How To Write A CV For Your First Graduate Job
You’ve finished uni, or you’re about to finish uni. Sure, the pains and stress of exam season is over, but now you need to look for a job. Most of your friends had internships, or have already got a job lined up, yet you were so focused on exams that you put the hunt for a graduate job on the back burner. I remember this was the case for so many of my friends at uni. Some of them were lucky and found a last minute job, however the majority went back home to work retail jobs, or study for a masters just to buy more time. With this in mind, here are five tips to quickly put together that CV you need to land yourself a job.
No. 1: Do Not Have a Personal Statement at the Top.
A slightly unorthodox first point, and one that many people will disagree with (particularly recruiters, but ask why they are recruiters in the first place, and not something more jazzy), but you have to look at this from the point of view of the hiring manager, or whoever is viewing your CV. Do they want to know that you have ‘strong interpersonal skills’, or are ‘ambitious, hardworking and willing’? Probably not. Especially when they see this time and time again. Instead, get straight into the main points that you can quantify and prove.
No. 2: Perfect your Formatting
As harsh as it sounds, I can promise you that individuals in charge of hiring will jump at any tiny reason to throw your CV in the bin whilst laughing about it. I know this because I have seen it. The amount of CVs I have seen that have a selfie in the top right hand corner, or multicoloured text, or weird emojis next to your phone number and address. This isn’t an Instagram Story post, it’s a CV. It’s not meant to be exciting or constructed using canva or photoshop. Just use normal sized fonts (11 is fine), use normal font type (for instance arial, times new roman) and use slightly larger than normal spacing between lines. Make sure your margins are sufficient (if they print your CV and your margins are too small, the ends of your sentences are going to look rather silly), and if you’re really struggling, use a template from the likes of Bright Network.
Further to this, if you are applying to jobs in broking, finance, consulting, you must remember that hundreds of people are applying for the same position. Not only does this make hiring managers spend less time on each CV, but often, the use of AI means that computers scan CVs for key indicators before a human even sees them. Keep this in mind when using a strange font that a computer may not read, or a funky photoshop theme.
Keep it simple, boring, and straight forward. And of course, if you are pursuing an art career, disregard the above entirely.
No. 3: Keep All Points as Simple as Possible
Let’s go back to a topic we spoke about in number 2. Hiring managers do not have long to read your CV. If your CV is longer than a page, you have no hope. Shorten it down, simplify sentences, and ensure there is a purpose to every sentence. Do not write paragraphs and stories, because managers just do not have time. The easier it is for someone to lose interest, or have an excuse to say no, the more likely you are to end up in the rejection pile. A solid order to follow would be the following:
Name and Contact Details
Education
Experience/Employment
Extracurriculur
Technical Skills / Awards
Hobbies (we touch on this in a second)
Bullet points should be the only way you convey your points on this one page CV. And each bullet point should ideally be one line long maximum, focusing on quantitative, tangible outcomes. Great, you were part of the investment society at uni, but what did you learn? How can you prove this? Did you apply it? Take on any roles within the society? And the fun part of fitting this all into two short bullet points remains.
No. 4: Focus on Experience and Key Takeaways
Unfortunately, the school system forces every single individual into studying at university. This means that your BSc Honours Degree in Economics does not put you ahead of the pack, regardless of if you got a First or not. As a result, your education section should be pretty brief. Put your grade, and maybe any relevant modules or dissertation title, and your foundational grades at A Level and GCSE (we would usually suggest omitting GCSEs but for some grad schemes, they require an A in maths or the equivalent for instance). Then move on to experience. This should be the largest part of your CV. Focus on building two to three main bullet points per experience, explaining what you contributed or what you learnt. Did you have an internship? Cool, explain about the financial model you learnt about, and how you practically used it for an outcome. Only worked at a restaurant before? You may have to get creative. Did you improve customer satisfaction, or did revenue increase whilst you worked there? Anything you can hold onto that is quantitative, use to your advantage.
And if you don’t have any formal experience, make your extracurriculars sound as formal as possible. Virtual internship, volunteering, university society, student brand ambassador, anything. Focus on outcomes, and how you added value.
No. 5: Keep Hobbies to a Minimum
I left this until last, but after accommodating work experience students and interns, my number one pet peeve is someone that takes up line after line on the fact they love travelling, or seeing friends, or playing sport. This is great, but no one actually cares. For this section, stick to one line maximum. Choose a hobby that can pass off as intellectual. Is there a podcast you enjoy? A unique experience you’ve had? Use this section for points like these, as blatantly everyone enjoys jetting off to sit on a beach, or messing around with friends. I understand the argument that it shows personality, and you need to be a fun person to work around, but this should be demonstrated in the interview itself, not the CV.
In a nutshell, focus on achievements, interests related to the profession outside of studying, and manipulate this into something passable as a hobby.
