How do I write CV bullets with no experience?

Use the Achievement-Action-Result (AAR) format: start each bullet with a strong action verb, describe what you did, and end with a measurable result where possible. University experience counts — society leadership, dissertation research, group projects, and even part-time jobs can generate strong bullets if you focus on impact and skills, not job description. 'Served customers' is weak. 'Managed customer enquiries and stock replenishment for a 200-customer/day café, reducing queue times by reorganising the service flow' is strong.

Graduate & Schemes — 2026 Guide

Graduate CV Guide: How to Write a CV That Gets Interviews

Q: Should a graduate CV be one page or two pages?

For most UK graduates applying to their first role or graduate scheme, one page is strongly preferred. Two pages are acceptable if you have substantial internship or work experience (2+ substantive placements). Graduate recruiters at Big 4, banks, and consulting firms are processing hundreds of CVs — a concise, well-structured one-pager is easier to scan and harder to fill with padding. If in doubt, cut to one page.

Q: What should a graduate CV include?

A strong UK graduate CV should include: (1) Contact details at the top (name, email, LinkedIn, optionally phone). (2) Education section with degree, university, predicted or actual grade, and 2–3 relevant modules or a dissertation title. (3) Work experience — paid, internship, voluntary. (4) Extra-curricular activities and leadership roles. (5) Skills section (languages, software, technical tools). Personal statements are optional and only worth including if they add genuinely new information not covered elsewhere.

The complete guide to writing a first-class graduate CV — the right structure, how to write compelling bullets with limited experience, what recruiters are scanning for, and the mistakes that get otherwise strong candidates rejected.

7sAverage recruiter scan time

1Page (for most graduates)

6Core CV sections

2026Fully updated

Section 01

The Graduate CV Structure

A strong UK graduate CV follows a clear, scannable structure. Recruiters spend an average of 7 seconds on an initial pass — the layout must make the most important information instantly visible.

Section	What to Include	Length	Priority
Header	Name (large), email, phone, LinkedIn URL. City is optional. No photo, age, or marital status.	3–4 lines	Essential
Personal Statement	Optional 3–4 sentence summary. Only include if it adds information not elsewhere on the CV. Avoid generic openers.	3–4 lines max	Optional
Education	University, degree title, predicted/actual grade, relevant modules, dissertation title. A-Levels in brief below.	4–6 lines	Essential
Work Experience	All relevant experience — internships, placements, part-time work, volunteering. Most recent first. 2–4 bullets each.	Largest section	Essential
Extra-Curricular	Leadership roles, society involvement, sports, competitions, projects. Treat like work experience — use bullets.	2–4 roles	Important
Skills	Languages (with proficiency), software/tools (Excel, Python, SQL), certifications. Only include things you can demonstrate.	3–5 lines	Contextual

📄

One page vs two pages

For most UK graduates applying to first roles or graduate schemes: one page. Two pages are acceptable if you have two or more substantive internships (10+ weeks each) or significant relevant experience. If you're unsure, one page is always safer — forcing yourself to cut reveals which content is genuinely strong.

Section 02

Education Section: What to Include and What to Cut

University Entry

For your university entry, include: institution name and location, degree title, predicted or actual grade, graduation year, and 2–3 relevant modules or your dissertation topic. Put your strongest credential first — if your grade is strong (1st or 2:1), lead with it. If it's not, lead with your institution or degree title and bury the grade slightly.

Include	Format
University name + degree title	Bold the university, use clean formatting
Predicted/actual grade	"Predicted 1st class" or "2:1 awarded June 2025"
Relevant modules	"Relevant modules: Corporate Finance, Financial Accounting, Econometrics"
Dissertation (if substantial)	"Dissertation: 'ESG Disclosure Quality and Equity Valuations' (78%)"
Academic prizes (if any)	Brief one-liner: "Dean's List 2024"

A-Levels and GCSEs

List A-Level subjects and grades in one line. Include Mathematics if relevant to the role. For GCSEs, a summary line is sufficient: "9 GCSEs A*–B including Maths (A*) and English (A)." Do not list individual GCSE subjects unless specifically requested. If your A-Levels are old and your degree is strong, they become less relevant — shrink this section over time.

✅

For quantitative roles: highlight numeracy explicitly

For banking, consulting, and data-heavy roles, recruiters are specifically looking for evidence of quantitative ability. If you have strong Maths grades, list them visibly. If your degree involves quantitative methods, name the modules. If your dissertation used statistical analysis, say so. Recruiters in these fields will draw a mental line between "numbers person" and "not a numbers person" — make it obvious which side you're on.

Section 03

Work Experience & Extra-Curricular Activities

What Counts as Experience?

More than most graduates realise. For a CV with limited formal work experience, all of the following count and should be presented in the experience section:

Formal internships (summer placements, insight days, Spring Weeks, industrial placements)
Part-time jobs — retail, hospitality, tutoring, delivery. Focus on transferable skills in your bullets.
Society or club leadership — President, Treasurer, Secretary, Event Lead. Treat these like job roles.
Volunteering — mentoring, charity work, community projects. Especially strong if it shows leadership or initiative.
Freelance or project work — any business you've run, YouTube/content creation with meaningful output, coding projects, research assistance
Case competitions, hackathons, moot court — particularly relevant for consulting, law, and finance

How to Format Each Role

Each experience entry should follow this structure: organisation name + role title on the first line, location and dates on the same line right-aligned, then 2–4 impact-focused bullet points. Never include job descriptions ("responsible for") — only achievements and impact. See Section 04 for how to write bullets.

Section 04

Writing Strong CV Bullets

CV bullet writing is a skill most graduates don't develop until too late. The difference between a weak bullet and a strong one is usually: specificity, action verb, and quantified result.

Use the Action → Achievement → Result formula: start with a strong past-tense verb, describe the specific thing you did, end with a measurable outcome or impact.

Example 1 — Part-Time Retail Job

❌ Weak: "Served customers and helped with stock management."

✅ Strong: "Managed customer service across a high-traffic store (200+ daily customers), reorganising the returns process to cut average resolution time from 8 minutes to 3 minutes."

Example 2 — Society Leadership

❌ Weak: "Responsible for organising events for the Finance Society."

✅ Strong: "Organised 12 events for a 400-member society including a 200-person annual careers fair, securing 18 employer partnerships — a 50% increase on the previous year."

Example 3 — Summer Internship

❌ Weak: "Supported the team with data analysis and report writing."

✅ Strong: "Built an Excel dashboard tracking KPIs across 5 client portfolios, cutting weekly reporting time by 3 hours; presented findings to a senior associate who adopted the format for the team."

Example 4 — Dissertation / Research

❌ Weak: "Completed a 10,000-word dissertation on financial markets."

✅ Strong: "Conducted original regression analysis on 5 years of FTSE 100 data to test the relationship between ESG disclosure quality and equity valuations; awarded 78% and cited by supervisor as best dissertation in cohort."

ℹ️

Strong action verbs to use

Led, Built, Designed, Managed, Analysed, Developed, Negotiated, Launched, Delivered, Implemented, Increased, Reduced, Secured, Oversaw, Presented, Trained, Coordinated, Restructured. Avoid: "Responsible for," "Helped with," "Assisted in," "Worked on." Ownership verbs score; supporting verbs don't.

Section 05

Tailoring Your CV by Sector

Sector	What to Emphasise	What to Include
Big 4 / Audit	Analytical ability, communication, client-facing, ACA/ACCA interest	Quantitative modules, any finance work experience, society treasurer roles
Investment Banking	Financial modelling, market knowledge, rigour, resilience	Spring Weeks/insight days, financial modelling courses, markets interest evidence
Management Consulting	Structured problem-solving, leadership, communication, case competition performance	Case competitions, pro-bono consulting, any analytical project work
Technology	Technical skills (coding, data), growth mindset, user focus, projects	GitHub repos, hackathons, technical certifications, side projects
Civil Service	Policy interest, analytical judgement, communication, values alignment	Policy-adjacent work, dissertation on public sector topics, relevant societies
Marketing / Commercial	Creativity, commercial awareness, customer insight, campaign execution	Any brand/social media work, market research, commercial side projects

For graduate scheme applications, always re-read the role's competency framework before submitting. The bullets you choose to include — and the order in which you present information — should reflect the specific skills the scheme is recruiting for.

Section 06

Common CV Mistakes That Get Applications Rejected

Generic personal statement: "I am an enthusiastic, hardworking graduate seeking a challenging role in a dynamic organisation." This adds negative value — it wastes space and signals low effort. Cut it or make it specific.
Dates missing or inconsistent: Any gap in your timeline will be noticed. Be honest about gaps — a gap year, a medical interruption, or a year retaking exams can all be explained positively if you own them.
Responsibilities without results: "Responsible for managing the team's social media" tells the reader nothing. "Grew the society's Instagram to 1,200 followers (3× in 12 months) by implementing a consistent content calendar" tells them everything.
Inconsistent formatting: Different font sizes, misaligned bullets, inconsistent date formats, or PDF rendering issues. Always export to PDF and check it renders correctly on both Mac and Windows.
Email address that looks unprofessional: firstname.lastname@email.com is the standard. "partymaster2003@..." is not. Create a professional address if needed.
No hyperlinked LinkedIn: Most graduate recruiters check LinkedIn as a default. Include it as a URL in your header. Make sure your LinkedIn is up to date and consistent with your CV.
Claiming skills you can't demonstrate: "Proficient in Python" will be tested at interview. "Familiar with Python" is honest and less risky. Only claim skills you're actually prepared to be questioned on.

Section 07

Frequently Asked Questions

Should a graduate CV be one page or two pages?+

One page for most graduates. Two pages are acceptable if you have two or more substantive internships (10+ weeks each). Graduate recruiters at Big 4, banks, and consulting firms scan hundreds of CVs — a tight one-pager is usually stronger than a padded two-pager. If you're uncertain, cut to one page.

What should a graduate CV include?+

In order: contact details, education (university first, then A-Levels), work experience (most recent first), extra-curricular activities and leadership, skills. A personal statement is optional and only worth including if it adds new information. References are not included — "available on request" is unnecessary filler.

How do I write CV bullets if I have no experience?+

Every graduate has experience — it's just framed differently. Part-time jobs, society leadership, volunteering, dissertation research, case competitions, and freelance projects all qualify. Use the Action → Achievement → Result formula for every bullet: strong verb, specific action, quantified outcome. If you genuinely have nothing to put under experience, that's a signal to get involved in something before applying.

Do I need a different CV for every application?+

Not a different CV — but a tailored one. Your core content stays the same, but you should adjust: the order of bullets within each role (lead with what's most relevant), possibly swap in/out specific experiences, and definitely ensure any personal statement or skills section reflects the specific role. This takes 10–15 minutes per application and meaningfully improves conversion rates.

Should I include a photo on my CV?+

No — not for UK applications. Photos are standard in some European and Asian markets, but in the UK they are neither expected nor appropriate for professional applications. Including one can create unconscious bias issues and may make a recruiter uncomfortable. Leave it out entirely.

Get Your CV to Interview — Then Pass the Test

Most graduate schemes and employer applications include an online aptitude test after your CV clears screening. Prepare now with our free timed numerical, verbal, and situational judgement practice tests.

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