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Graduate CV: making limited experience count

As a graduate you are judged on potential, which you show through evidence: your degree and results, projects, part-time work and anything you organised or led.

Check your own graduate CV. The free scan shows which lines lack outcomes, whether your headings and dates parse, and what an Irish recruiter will notice. Scan my CV — free

What recruiters look for

  • Your degree, result (or expected result) and relevant modules or thesis
  • Projects that show the skills the role needs
  • Part-time and summer work — reliability, customer contact, responsibility
  • Leadership or initiative: clubs, societies, volunteering, anything you started

Turning duties into evidence

Patterns, not examples to copy — fill the [brackets] with your own facts, and leave out anything you cannot back up in an interview.

INSTEAD OF
Worked in a shop.
TRY
Worked [number] hours a week at [employer] while studying, [responsibility — e.g. trusted to open and close, trained new staff].
INSTEAD OF
Did a group project.
TRY
Led a [number]-person team on [project], delivering [output] graded [result].
INSTEAD OF
Member of a society.
TRY
Organised [event] for [society], [result — e.g. attendance or funds raised].

Terms to use — where they are true of you

Tracking systems and recruiters scan for the job ad’s own words. Use the exact phrasing from the ad you are applying to; these are common for graduate roles.

your degree title as writtenrelevant modulesfinal year projectthe software you usedteamwork examplescustomer servicelanguages

Common mistakes

  • A generic profile that could describe any graduate
  • Leaving out part-time work because it seems unrelated — it shows reliability
  • Going over two pages

For Irish applications

  • Include your Leaving Certificate year and, if recent and strong, your CAO points.
  • Say "Leaving Certificate", not "high school diploma", for Irish employers.

Applying for a specific graduate role?

Scan your CV free, then tailor it to the job ad — Robo shows which of the ad’s key terms you cover and rewrites your lines in its language where they are true of you.

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