Career Advice

Five skills every student should have on their CV (and how to get them)

When it comes to looking for a job, your skills and experience are what sets you apart from the competition. But how do you shout about these on your CV? We asked CV-Library for their top tips.

CV Library
by CV Library
Last Updated:
19 Apr 2024

Whether you’re looking for a part-time position to earn some money while studying, or you’re ready to start your career, these are the five skills every student should have on their CV.

Not sure what you want to do as a career? Find your perfect career with our Career Matcher.

Exploring your course options? Check out some of the most popular subjects undergraduate students are searching for:


1. Problem solving


No matter what line of work you enter, there'll always be occasions where you need to overcome an issue. It might be that a customer isn’t happy, a project is close to missing a deadline, or two colleagues aren’t getting along.

If you’re able to come up with workable solutions to these problems and make sure that the issue doesn’t escalate, you’re going to be favoured by employers. On your CV, give examples of working through an issue.

Perhaps you had a group task to work on during your studies, but certain team members weren’t pulling their weight. Here, you’d explain how you identified the issue, came up with ideas on how to solve it, implemented these and got a great mark.

2. Customer service


The ability to work well with others is an important part of most jobs, so highlighting any customer service skills on your CV can help you to stand out.

This can include showing patience, good communication and attentiveness – so try to give examples that show your successes in these areas. If you don’t have any experience in this area, consider doing some temp work in retail or hospitality to help perfect your skills.

3. Time management


It goes without saying that this is a crucial skill in the workplace. After all, you’ll need to be able to get to work on time every day and complete your daily tasks within your set working hours.

A great way to shout about these skills on your CV is to showcase a time where you managed multiple projects at once. Maybe you had a part-time job alongside your studies, or got involved with clubs and societies, which took up a chunk of your time.

By showing that you can successfully manage your time and achieve great results, you’ll definitely impress employers reading your CV.

4. Teamwork


Building on the above point, how you interact with your colleagues and work together to get the job done is crucial. 

Did you undergo any group projects during your studies? Talking about this on your CV will show potential employers that you can work both independently and as part of a team.

After all, organisations want to employ people that'll slot into their existing culture and get along with their colleagues. They don’t want to bring someone on board that’s going to rock the boat.

5. Positivity


Employers tend to favour individuals that have a positive outlook. Negativity can spread like wildfire in a workplace, so employing people that have a positive attitude can make all the difference.

Try to use positive action words on your CV to showcase this, as well as examples of times where you’ve exceeded expectations or gone the extra mile.

Ready to write your perfect CV?


These are just some of the skills to include on your student CV, but it isn’t an exhaustive list. Remember, you should tailor your CV to every role you apply to and this may involve highlighting different skills, for different roles.

If in doubt, check out CV Library's ‘first job’ CV templates online for inspiration – good luck!

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