Free resource
A graduate CV when you have no job yet
By Nancy Osazee, Founder
No professional job is not an empty CV. A module project, a society role, shop work, caring, and a dissertation method are all evidence if you write what you did.
Keep it to one page for a first application unless the employer asks for more. Put education near the top. Put the relevant project above an unrelated Saturday job, or the other way round if the job is customer-facing.
Written by Nancy Osazee, Founder of CareerPilot. This is a practical note, not advice about your own visa, contract, or legal case. Read the official page linked on this sheet before you rely on a figure.
How to fill a page without inventing a career
- Education, with one proof. Degree title, university, dates, and one module or result that matches the role. Predicted grades are fine if that is what you have.
- One project. What you built or researched, the tools, and what you found. Three lines.
- Any work or volunteering. Title, place, dates, and one responsibility. A shop job shows turning up and dealing with people.
- Skills you can show. Only list a tool you have used. Link the project if you have a public page.
Leave off
- A photo and your date of birth.
- Every GCSE subject.
- 'References available on request'. It wastes a line.
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On CareerPilot
These are live titles that say graduate or grad scheme, including city pages for Leeds, Sheffield, York, Bradford, and Huddersfield.
Questions
Is a 2:2 a reason to hide the degree?
No. Put the degree. If the grade is not an asset, spend the space on the project instead of the classification.
Do I need experience to apply for a graduate job?
On CareerPilot, a graduate job is a title that says graduate or grad scheme. Some of those adverts still ask for a placement. Read the advert. Do not add experience you do not have.
Is the Graduate visa a graduate job?
No. The Graduate visa is a Home Office route. A graduate job is an employer's title. They are different, and the visa page is on GOV.UK.
Sources
Last checked 10 October 2026.