How to write a CV with no experience

What an employer hiring for an entry-level job needs to know

When a manager advertises a job that says "no experience needed", they mean it. They are not looking for someone who has done the job before. They are looking for someone who will turn up, learn quickly, get on with the team and the customers, and manage the basics: reading instructions, simple maths, sending an email. Your CV has to show those things, and it can do that without a single job on it.

This guide is for anyone in that position: a school or college leaver, a graduate who studied instead of working, someone who has spent years caring for family, a person returning after long-term illness, or someone new to the UK with no work history here. The approach is the same at any age. Only the examples change.

What to put instead of jobs

The National Careers Service lists the usual sections of a CV as personal details, a personal profile, work experience, education and training, skills, and interests. Without paid work, the other sections do more of the job, and "experience" can cover more than employment. Look through this list and note down everything that applies to you, even if it feels too small:

• Education and training: school, college, university, adult courses, online courses with a certificate, a driving licence.
• Volunteering: a charity shop, a food bank, a hospital or care home, a sports club, a faith group, a school event.
• Caring: looking after a parent, partner, child or sibling with extra needs, including appointments, medicines and paperwork.
• Informal work: babysitting, dog walking, gardening for neighbours, helping in a relative's shop, selling things online.
• Projects: something you built, organised, wrote, repaired or made, at school or on your own.
• Clubs, teams and groups: especially any role with responsibility, such as captain, treasurer or organiser.
• Running a home: budgeting, bills, dealing with landlords or councils, organising a move.

You will not use all of these. Pick the three or four that best match the job you want, and give each one the same treatment you would give a paid job: a title, dates, and a couple of lines about what you did.

Pick a layout that leads with your strengths

A standard CV puts work experience near the top. With nothing to put there, change the order so the reader meets your best material first. There are two sensible options.

Education first

Best for school leavers, students and recent graduates, or anyone who has recently finished a course. The order runs: contact details, profile, education and training, then "Experience" or "Volunteering and activities", skills, and interests. Give grades for recent qualifications and name any modules or projects that relate to the job.

Skills and activities first

Best for adults whose education was some time ago but who have done a lot since: caring, volunteering, community roles. After the profile, add a short "Key skills" section with three or four skills, each backed by one line of evidence, then a section of activities with dates, then education. Keep the dates in. A CV with no dates anywhere makes readers wonder what is being hidden, and an honest timeline reads better than a clever one.

Turn everyday responsibilities into evidence

The trick is to describe what you actually did, in the language an employer uses, without exaggerating it. Say what the task was, how often or how much, and what came of it. Here are three rewrites.

A personal profile when you have nothing to point at yet

The profile is three or four sentences at the top. With no job to name, build it from what you are doing now, one or two strengths with a hint of evidence, and the job you want. Avoid the stock phrases ("hard-working team player seeking a challenging role"). They are what everyone writes when they have nothing to say, and readers skip them. Three examples:

• School leaver: "Recent college leaver with a Level 2 in Business and three years volunteering at a Saturday football club, where I run the tuck shop and the registration desk. Confident with customers and cash, and looking for a full-time retail or café job with training."
• Adult who has been caring: "For the last four years I have been the main carer for my mother, managing her medicines, appointments and household finances. I want to use the same organisation and patience in a care assistant or admin role, and I am available full time."
• Graduate who did not work while studying: "History graduate (2:1) with strong research and writing skills, shown in a dissertation on local housing records. I ran the university history society's events for a year. Looking for an entry-level admin or research assistant role."

Make your qualifications easy to read

Give the name of the qualification, where you took it, the year and the grade. If you are not sure an employer will know what a qualification is, the level helps. GOV.UK sets out qualification levels for England, Wales and Northern Ireland: GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 are level 2, A levels are level 3, and a bachelor's degree is level 6. So "BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma in Sport" or "Level 1 Certificate in Food Safety" tells the reader both the subject and the standard.

Short courses count, particularly ones employers ask for: food hygiene, first aid, manual handling, customer service, basic IT. Many are available online, and an entry-level CV with two or three relevant certificates looks like someone preparing seriously for work. If you studied outside the UK, give the qualification by its own name and say briefly what it is, for example "equivalent to A levels" if you know that to be the case.

Show the basics employers look for

Most entry-level adverts ask for a similar short list: reliability, communication, teamwork, willingness to learn, and basic IT and maths. Listing those words in a skills box proves nothing, because anyone can type them. Link each one to something on your CV instead. Reliability is three years of turning up to volunteer every Saturday. Communication is explaining things to customers at a charity shop till. IT is the spreadsheet you kept for the club. Our guide to skills on a CV goes into more depth on this.

What to leave out

• An apology or excuse for having no experience. The employer knows, and they still asked for applications.
• Your date of birth, a photo, marital status or national insurance number.
• Hobbies that tell the reader nothing, such as "socialising" or "watching films". Keep interests that show responsibility or a skill.
• Anything you cannot talk about at interview. If you list a course, be ready to say what you learned on it.
• Filler to make it look longer. One full page is right for a CV with no work history.

If you have been out of work for a long time

Adults who have never had a job, or have not worked for many years, often worry that the gap will sink the application. It usually matters less than people fear, as long as you explain it simply and show what you are doing now. One line in your profile or timeline is enough: "Full-time parent, 2016 to 2025" or "Recovering from illness, 2020 to 2023". Then give the reader something recent: a course, some volunteering, a community role. Even a few months of regular volunteering gives you a current routine to point to and a referee who has seen you in action.

A final check before you send it

1. Your contact details are correct, with a sensible email address and a phone number you answer.
2. The profile names the kind of job you want.
3. Your strongest section comes straight after the profile.
4. Each activity has a title, dates and at least one line of what you did.
5. Every skill you list is backed by something elsewhere on the page.
6. Qualifications show the grade or level.
7. It fits on one page, with no spelling mistakes. Read it aloud, or ask someone else to check it.