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I'm a bit like an AI, except instead of making pictures of people with 16 fingers, I can help you find the perfect course and uni.
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A CV is the first introduction a potential employer gets of you. It’s where you sell yourself by summarising your experiences, aspirations and skills. A student CV will differ slightly, especially if you have no employment experience.
So how do you make yours stand out? Check out these tips and CV examples for students to give yourself a strong starting point when applying for jobs.
Why do you need a CV?
Employers will be looking for candidates that best match their job requirements and a CV is a great way to get an idea of what you as a candidate can offer in terms of experience and skills. Normally, a CV’s accompanied by a cover letter, which details how you best match a job vacancy. This means your student CV should be a summary of what you can offer and your key achievements. You want to show you’re the best candidate for a job, so tailoring your CV before you send it to employers is important.
What should you include in a student CV?
The key areas of a CV include:
- A personal summary: two or three sentences that describe who you are and your key strengths (think of it as a topline summary)
E.g.: Highly motivated journalism student with experience working as Head Editor of my university’s newspaper. My passion for editing and copywriting earned me a nomination in the Guardian Student Media Awards. Skilled with all Google Workspace products, Office 365, Evernote, and can type 95 words per minute.
- Your work experience: this includes your job title, the length of time you’ve been in a role and a few bullet points outlining your key achievements
- Your education: this is where you include your uni, course and prior qualifications (as people progress in their career, they remove A-level qualifications and only list their university education and any additional training they’ve undertaken)
- A section on skills: this will give employers an overview of your capabilities and could include your proficiency in a particular software or a soft skill that’s essential for the job you’re applying to.
What are some good skills to include on your CV?
Subject-specific and transferable skills are important to note as they’ll give employers a good idea of how suited you’d be to the job you’re applying for. Make sure you’re able to give relevant examples of you using these skills in case you’re asked about them during an interview.
Some transferable skills employers look for include:
- Good time management
- Teamwork and leadership
- Using your own initiative
- Meeting deadlines
- Good communication
- Good problem-solving skills
If a job ad features specific transferable skills, be sure to tailor your CV to reflect some of these and remember to think about examples to back your CV up. You may be asked about these in an interview.
When thinking about subject-specific skills, think about some of the modules you’ve studied that demonstrate relevant knowledge and how you applied that in your course and what the outcomes were.
How should you write a student CV if you have no experience?
One challenge you may encounter when writing a CV is finding relevant experience when you haven’t had any employment to draw on. If this is the case, then think about any volunteering, achievements or projects you’ve done that you can relate to the job you’re applying for. Also, think about:
- Focusing on your education if you have limited employment experience – think about how your qualifications make you a strong candidate
- Any foreign languages you speak (this is valued across many businesses and looks great on your CV)
- Your hobbies and passions – do they correlate with the job you’re applying for? Make a note of these on your CV so employers are able to build a better picture of who you are and whether you’d be a good fit for them
- Work experience – it may not be a full-time job but any school work experience placements, Saturday jobs or volunteer work is worth noting as it shows your enthusiasm and a proactive nature
The bottom line about student CVs
Employers understand that a student CV will be limited, but there are many ways you can demonstrate that your interests, education and extracurricular activities suit the job you’re applying for. Just make sure you’re able to speak confidently about everything you’re listing on your CV, and remember that this is an ongoing exercise. The more experience and achievements you build up, the more you’ll have to speak about.
