How to Write a CV Without Work Experience

Despite popular belief, it isn’t always the candidate with the most experience that gets the job. Recruiters are looking for a mix of experience, skills, and personal qualities; while you may have little to no work experience, you can still sell yourself through your education, skills, internships and other activities.

There are also ways to structure your CV so that the focus is on your skills rather than on your work experience.

Make the most of your personal profile or statement

The first way to make the most of your CV without work experience is to write a well-crafted personal statement that grabs the attention of the reader and compels them to read your CV in greater detail. This short statement of two-to-three sentences acts as an introduction to yourself, giving recruiters and hiring managers a brief overview of your background and skills.

Write your summary in concise sentences using the silent first person, to save space and make it easier to read. Your CV summary or personal statement should include the following information:

Who you are: briefly explain your background, qualifications and any relevant experience. Reference your job title or profession, or if you’re a recent graduate, your degree subject. Include your experience level, or if you’re right at the start of your career, express your enthusiasm for launching a career in your chosen industry.

What you offer: use a sentence of your personal statement to explain what you offer to prospective employers. This typically includes mentioning one or two key skills and qualities that make you a suitable candidate for the job. You may wish to include a combination of hard and soft skills, but make sure you tailor your statement to reference the most relevant skills to the job description.

Career goals: adding a sentence about your career goals and objectives is ideal if you’re a junior candidate and you’re just starting out in your career. Mention why you want to work in the industry, and how the job aligns with your plans for your career.

Take a look at these personal statement examples to understand how to write an engaging introduction to your CV with no experience:

Using keywords from the job description also makes it easy for ATS software to scan your CV which, in turn, increases your chances of getting through to the next stage.

Write a targeted education section

You may lack work experience, but your education and qualifications can show employers you have valuable knowledge and skills. 

In your ‘Education’ section, mention your highest or most recent qualification, along with any other relevant qualifications. If you’re including multiple qualifications, list them in reverse-chronological order, starting with your most recent and working backwards. Add the name and level of the qualification, the institution and your dates of study or graduation. If you’ve completed any professional certifications or training, you could also mention these in your education section. Otherwise, consider adding a separate ‘Certifications’ section to your CV.

However, instead of simply listing the basic details, you could increase the impact of this section by mentioning any specialised courses, modules or seminars that helped you develop your understanding of a topic. You could also mention project work or occasions where you delivered presentations, as these demonstrate your ability to apply the knowledge you’ve gained.

Use bullet points under the main details of each qualification to list these achievements and experiences. Use action verbs to highlight your achievements and include grades or other measurable metrics to showcase your impact. These bullet points can have a similar impact to a work experience section for more experienced candidates – showcasing how you’ve put your skills and knowledge to use in your career to date.

See below for an example education section entry that uses bullet point to show your achievements:

Include a skills summary section

Whether you’re a seasoned professional or a recent graduate, the same piece of advice applies to all CVs: tailor, tailor, tailor!

Recruiters and employers don’t want to see a general list of your best skills – they want to see relevant skills. Tailoring your CV shows employers that you understand the requirements of the position.

A good place to start is by reading the description carefully and picking out keywords and phrases that you can mention throughout your CV. Using keywords and phrases that reflect skills from the job description also makes it easy for ATS software to scan your CV. A CV that’s optimised for ATS scanning makes it more likely that you’ll past this initial screening stage of the recruitment process, and that your CV will be read by an actual decision maker.

Include a skills section in your CV, featuring a mix of hard skills (specific to the job or industry) and soft skills (personal qualities and strengths) that reflect the job description and the most essential and desirable skills listed there.

Tailoring your skills list to the job description makes it easy for recruiters to quickly determine whether you’re a good fit for the role and organisation.

Hard skills generally include technical skills or knowledge that you’ve picked up in education or volunteering, internships, and so on. These might include Microsoft Office, data analysis, programming, writing or other technical skills.

Soft skills are personal traits which can be applied in any job or industry, for example, communication, teamwork, adaptability, problem-solving or leadership skills.

A good place to start is by reading the description carefully and picking out keywords and phrases that you can incorporate throughout your CV. Use one of our resume templates to ensure a professional presentation of your skills and work experience.

Consider a skills-based format

With a skills-based or functional CV format, you draw attention away from your lack of experience and place the focus on your skills, abilities and achievements. As your skills are organised by headings, recruiters can immediately see what you have to offer.

Under each skill heading, add examples of situations where you acquired the skill to give a more detailed picture.

List your internships

All work experience, whether paid or unpaid, is valuable experience. In fact, listing your internships and volunteering on your CV could make the difference between your CV being overlooked or getting called for an interview.

Adding Internships to Your CV

According to research, 91% of employers prefer candidates to have work experience. Even if some of your tasks included fetching the coffee or the daily newspaper, internships provide ‘official’ work experience and proof that you developed your skills in a professional environment.

You can choose whether you list your internships in an 'Internships' section or in the 'Work experience' section. When listing your internships, follow the same format as work experience, including the job title (even this is simply ‘Intern’, the name of the employer, its location and your dates of study. Under this, add bullet points showcasing your experience and the skills you used and developed in the role. For example:

Listing volunteer work on your CV

You may not think it, but your volunteering experience could put you ahead of the pack in your job applications. According to research conducted by Deloitte, 82% of hiring managers are more likely to choose a candidate with volunteering experience.

Alongside experience, employers want candidates who share the same values  and interests as their teams. If you can show this through your volunteering activities, whether it’s fundraising, care work or helping out in a soup kitchen, you’ll stand a great chance of landing an interview.

As with internships, list your volunteer activities as if they were paid work experience.Add your title or role, the name of the organisation, its location and the dates you volunteered. Again, include bullet points that highlight your activities, and the impact you made. For example:

Projects & personal work

A great way to impress recruiters and employers is to include your achievements, personal projects and extracurricular work in your CV. These can help prove your skills and show that you’ve made a tangible impact somewhere, even if not through work experience.

Perhaps you won a prize for a project you managed at university or you helped organise an important school event. You might have undertaken some fundraising for charity or kept a personal blog. These are just some of the personal projects and achievements you can mention in your CV. You can either include these in separate sections for ‘Achievements’ or ‘Personal Projects, or work them into your personal statement and other sections of your CV.

A tip to keep in mind when writing about these activities is to always think about the quantifiable results you achieved when carrying out an activity. For example, if you kept a personal blog, how many readers did you attract?

Employers for entry-level roles are also more likely to be interested in what you’ve done outside of your studies to develop your skills.

Perhaps you participated in extracurricular activities, such as clubs, associations or sports teams at university or college  These can help you develop skills such as leadership, teamwork, public speaking and planning, e which you can include in your CV. Extracurricular activities can also include a wide range of non-sporting activities, such as including team sports, student mentoring, arts clubs, debating societies and volunteering.

One thing to consider when listing extracurricular activities, is being too open about political and religious affiliations on your CV. While your personal beliefs are part of your identity, you never know how a recruiter may take this information.  Therefore, it’s best to leave activities that might lead to discrimination or unconscious bias.

Examples of personal projects & extracurricular activities

Some examples of valuable personal activities for a CV without experience include:

Include volunteering experience

You may not think it, but your volunteering experience could put you ahead of the pack. According to research conducted by Deloitte, 82% of hiring managers are more likely to choose a candidate with volunteering experience.

Alongside experience, employers want candidates who share the same values (e.g. care for the community, growth mindset and initiative) and interests as their teams. If you can show this through your volunteering activities, whether it’s fundraising, care work or helping out in a soup kitchen, you’ll stand a great chance of landing an interview.

Mention your hobbies and interests

Your hobbies and interests say a lot about you and your personality as well as displaying a wide range of skills. Do you like solving puzzles? Then it shows that you have an analytical mind. What about travelling? Then, you’re probably more outgoing and adventurous. If you play a lot of sports in your free time, you’re likely to enjoy working in teams.

When adding an activity to your CV, ask yourself how it adds value to your application and whether it fits with the image you’re trying to convey. If you’re applying for a position as a banker, it’s probably best not to mention that you enjoy listening to heavy metal music.

How to format a CV with no experience

With a skills-based or functional CV, you draw attention away from your lack of experience and place the focus on your skills, abilities and achievements. As your skills are organised by headings, recruiters can immediately see what you have to offer.

Under each skill heading, add examples of situations where you acquired the skill to give a more detailed picture.

Try playing around with the layout to see what works best for you. You may find it beneficial to place the ‘Education’ and ‘Skills Summary’ sections first, depending on where you want to draw attention.

As recruiters spend seconds scanning CVs, it’s important to include the most important information at the top of your CV, where possible.

You can also make use of headings, bullet points and white space to ‘pad out’ your CV. However, be careful not to increase the font size too much if using a font such as Arial, Trebuchet or Verdana as this can make text look out of proportion.

Keep your CV concise and to-the-point. Aim for a length of one page of A4, to highlight just the most relevant experience and strongest skills.

Use a clear, professional serif or sans serif font, such as Times New Roman, Garamond, Arial or Helvetica. Aim for a font size between 10 and 12, ensuring the text is as readable as possible.

The main sections to include in your CV are listed below. Following this order will ensure your no-experience CV showcases your best skills an qualities:

1. Contact Details
2. Personal Statement
3. Skills Summary
4. Education & Certifications
5. Internships/Volunteer Experience
6. Projects & Achievements
7. Hobbies & Interests (if relevant)

The importance of your cover letter

While your CV is your main showcase of your relevant skills and qualities, it’s important not to discount the influence of a strong cover letter. Your CV is the principle document employers will consider when deciding whether to progress you to the next stage. However, your cover letter can add valuable context to your application, and draw the attention of the employer to the things you want them to notice.

The strong cover letter is even more significant for first-time jobseekers or candidates lacking experience. It can help to explain your career stage and why you might lack a depth of relevant work experience, while also emphasising how you’ve gained valuable experience and skills through other activities.

Write a short, compelling cover letter to support your application. Most cover letter templates consist of three short paragraphs, and stretch to no longer than a single side of A4. Use a traditional, professional letter format for your cover letter and include the following information:

• Your name and address
• The name of the hiring manager and address of the company
• The date
• Professional greeting (‘Dear [name of hiring manager]’, ‘Dear [job title]’ or ‘Dear hiring manager’)
• Paragraph 1,  explaining why you’re applying for the job
• Paragraph 2, highlighting your key skills and achievements relevant to the job
• Paragraph 3, with a closing statement and call to action
• Professional sign-off (i.e. ‘Yours sincerely’ or ‘Yours faithfully’)

Leveraging LinkedIn

LinkedIn is one of the key assets of any jobseeker, and it can form a key part of your applications. Employers tend to check social media profiles, and particularly LinkedIn, as part of their screening of candidates, so you can get ahead as an entry-level candidate by making sure your LinkedIn is up to scratch.

Here are some quick fixes for your LinkedIn profile to ensure it makes a positive impression with readers, even if you don’t have any relevant work experience:

• Headline: if you don’t have a job, list your academic background or your desired job or career path. For example: ‘Aspiring digital marketer’.
• About section: treat this like your CV personal statement or summary, writing two or three sentences about your interests, strengths and future career goals.
• Projects section: list coursework, personal projects or informal experience that showcases valuable skills.
• Skills and endorsements: add up to 10 skills relevant to the role or industry you want to work in.
• Posts: you can show your industry knowledge and engagement by posting on industry trends and topics you’re particularly interested in. This will show employers that you’re motivated to pursue a career in the industry.

Key takeaways for creating a CV with no experience

There are plenty of ways to make a positive impression with employers, even if you lack relevant work experience. Recruiters and hiring managers aren’t just concerned with your work history – they’ll want to see your skills, qualifications, personal achievements and career ambitions. By leveraging achievements and activities in your personal life, borrowing experience from your network, making the most of experience hacks and enhancing your LinkedIn profile, you can craft a compelling CV that grabs the attention of employers.

To create your no-experience CV, follow the tips and guides in this article, and use one of Jobseeker’s CV templates for a clean, professional CV design. Customise your personal statement, education, achievements and other sections with strong action verbs that reflect the job description and showcase relevant skills. Remember, every successful career begins with the first step. Creating your first CV is a critical step to showing employers the potential you offer, so approach it with confidence, creativity and clarity.