Resume for an undergraduate student with no experience becomes the first serious challenge on the career path of every young professional. Unlike ordinary CVs, student CV template includes less rows, and this is often associated with less opportunities for demonstration their professional value.
Nevertheless, there is always a way to prove that you are perfect candidate for a chosen job, if you know what you should emphasize. Here are the basic tips on how to make a CV for students with no experience.
Step 1. Get ready.
If you are a young professional looking for a job, your previous working experience is either minimal or absent at all. However, you receive an invitation to an interview only after an employer checks your CV. Your student CV should be an example of the most catching self-presentation.
Focus on a desired job position
Before you start searching student CV template for first job, it is significant to decide, who you want to be and what you want to do in the future. If it is complicated to answer this question in a long-time perspective, decide, what you want to do now.
Before you start writing your CV, pick several job positions. Of course, them may be from different spheres. However, do not intend to send it everywhere. Contradictory to the common belief, such strategy will not make the job searching process easier.
Analyse the market
No matter how enthusiastic you are, it is significant to understand whether you have chances to get hired for a particular job position or not. It is great if you aim to become a Brand Manager or Financial Analys. However, it is not the job position to start your career.
First of all, pay attention to junior level vacancies. Thus, you the chances to get this particular job will increase, and you will gain the required experience to move forward. Do not forget that the first job may not be your dream job, but it is an important step towards one.
Step 2. What to include: student’s life
There is no single universal resume sample for undergraduate students, but there are some useful tips to remember. For example, when you decide, what to mention in a CV, use comparativeness to illustrate the difference: instead of mentioning “Graphic Redactors” in skills, indicate that you are the expert in Adobe Photoshop and basic level user of Adobe Illustrator.
Remember that an employer evaluates your skills, as your experience will not tell much, and every CV example for students is the guarantee that you will be able to perform the assigned tasks. Still, the highlight of your CV is not what you want to do, but rather what you have already done during your studies.
Education
You may like this or not, but the reputation of a University can mean a lot for an employer. Besides the name of your alma mater and your specialty, you can mention a topic of your thesis, scientific articles, investigations, conference proceedings, competition results etc., but only in case you can relate them to this specific job position.
Internships/workshops
Even if you had a few weeks of practice in a particular field, it is a good start and a must-have thing to mention in your resume.
Social experience
Preoccupied with the question how to make a CV for students, young people often hesitate to mention the most important. Your participation in various students’ organisations, clubs and communities, assistance in arranging different events, and volunteering work do matter for an employer.
Step 5. What to include: skills
If you lack some skills, you can always enroll to courses (classes or online) or study on your own. For instance, you can find excellent guides on graphic design, front end development, SEO, marketing and much more on YouTube. In this case, your enthusiasm will be an advantage.
If you are a candidate for a creative job position, include a portfolio. Even if your writings were not published yet, and your designs have not been used, it is still the best way to illustrate your skills and potential.
A CV for a student in university will certainly look better with a portfolio included, if you apply for the following vacancies: IT developers (released or designed programs), designers (illustrations and interfaces), lawyers (results of the cases or assistance), teachers (lesson plans and strategies).
Soft skills vs Hard skills
As a rule, when candidates are searching resume examples for students, they are looking for a way to find out, how to describe their practical skills – hard skills – in the most attractive manner.
However, you should not ignore personal qualities, also known as soft skills. Good communication skills and stress resistance are always a big pros. Just do not lie about these – it will not take much time for an employer to find out.
Step 4. Structure
CV structure remains traditional regardless of your professional experience. Structure the information in the following blocks:
- Heading
- Personal data (date of birth, city of residence)
- Contact data (email and phone number)
- Purpose of your search (optional)
- Working experience (if present)
- Achievements and skills
Step 5. Can anything go wrong?
The main rule to how to write a CV for undergraduate students is never submit a boring resume. The worst curriculum vitae sample for students is the one that does not require including your achievements. If you doubt about what is worth mentioning, write about what you refer to the most outstanding personal achievements and skills.
