Your first CV: turn school projects into useful evidence

Find evidence before choosing a template

Take a blank sheet and list three things you actually did during the past year. A class assignment, a club activity or a personal project can all be starting points. For each, answer: what was the task, what did I do myself, what did I produce, and what could I explain in an interview?

Our suggested exercise is to spend ten minutes on that inventory before editing your CV. Keep the notes, even if only one example makes it into the document. A short, concrete account is more useful than a page of adjectives such as “dynamic” or “hard-working”.

The National Careers Service recommends using projects, placements and volunteering to show skills when applying for a first job. The example below is our own fictional exercise; it is not a qualification or work history to copy.

A fictional student example

Alex is studying business administration and wants a first office placement. In a class assignment, a group planned a small community event. Alex maintained the shared budget spreadsheet and prepared a summary for the presentation.

The revised version names the setting and separates Alex’s contribution from the group’s. It does not turn a classroom exercise into employment. If you did not check totals, do not use that sentence. If the budget was fictional, say so when explaining the project.

Numbers help only when you can support them. You might remember the number of items in your spreadsheet, but that does not justify a claim that you “reduced costs by 30%”. Keep an example of your work privately, with classmates’ personal information removed, if you want to discuss it later.

Choose an order that fits the application

For Alex, a practical order is contact details, a two-line introduction, education, selected projects, and skills with evidence. A possible introduction is: “Business Administration student seeking an office placement. Recent coursework includes spreadsheet budgeting and preparing short written summaries.” Replace both sentences with facts that are true for you.

Label current study as ongoing and give an expected completion date only if you know it. Describe software at the level you can demonstrate: “spreadsheet totals and basic formulas” is clearer than “advanced office software” when that is your actual experience.

Review before uploading

• Read each bullet aloud. Could you explain what you personally did?
• Check that project dates, study dates and qualification names agree.
• Remove template instructions, empty sections and invented sample details.
• Open the exported PDF and check that no sentence is cut off.
• Keep an editable Word copy for your next application.

Curriculumify accepts PDF and DOCX for analysis. PDF uploads can contain up to three content pages; Word uploads can contain up to 2,000 words. Feedback is a starting point for revision, not a promise of an interview. Review every proposed change before using it.