How to Make a CV for Freshers (With No Experience)

Writing your first CV can feel impossible when you have no work experience to list. The good news is that employers hiring freshers don't expect years of experience. They want to see what you've learned, what you can do and how motivated you are. This guide shows you exactly what to put on a fresher CV and how to make it stand out.

What to include on a CV with no experience

Replace the gap where work experience would go with things that prove your ability:

• Education: your degree, institution, graduation year, grades and relevant subjects.
• Projects: final-year projects, coursework, hackathons or personal projects — explain what you built and the result.
• Internships and training: even short placements count.
• Part-time jobs: retail, tutoring or freelance work show responsibility and soft skills.
• Volunteering and societies: leadership roles, events you organised, competitions you won.
• Certifications and online courses: industry certificates or recognised online programmes.
• Skills and languages: software, tools, technical skills and the languages you speak.

The best CV format for freshers

Use a simple one-page, single-column layout in this order: contact details, summary or objective, education, projects and internships, skills, then certifications, activities and languages. Putting education first highlights your strongest asset. Our guide to the best CV format explains the layout rules.

Step by step: how to write a fresher CV

1. Add your contact details

Use a professional email address (firstname.lastname@…), your phone number with country code, your city and a LinkedIn profile if you have one.

2. Write a short summary

Two or three sentences that mention your degree, your strongest skills and the role you want. Three examples:

Computer science graduate: Computer science graduate skilled in Python, SQL and React. Built a final-year attendance app used by 300 students across two departments. Looking for a junior developer role where I can learn fast and ship useful features.

Business graduate: BBA graduate with a major in marketing and a two-month internship in digital marketing. Grew a university society's Instagram audience from 800 to 5,000 followers. Eager to start a career in marketing or sales.

Engineering graduate: Civil engineering graduate with site internship experience on a residential project. Confident in AutoCAD and quantity estimation, and known for careful, accurate work. Seeking a graduate engineer position.

Find more ideas in our CV summary examples.

3. Make your education detailed

Include your degree, institution, dates and grade. Add two or three relevant modules, your final-year project and any academic awards.

4. Describe projects like jobs

Give each project a title, the tools you used and one or two bullet points with results. “Built a budget-tracking web app in React with 50 active users” is far stronger than “Made a website”.

5. List the right skills

Pick six to ten skills from the job advert that you genuinely have. Our list of skills for your CV has over 100 examples.

6. Add certifications, activities and languages

Short, relevant entries show initiative. Leave out hobbies unless they relate to the job or show a real achievement.

Fresher CV example

Tips to make a fresher CV stand out

• Tailor it: change your summary and skills for each job.
• Use numbers: users, followers, marks, team size, money raised.
• Keep it ATS-friendly: a single column with standard headings — see our ATS-friendly resume tips.
• Proofread: spelling mistakes are the most common reason fresher CVs are rejected quickly.
• Save as PDF: name the file FirstName-LastName-CV.pdf.

Mistakes freshers should avoid

• Writing two or three pages.
• Listing school-level details when you have a degree.
• Copying a template objective like “to work in a challenging environment”.
• Adding a long list of hobbies or personal details that aren't relevant.
• Claiming skills you can't demonstrate in an interview.