How to Write a CV With No Experience – 2024 Guide + Examples
Updated November 29, 2023
When you’re writing a CV for the first time and have little or no work experience, you need to write more about your relevant soft and hard skills – to draw out why you would be a good hire. The sections that cover your education, skills and hobbies need to be data-driven and descriptive, linking your abilities to the role that you are applying for.
A CV is basically a summary of yourself that sells you to an employer. During a job application, you might be requested to send a CV with a covering letter that expresses your interest in the specific role.
To write these, you might have to get creative with how you market your skills and knowledge if you don’t yet have much work experience. This article will help you do that.
You might not have work experience if you’re a school leaver or fresh graduate, but you do have a wealth of experience in working with teams (sports, for example) or time-management (juggling your academics with extracurriculars) and even attention to detail (science experiments, maybe.)
The key is to write out everything you’ve ever done that might impress a future employer. You can start by mind-mapping or brainstorming with a friend or family member.
Then you need to nail the formatting, which is where this article comes in handy. It gives tips and examples as well as frequently asked questions to help you on your application journey.
How to Write a CV With No Experience: The Format
Typically CVs fall into two categories, skills-based or experience-based. In this article, the focus is on the former – since the aim is to assist those without much experience.
You don’t want to send the same CV to everyone. You might have a basic or core CV that you then tweak for a specific job application, making sure you’re matching the skills you talk about to the actual job description.
How to write a CV with no experience is not impossible, but you want to make sure it looks as strong as possible. Getting formatting right is important when you’re looking for your first job and you’re looking to stand out amongst others.
There is always competition, but it’s hardest for graduates when there are a lot of other people in the same boat, looking for their first jobs.
There are certain items a CV should have. These are:
- Contact details
- Personal statement
- Core skills
- Education/certifications
- Experience (for example, volunteer or club experiences you might have)
There are optional extra sections you can add such as:
- Language skills/IT skills
- Hobbies and interests
Step 1. Contact Details
This section is very simple – just add your name (usually centred in bold and a bigger font), along with a phone number and your email address.
Keep your email address sounding professional – for example, 'JKhan100@gmail.com' is better than 'JuicyKhan@hotmail.co.uk'.
Bear in mind that your voicemail greeting should be equally neutral and simple. You don’t need to add your physical address, ethnicity or date of birth on your CV.
Step 2. Personal Statement
This is a stylistic addition to CVs that works like a taster for a recruiter who is in a rush and might not read the whole CV.
It’s a two-to-five sentence summary that gives a flavour of who you are and your biggest achievements.
It helps to think of these almost as bullet points, and you can start most sentences with a verb.
You can write this last after you’ve done the rest of your CV and look at it like a frame for what follows.
For example:
Hardworking self-starter looking for roles in marketing to grow and develop my career. Worked on my college newspaper and raised circulation by 15% over two years by incorporating local advertisers. Excited to bring my attention to detail and communication skills to a bigger opportunity.
Step 3. Core Skills
Think about what you learned at school or university that can be applied to a workplace. Can you write Powerpoints or give presentations?
That always impresses an employer.
You can also talk about general soft skills, like organisational ability or networking. How to write a CV with little experience requires you to use lateral thinking and draw upon all your extracurriculars.
If you attend workshops at your careers centre, that shows you’re proactive and engaged. Make sure you get used to adding to your core CV every couple months so you don’t forget anything new you’ve done or learned through day-to-day activities.
You can then use this as a master document to work from when you have a specific job application you’re making.
You want your CV to be memorable, so try and add something that sounds unique or different.
For example, if you did a sponsored skydive for a homelessness charity, you can use it to show that you are socially aware and able to empathise with those in different circumstances. It could even show interpersonal skills because getting sponsorship requires persuading people.
Step 4. Education/Certifications
Your education should be written in reverse chronological order, so the more recent exams and results are displayed first.
Ideally, you want to enter your grades here but that is optional. Be sure to add dates, and you can add the names of the institutions too, if you like.
How to write a CV with little experience requires you to try and expand the education section more and make it sound as impressive as possible.
You might be surprised at what else you can put in this section. Exam results certainly, but also things like a driving licence or first aid count. You might have a lifeguarding or musical/drama qualification you can also add.
Any kind of training also counts – for example, you might have attended a workshop on gender sensitivity. Be sure to highlight what skills they have helped you develop.
For example, you could organise the section as follows:
- Ten GCSEs (2022) including Triple Science (indicating an analytical mind)
- Merit Award (2021) in National Maths Challenge (showing logic skills)
- Grade 8 currently – Speech and Drama (public speaking and communications).
Step 5. Experience
How to write a CV with no job experience is not impossible. But if you are still nervous about how to write this section, you can get professional help.
Remember, even if you weren’t paid for a role you did, it doesn’t mean you didn’t gain important business skills from it.
You can enter your volunteer roles in your CV as you would have done a paying job – specify how long you volunteered, significant tasks and the soft and hard skills you developed.
For example:
Worked in an Oxfam shop all through 2022 and learnt how to operate the checkout software, the ways to handle inventory and strong customer service skills.
Step 6. Language Skills/IT Skills
These days, language skills are impressive and IT abilities are necessary for almost every role.
How to write a good CV with no work experience means you want to lean into these more transferable skills you might have.
Don’t be afraid to spell it out, for example:
- Self-taught fluent Spanish speaker. Used Duolingo during the pandemic to achieve a 500-day streak and travelled to Spain alone (showing determination and resilience)
- Adept with all software packages, including statistical analysis (SPSS)
- Social media savvy: able to edit and produce marketing videos for various organisations
If you have a portfolio online or a particularly impressive social media following (and it’s work-appropriate), don’t be afraid to share one or two links here.
If you’re serious, you may also have a LinkedIn profile and you can also add that to your CV.
Obviously keeping your LinkedIn profile up to date and looking active with relevant shares and follows (making sure it matches the key info in your CV too) is important.
If you are sharing your LinkedIn URL, leave out the first part, so it simply reads like this: 'linkedin.com/in/NinaPatel', for example.
Step 7. Hobbies and Interests
There is a difference between hobbies and interests: hobbies are activities you actually engage in on a regular basis, while interests are the curiosity to learn more about a topic.
So a hobby could be football (remember to talk about transferable skills like teamwork or focus), while an interest could be learning about animal taxidermy (you can link it to attention to detail or another useful trait like scientific curiosity).
There can be a lot of hobbies and interests you might want to include, but remember you are tailoring to a specific job advert.
Prioritise the items you enter in this section – for example, if you are applying for tutoring roles, employers will be keener to hear that you volunteer at the children’s library above the fact that you ran the school’s fashion show.
Other Formatting Notes
Be aware of the optimal length of a CV (no more than two pages but ideally one), the use of bullet points (they help readability) and using right font size (at least 11 for body text and above for headings).
You might also be wondering if you need to include a photo. In the UK there is no norm for including photos unless you’re applying for a job where your appearance is relevant – for example, acting or modelling.
Some big employers will often automise their CV sifting so be aware of that and use relevant keywords as much as possible.
How to Write a CV With No Experience for Your Very First Job
Remember it’s not just full-time paid roles that go on your CV. How to write a CV with no job experience requires a little finesse but is doable.
Young candidates or those going through a career change should also considering adding any:
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Part-time roles with relevant/transferable skills – Even if your role is working as a babysitter, there are skills like communications and delegation that you can talk about.
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Internships – Ideally you have done some kind of placement through school or college, but it’s never too late to ask around local companies and offer to do some free work experience for them. Being proactive like this is a marketable trait in itself and looks great on your CV. How to write internship experience in a CV is simple — you can just break down what you did and what you learned.
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Relevant voluntary work – If you visit people at a care home or if you look after a sibling it still counts as experience. You can talk about how you’re learning to manage multi-tasking or how you are building on your emotional intelligence as relevant soft skills.
How to Write a CV Without Experience Example
Here is a sample that shows how to write experience in a CV when you have minimal working roles.
In this case, you would bulk up the sections on skills and hobbies/interests, drawing out how they were helpful in developing you as a person.
Alex Smith
4567 Adventure Road
Innovation City, Tech 54321
(123) 456-7890
alex.smith@email.comObjective
As a recent Information Technology graduate, I am eager to apply my technical knowledge and problem-solving skills in an entry-level IT role. I am keen on contributing to a team that values innovation and continuous learning.
Education
Bachelor of Science in Information Technology
Tech University, Innovation City
August 2019 – May 2023
- Graduated with a 3.8 GPA.
- Relevant Coursework: Software Development, Network Security, Database Management, Web Design.
- Senior Project: Developed a web-based inventory management system for small businesses.
Diploma in Computer Science
Future Leaders High School, Cyber Town
August 2015 – May 2019
- Specialized in computer programming and digital technologies.
- Led the coding club, organizing weekly coding challenges and workshops.
Core Skills
- Programming Proficiency: Skilled in Python, Java, and HTML/CSS.
- Analytical Thinking: Capable of analyzing complex problems and developing effective solutions.
- Teamwork and Collaboration: Experienced in working on group projects, contributing technical expertise and coordinating efforts.
- Quick Learner: Rapidly adapt to new technologies and programming languages.
Experience
Peer Tutor, Tech University
September 2021 – May 2023
- Tutored students in basic programming and web development, enhancing teaching and communication skills.
- Developed resource materials and practice exercises, showcasing organizational skills.
Volunteer, Community Tech Help
June 2020 – August 2022
- Assisted community members with basic computer setup and troubleshooting, demonstrating technical knowledge and patience.
- Conducted workshops on internet safety and digital literacy for seniors.
Hobbies/Interests
- Robotics: Build and program robots as a hobby; participated in several amateur robotics competitions.
- Gaming: Active in online gaming communities, developing strategic thinking and team coordination.
- Mountain Biking: Enjoy off-road biking, demonstrating physical fitness and a love for outdoor challenges.
Other Skills
- Cybersecurity Fundamentals: Completed an online course in cybersecurity, gaining basic knowledge in network security and data protection.
- Communication: Effective communicator, capable of explaining complex technical concepts in easy-to-understand terms.
- Multitasking: Adept at managing multiple tasks simultaneously without compromising quality.
References available upon request.
Key Things to Remember When Writing a CV With No Experience
When you are looking for your first job and don’t have much experience, getting the basics right is really important.
Top tips for how to write experience in a CV are as follows:
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Research the role and company – The importance of tailoring your CV can’t be overstated. Use similar skills/language as seen in the job posting for success. You can paraphrase, too, if you are referencing the same trait several times – for example, use ‘hardworking’ instead of ‘dedicated’ so that there’s not too much repetition.
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Highlight your skills – Focus more on both of your hard and soft skills when you don’t have a lot of job experience.
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Showcase your education – When you have no experience, your education can be a big boost – don’t forget about the different coursework/projects/extracurricular activities you’ve done either.
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Proofread your CV – Always ensure it is free of errors and mistakes and get a second pair of eyes to help you. Your careers teachers at school are a good place to start. You can also ask their opinions on how to write a CV when you have no experience.
Frequently Asked Questions
Showcase your education – it can be a big boost. Highlight the different coursework/projects/extracurricular activities you’ve done too.
Be aware of the optimal length of a CV (no more than two pages), use bullet points and the right font size (at least 11 for body text and above for headings).
Write more about your relevant soft and hard skills to draw out why you’d be a good hire. Make the education, skills and hobbies section data-driven and descriptive, linking your abilities to the role.
Research the role and company, and use similar skills/language as seen in the job posting.
Even if you weren’t paid for a role, it doesn’t mean you didn’t gain important business skills from it.
Enter your volunteer roles in your CV as you would have done a paying job – specify how long you volunteered, significant tasks and the soft and hard skills you developed.
Think about what you learned at school or university that can be applied to a workplace. Did you write Powerpoints or give presentations? You can also talk about general soft skills, like organisational ability or networking.
If you attend workshops at your careers centre, that shows you’re proactive and engaged.
You might not have work experience, but you may have a wealth of experience in working with teams, time-management and even attention to detail.
Write out everything you’ve ever done that might impress a future employer. Then you need to pick what is a good fit for the specific job.
Focus on academics and the skills you’ve developed through them as well as useful extracurriculars.
Consider adding part-time roles with relevant/transferable skills – even if your role is working as a babysitter, there are skills like communications and delegation that you can talk about.
Relevant voluntary work also helps.
Think about all aspects of your educational background – as well as the traits or interests that make you a strong match for the job.
Write the educational section in reverse chronological, and add in any kind of training. Be sure to highlight what skills you developed.
Final Thoughts
How to write a CV without experience can seem daunting. You want to make a great first impression, so getting the CV right and focusing on hard and soft skills will help.
Make sure you have thought about all aspects of your educational background – as well as the traits or interests that make you a strong match for the job.
How to write work experience in a CV is a skill, especially when you don’t have a lot to focus on. With a bit of time and practise, you’ll be able to create a great CV showing transferable skills to help begin your dream career.
