HFS Info Hub: The Best CV Templates For Students

Your time as a student is key to your development as an adult, and when applying for a job, you may wonder…what are the best CV templates for students?

There are many different skills that you’ll learn during your studies, but at the other end of your educational journey, there will be careers to plan and jobs to apply for.

Learning how to write a CV is an important part of this process, and we often see students asking questions like this as a way of finding out the correct ways of filling out job application forms.

Your CV is a crucial first impression of you that will shape your chances of getting an interview with a prospective employer and shape the interview itself depending on the information you provide.

Here we take a look at what makes a great CV, what you should (and shouldn’t) include in a student CV.

So, sit down at your desk in your comfortable student accommodation and look through our tips on CV templates for students.

What Is A CV?

A CV, or curriculum vitae (Latin for ‘course of life’), is a document that provides an overview of your personal academic achievements, work experience, and skills.

Throughout the document, you have some space to input some things about your personal life, such as any hobbies, as well as demonstrate your personality and character traits in the way the CV is written.

It is important, however, to remember that a CV should be neat and tidy, easy to read, and never longer than 2 pages max!

It should provide a prospective employer with an insight into whether or not you are suitable for an interview for a job role.

A student CV might not be big on practical work experience and is, therefore, the perfect start to creating a concise CV template that stands you in good stead for your future career.

What Should I Include In My CV?

A recruiter has experience in quickly skimming over a CV to see if the person is relevant for a specific job role and if there are any glaring errors to be avoided.

If your CV is long, boring, includes personal information about your favourite films and top 10 travel destinations, it isn’t going to get you through to the interview stage of the process – soz!

When creating a CV template for students, think about the following basic components:

Your Contact Details

This is simple enough. Include your full name, your email address, contact telephone number, and your home address (if you are uncomfortable including your full address, put down the town or city you live in).

Personal Statement

This is the part of your student CV where you can be a bit creative and show your character.

Always tailor this section to the specific job post you are applying for, detailing your experience and skills that are suitable to that role.

Don’t go on for too long and keep things fun and fresh, just 4 or 5 sentences should do the trick.

Key Skills

Before you apply for a job, take a look at the advert and see what skills have been put down as required and desirable.

When writing a CV, you can then include the relevant skills in the key skills section.

List your skills and include a short example of when you have demonstrated this, Also, never lie or exaggerate a skill, as this can always come back to haunt you during the interview process and beyond.

Employment History

Your employment history is important, as it demonstrates the dates that you have been in part-time or full-time employment and gives the interviewer a chance to dig deeper into your experience.

If you do not have any work experience and you are looking for a student template CV, then we have some more advice for you a little further down the page.

If you do have previous employers, some people choose to list these in reverse chronological order and include the name of the company and years working for the company, the specific job role, and the list of duties and achievements.

Education History

This should be kept brief and relevant and should be treated in the same way as employment history, with the most recent education at the top of the list.

Give a range of your grades rather than listing each specific award, and if you do not have some results yet but you do have your predicted grades, do not be afraid to list those instead.

Achievements

As a student, you might not feel like you have much to fall back on here, but it is a great chance to list any groups, awards, or other achievements that you have been involved in within school, college, and university.

Personal Hobbies

This is often one of the most difficult sections to write, as it is a way of showing your personality and making you stand out from the crowd, but what can you write about?

You don’t want to say you love socializing with friends, and you do want to include hobbies that indicate a passion for topics suited to the job you are applying for.

So for example, if you are applying for a job as a journalist you might want to talk about your love of reading, creative writing, and research.

Mention any sports that you love, any volunteering roles you have undertaken, your love of travel,R or new skills you have been learning.

References

As you put together your student template CV there might not be many references to fall back on.

However, you can include a reference from a teacher, a tutor, a previous employer or choose to write one single line – ‘references are available upon request’.

Are There Different Types Of CV?

There are different types of CV to consider, depending on where you are in your personal journey and what type of job or role you are applying for.

A school leaver CV for a young student of 16 with GCSEs in their back pocket will look different to a graduate CV or for someone applying for an internship.

CV Templates For Students First Job

If you have no work experience at all it can be quite daunting to put together a CV template for students. Here is what you should do.

• With no experience it is even more important to tailor your CV to the specific skills requested and desired in the job advert. You can utilise your academic experiences to demonstrate that you are a team player, good at independent research or that you have a great eye for the tiny details of a task.
• Showcase your personality, as you will have more room to play with on the CV due to the lack of work experience. Big up your personal achievements both personally and academically and show you have the right personality and dedication to succeed in the role.
• A cover letter is always important, but alongside a student CV with little work experience it could be the crucial aspect of your application that makes a great first impression and gets your foot in the door for an interview.

We hope you found our CV templates for students useful! It can be super tough knowing where to begin with things like this, but we hope our tips have given you a head start.