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How to Write a CV With No Experience (With Examples)

By Nwuba Joshua · Updated 8 November 2026

Everyone starts with no experience. Employers hiring for entry-level roles know that, so they aren't looking for a long work history. They're looking for evidence you can do the work and learn quickly.

That evidence is usually already in your life: school or university projects, things you've built or organised, volunteering, part-time work, and skills you've taught yourself. The job of your CV is to present it clearly.

The best order for a first CV

  • Contact details: name, email, phone, city and country, and a LinkedIn or portfolio link if you have one.
  • Summary: two or three sentences on what you're good at and the kind of role you want.
  • Skills: the tools and skills you can actually use, matched to the job's wording.
  • Projects: your strongest evidence. Treat each one like a job.
  • Education: qualification, school, dates, and relevant modules, grades or awards.
  • Volunteering, part-time work or leadership: anything where you took responsibility.

Turn projects into experience

A project written well is as convincing as a junior job. Give each one a title, a date and two to four bullets that show what you did and what came of it.

Example: "Budget tracker app (personal project, 2026). Built a web app with React and Firebase to track monthly spending. Used by 40 classmates. Added charts that cut the time to review a month's spending from 10 minutes to 2."

  • Start each bullet with a verb: Built, Organised, Led, Designed, Researched.
  • Name the tools you used, using the same words as job postings.
  • Add honest numbers: people helped, money raised, time saved, grades.

Write a summary that isn't generic

Skip lines like "hard-working and passionate". Say what you can do and what you want.

Example: "Computer science graduate who has built three web apps with React and Node.js, including a budget tracker used by 40 students. Looking for a junior frontend developer role on a product team."

Count everything that shows responsibility

  • Part-time and casual jobs: retail, tutoring, delivery and hospitality show reliability and customer skills.
  • Volunteering and community work.
  • Running a club, society, event or online community.
  • Freelance or paid side work, even small jobs.
  • Online courses and certificates, but only ones relevant to the role.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Going over one page. With no work history, one page is plenty.
  • Listing soft skills with no proof. Show teamwork in a bullet instead of writing "team player".
  • Sending the same CV everywhere. Adjust your summary and skills for each job.
  • Using a fancy template with columns and graphics that ATS software can't read.

Once your first CV is ready, Cooked can tailor it to each job you apply for, using the posting's keywords and only what's really on your CV.

Try Cooked free

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