26 Apr 2023
Many students struggle when it comes to writing their first CV. They might never have worked in any paid positions before, but still need to reflect on paper their skills and experience so that employers can assess their suitability for a job. It can be quite a conundrum, how best to present themselves, because of a lack of workplace experience.
If you’ve been studying, and are hoping to enter the jobs market pretty soon, here are a few handy tips on how best to write your first CV:
Make sure your qualifications are clearly shown near the top of your CV, along with the relevant study dates so employers can see what you’ve been doing for the past few years. This is by way of explanation for the lack of full-time employment on your CV. Most employers will make allowances to an extent for a lack of work experience if you have been doing something else that is useful with your life such as studying.
Include a personal summary which describes who you are, the skills you have gained and your career aspirations. This will help employers understand what career you want to move into and where they fit into this particular career path.
Make sure you include any voluntary roles you have carried out, being specific about the things you achieved. Volunteering is a great way of developing and practising skills you could transfer into the paid employment market, e.g. teamwork, communication skills.
Periods of work experience, however brief, should always be included so that employers can see you have experience in a real workplace environment. This is something that is always valued as the worlds of work and study can be very different and it is important to be able to gauge if you have an aptitude for both.
During the course of your studies, you’ve probably been involved in project work, e.g. a research based project. Talk about this in your CV, so that potential employers can see that you’ve been able to plan and organise your work and achieve a successful outcome. This can help to establish some of the skills that you have, such as leadership and teamwork that can transfer well to the working environment.
There are so many organisations out there ready to help students, not least the establishments where you’ve been studying through their career advisory services. These can often help you to find suitable work placements to increase your work experience due to their excellent contacts in the local business community.
Nowadays you can’t afford to be too relaxed about your CV when you are trying to get into the rat race, so if you’re stuck, make sure you ask for some help. Remember that the careers advisory service is there to help you and act as a resource, so be sure to use it when you need some help. You can also make use of our own CV Writing Service if need be.
