My Graduate CV: How Can I Make it Stand Out?

The greatest problem most recent graduates face is that they have little or no relevant work experience.

The key is clearly to make the most of what you’ve got. Pick out the skills you’ve acquired during your degree studies – regardless of whether or not you’ve yet had a chance to apply them in the workplace – and feature them as bullet points within a Key Skills section, immediately after your Education & Qualifications.

Examples could include leading a project team, delivering audio-visual presentations, etc.

Besides this, you should make sure you place a lot of emphasis on your Education & Qualifications. Give a detailed description of your degree course, not just its title. For example, state what modules you completed in your final year and include details of any final year project you might have undertaken.

Do make sure you include a Professional Profile and Objective. These sections should summarise and emphasise your key attributes and your intended future career path. But be careful to avoid cliché and superfluous hyperbole.

You should also endeavour to include an Achievements section where possible. It can make an instant and dramatic difference to the power of your CV, enabling you to distinguish yourself from other candidates.

If you feel your CV is still looking a little ‘thin’ then you can expand the Interests & Activities section to include, for example, roles of responsibility you held in societies or clubs, volunteer work, etc. Normally this is of course a section you should keep brief but recent graduates are entitled to pad it out just a little bit – but only within reason. Graduates are often guilty of devoting up to half an A4 page to their ‘extracurricular’ activities and this is clearly excessive.

In any case, there’s absolutely no reason why your CV should fill more than one A4 page – and, in fact, for recent graduates I would very much recommend that it doesn’t exceed one A4 page. Less is often more. It is much better to have a good, strong 1-page CV than a 2-page one that is padded out with unnecessary information.

And finally, you will immediately gain a competitive edge if you take the time to subtly tailor your CV for each vacancy to which you apply.

The Next Step

Now that you have read through the advice above, you might want to put it into practice. Our CV Builder lets you build a professionally structured CV tailored to your target role. Enter your details and experience, and get a polished CV ready to send to employers. Try it now →