — Manchester Homeless Shelter (2017-2019) 

Languages

  • French (Intermediate)
  • Spanish (Fluent)
  • Italian (Basic)

6. Attach a graduate cover letter

You’re not getting a job without a cover letter. For some applications, they will ask you to paste it into their applicant system instead of sending a separate document. Either way is fine, as long as you follow the correct cover letter format

How to write a graduate cover letter? Hook them in your first paragraph showing your biggest achievement. Next, present how your skills and experience will help you to excel at your job. Remember to include a cover letter ending with a call to action asking to meet or schedule a phone call to discuss the role further.

7. Make your graduate CV easy to read and scan

Now you know how to write your graduate CV.  But, it should also be pleasant to the eye. 

On average, recruiters spend only a few seconds on each CV, so if you want your graduate CV to be read  follow those CV formatting rules:

  • Use clear headings for each section, and use white space between them to guide their eyes.
  • Use a clear, easy-to-read CV font.
  • Unless you are asked not to, send your CV as a PDF.
  • Use our CV Builder to do most of the boring work for you, so that you can focus on enjoying your last days of being free.

If you don’t hear back after a while, follow up. It’s an expression of interest that might tip the scales.

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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Does that answer your questions on how to write a graduate CV? Got any job hunting tips and tricks you’d like to share? Did you enjoy our graduate CV template? Use the comments section below. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

How we review the content at LiveCareer

Our editorial team has reviewed this article for compliance with Livecareer’s editorial guidelines. It’s to ensure that our expert advice and recommendations are consistent across all our career guides and align with current CV and cover letter writing standards and trends. We’re trusted by over 10 million job seekers, supporting them on their way to finding their dream job. Each article is preceded by research and scrutiny to ensure our content responds to current market trends and demand.

About the author

LiveCareer Editorial Team
LiveCareer Editorial Team

Since 2005, the LiveCareer Team has been helping job seekers advance their careers. In our in-depth guides, we share insider tips and the most effective CV and cover letter writing techniques so that you can beat recruiters in the hiring game and land your next job fast. Also, make sure to check out our state-of-the-art CV and cover letter builder—professional, intuitive, and fully in line with modern HR standards. Trusted by 10 million users worldwide.

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