Five tips for writing a student CV

Here are my five tips for writing a student CV. As students there comes a time when we need to create a CV as we apply for a part time job or internship.

Five tips for writing a student CV

Tip #1

Start with your personal information. Give your name, contact details, email address and Linked in profile (if you have one). This information should the first thing that someone reading your CV will see.

Tip #2

Create sections with paragraphs. A simple example would be:-

• Personal Information
• Education
• Achievements
• Leadership Roles
• Work Experience
• Voluntary Work
• Skills

However, also note that some universities especially in Europe use a standard template. This is usually available online and has preset categories that you just fill in. An example is the Europass template.

Tip #3

Sell yourself. As students our work experience may be limited to handing out fliers, working in a restaurant or volunteering at an organisation. Any work experience is good experience. Learn to sell yourself. Even if all you did was make coffee and take notes. Highlight what you learnt from this i.e. time management, teamwork, efficiency and work ethic.

I have personally worked at a dry cleaners, handed out fliers and done experiments for part time work as a student. From this I learnt how to manage my time, build my communication skills and be a team player. You catch my drift..Sell yourself but be careful not to over embellish. 

Tip #4

Be creative. This depends on what you are applying for and the field you would like to enter. Examples are communications jobs or jobs in advertising. Here are some cool examples of creative resumes.

I particularly like this one the most important information is easy to pick out and it is done in a fun and creative way!

However, you can also be creative when applying to ‘serious’ jobs such as accounting and engineering.

A little bit of colour and creativity go a long way in making you stand out. Use infographics, charts and graphs.

Tip #5

Keep it short. Simple. Neat. You have two pages to give a summary of who you are, your achievements and your skills. Try to summarize these into your sections to allow the reader to easily pull out your main strengths.

Summary

• State your personal information
• Create sections with paragraphs
• Remember to sell yourself
• Stand out by being creative
• Always keep it short

Good luck with your applications! Look out for part two where I will do five tips to writing a motivational letter

From Sweden with Love

Cover photo credit: Susanne Walström/imagebank.sweden.se