How to create a stand-out CV when you have minimal corporate work experience
Also our interview preparation masterclass this Wednesday!
Everyone knows the importance of CVs in succeeding in their career journey. No matter your level of experience, having a strong CV that demonstrates your relevant skills and achievements is crucial to getting a new role.
But how do you create a strong CV with minimal experience to talk about?
This is the biggest question many face, in particular students and graduates, but they don’t have the answer to.
And the truth? It isn’t easy to do. But it’s very possible!
We’ve helped dozens of graduates land internships and grad schemes with minimal corporate work experience, so we’re going to break down how you can create a CV with minimal work experience.
1) Extracurriculars
Extracurriculars are a compelling way of demonstrating relevant skills and experiences for roles. At university, there are tons of ways you can show this, such as through:
Society Committee, e.g. ACS, Finance Societies, 180Degrees
Sport Teams
Student Committee
Your own side-hustle
All these roles will allow you to show impact and value in positions of leadership as well as key skills such as Leadership, Time Management, Communication etc.
2) Virtual Work Experiences
Don’t have real-life work experiences? Virtual ones are there for you!
Virtual work experiences and job simulations are valuable ways for you to immerse yourself in roles and develop a foundation for the skills you need for a corporate career. Completing certain job simulations, such as AmplifyMe, also signals to companies your competency, as some of the providers are backed by corporate companies.
Sites you can use to find include Forage, Springpod, AmplifyMe, Bright Network, amongst others.
3) Leverage university Projects
When you don’t have work experience, the university projects you complete can be valuable in demonstrating valuable skills. This is especially important for industries such as engineering, Computer Science and data science, where technical skills are crucial and projects where you use programming language can demonstrate this.
The key here is to talk through the programming or technical skill used to complete your project and also the success criteria/outcome from completion of the project.
4) Develop your own experience
Sometimes, creating your own experience can be as powerful as having work experience. If you’re in an industry where you can technically do the work as an individual, creating your own experience can help you stand out in the crowd.
For example, if you want to work as a front-end developer, creating your own websites is a good starting point. Or if you want to be an investment analyst, creating and managing your own investment portfolio is a viable option. Even those who want to break into marketing can offer their services to small businesses, creating their own portfolio to add to their CV.
5) Retail
Those of you who have been here for a while know the importance of using retail to highlight transferable skills. There are so many gems you can pull out that can help you stand out in applications. Focus on transferable skills such as Organisation, Problem-solving, Interpersonal, Time Management and much more.
Not sure how to use it? Check out our CV recording here
So there you go. A breakdown of tasks to include on your CV if you don’t have much work experience. If you have any questions, feel free to drop us a message!
Sign up to the Application Academy Program Week 3: Interview Preparation
We’re now nearly 3/4 of the way through the Application Academy Program!
This week, we’re focusing on Interview Preparation - going through the structure and framework for preparing for ALL types of interviews you’ll face and some tangible templates to leave with!