Graduate CV example
With little work history, a graduate CV has to make education, placements and projects do the work. This UK example shows an education-first layout for graduate schemes and first roles.
By the OpusStride team · Updated · 1 min read
Example graduate CV
Written for UK employers. The employer is fictional and the figures are illustrative — replace them with your own.
Professional summary
Economics graduate (2:1, University of Leeds) with a 12-month placement in a financial planning team. Confident with Excel and Python for analysis, and experienced in presenting findings to non-specialists. Applying for graduate analyst schemes.
Experience
Placement Student, Financial Planning & Analysis
Aldwych Energy (fictional), Leeds · Jul 2024 – Jun 2025
- Built a monthly cost-tracking model in Excel used by the FP&A team for 6 business units.
- Automated a weekly data download in Python, saving the team around 3 hours a week.
- Presented a review of travel spend to the finance director, leading to a revised booking policy.
Skills
Excel (pivot tables, lookups) · Python · Data analysis · Presentation · Teamwork
Put education first
Lead with your degree, university, classification (or predicted grade) and dates, plus three or four modules or a dissertation relevant to the role. A-levels can follow briefly if the employer sets academic entry requirements.
What counts as experience
- Placements and internships.
- Part-time and holiday jobs — customer service and teamwork are real skills.
- Society committee roles, volunteering and sports leadership.
- Substantial projects, coursework or a dissertation with a clear result.
Frequently asked questions
- How long should a graduate CV be?
- One or two sides of A4. Most graduates fit everything relevant on one.
Templates for this
Related reading
Put it into practice
Build it from a region-matched template, then check what an ATS reads.