Your CV isn't a biography — it's a marketing document. Every line should earn its place.

Key CV Principles for Graduates

1. Length & Structure

• Keep it to 1–2 pages (2 max; 1 is often best for new grads).
• Order sections as: Professional Summary → Education → Experience → Skills → Projects (optional but powerful).
• Professional summary: 2–3 sentences on who you are, what you’ve studied, and what you’re targeting.

2. Formatting

• Use a clean font: Calibri, Arial, or Garamond, 10.5–11pt.
• Consistent headings, spacing, and bullet styles.
• Avoid graphics, icons, columns, and complex designs (they confuse ATS and add little value).
• Export as PDF and name it clearly: FirstName-LastName-CV.pdf.

3. Education (make it work for you)

• Include: degree, institution, grade (or expected), graduation year.
• Add relevant modules (e.g. for data roles: statistical modelling, machine learning).
• Include dissertation/final-year project only if relevant to the role.
• List A-levels with grades, especially if your degree is 2:2 or below.

4. Experience (actions, not duties)

• Use bullets in the format: Action verb + what you did + measurable result.
• Weak: “Responsible for managing social media accounts.”
• Strong: “Managed three social media channels, increasing follower engagement by 25% over four months by restructuring the content calendar.”
• Highlight part-time work, society roles, freelance work, and volunteering.
• Emphasise what was challenging, valuable, or transferable (e.g. customer service, leadership, organisation, analysis).

5. Skills (specific and honest)

• Avoid generic lists: “Microsoft Office, teamwork, communication, problem-solving”.
• Give context and depth:
• “Python (pandas, NumPy; built automated reporting pipeline).”
• “Figma (designed and prototyped mobile app UI for university project).”
• Show soft skills through your experience bullets, not as a bare list.
• Only include skills you can confidently discuss in detail.

6. Projects (often your biggest asset)

• Include personal projects, hackathons, open-source, and substantial coursework.

Graduate CV essentials: turning experience into interviews

1. Keep it to 1–2 pages

• Max: 2 pages; for most graduates, 1 page is better.
• Recruiters skim for 6–8 seconds, so cut padding and make key info instantly visible.
• Recommended order:

1. Professional summary (2–3 sentences: who you are, what you’ve studied, what you’re targeting)
2. Education
3. Experience
4. Skills
5. Projects (if strong/relevant)

2. Format for humans and systems

• Font: Calibri, Arial, or Garamond, size 10.5–11pt.
• Use consistent headings, spacing, and bullet styles.
• Avoid: graphics, icons, columns, text boxes, and elaborate templates — they confuse parsing systems and distract from content.
• Export as PDF and name it clearly: FirstName-LastName-CV.pdf.

3. Education: go beyond the degree title

Include:

• Degree, institution, grade (or expected), and graduation year.
• Relevant modules, especially when they match the role (e.g. Statistical Modelling, Machine Learning for data roles).
• Dissertation/final-year project if it’s relevant to the job; omit if not.
• A-levels with subjects and grades, particularly if:
• You’re applying for graduate roles, and/or
• Your degree is 2:2 or below and strong A-levels help offset it.

4. Experience: actions and impact, not duties

Write bullets as: action verb + what you did + measurable result.

• Weak: Responsible for managing the team’s social media accounts.
• Strong: Managed three social media channels, increasing follower engagement by 25% over four months by restructuring the content calendar.

Apply this to all experience types:

• Part-time jobs (e.g. retail, hospitality) → show customer service, time management, reliability.
• Society/club roles → show leadership, organisation, event delivery, budgeting.
• Freelance/volunteering → show initiative, ownership, problem-solving.

Focus on what was challenging, what you changed, and what improved. The value is in the problems you solved and skills you used, not the brand name of the employer.

5. Skills: specific, evidenced, and honest

Avoid generic lists like: Microsoft Office, teamwork, communication, problem-solving.

Instead: