School Leaver CV Examples for the UK in 2023

If you’re a recent school leaver looking to start work in the UK, you may be wondering how to make a CV with minimal or no work experience.

Unsure where to begin? Here’s a video with good examples for school leavers in the UK that outline all the essential steps of writing an excellent CV (even with limited or no experience):

In the rest of this guide, we provide free school leaver CV examples as well as writing and formatting tips so you can create an effective school leaver CV (or sixth-form college leaver CV) and start applying for jobs for teenagers near you.

1. Write a memorable personal statement

Your CV should begin with a CV personal statement (sometimes called a CV ‘About Me’ section), which is a 3–4 sentence paragraph that outlines your major achievements so far.

If you don’t have work experience, you can talk about accomplishments from:

• school
• any volunteer work you’ve done
• extracurricular activities in your CV

Just ensure you word these experiences so they’re targeted to the job you’re applying to.

For example, if you were applying for an entry-level receptionist role and helped greet parents at your Year 11 parents’ evening, you might write:

This example is effective because greeting visitors is part of a receptionist’s daily routine. Employers hiring for this position can then see you’re experienced at this task and can transfer what you previously learnt to a new role.

This sample also includes hard numbers (the number of parents). Quantifying your CV’s personal statement is an excellent way to get employers to notice your application because these numbers highlight your capabilities and the level of responsibility you’re ready for.

In addition to including hard numbers and being personalised to your target role, a good personal statement should also describe your:

• positive personality traits related to your work ethic
• key CV skills
• career-related goals

Here’s what a good school leaver CV’s personal statement looks like in practice:

2. Highlight any relevant experience and skills you have

Even if you don’t have work experience, you can still create well-written bulleted statements for your CV’s experience section by highlighting your skills, achievements, and education details.

Here are some tips for writing effective CV experience statements:

1. Focus on your specific skills and accomplishments: Instead of listing general responsibilities, highlight specific skills and achievements on your CV that are relevant to the job you’re applying for. (For example, instead of saying ‘assisted with customer service‘, say ‘provided exceptional customer service at my school fundraiser, resulting in a 20% increase in sales.’)
2. Use action verbs: Action verbs — such as ‘developed’, ‘organised’, and ‘produced’ — help make your bullet points more impactful and confidently demonstrate your abilities.
3. Keep your school leaver CV concise: Aim for bullet points that are 4–6 lines long to keep your CV easy to read and allow potential employers to quickly scan your application.

And this is specific advice depending on whether you have work experience or not:

What to do if you don’t have any work experience

If you’ve never had a job before, focus on major accomplishments from your extracurricular activities, hobbies and interests, and volunteer work. Format these experiences the same way you’d format work experience on a CV, though. Here’s an example:

This volunteer experience sample is presented as if it was a full time job, with dates and a ‘job title’. And like a ‘real job’, it shows some of the transferable abilities the candidate developed during their time as a volunteer:

• Animal handling
• Interpersonal skills (talking with dog owners)
• Training skills
• Multitasking (handling more than one dog at a time)
• Time management skills (making sure they have enough time to take each dog for walks)

Here are more examples of well-written bulleted statements for someone who has several soft skills and no work experience:

Bullet points for a school leaver with no formal work experience

• Developed strong communication skills by participating in public speaking clubs and presentations in coursework
• Analysed and presented market research findings to classmates and secondary instructors, resulting in a 98% final project score
• Improved time management skills by balancing a full course load with various extracurricular activities
• Volunteered at local non-profit organisations such as British Red Cross and Volunteering Matters, demonstrating a dedication to community service and teamwork
• Fully proficient in Microsoft Office and Google Suite as well as various social media platforms

What to do if you do have work experience

If you do have work experience, then definitely include it on your school leaver CV. You can still include extracurricular activities, but your work experience section should be prominently placed on your CV’s first page.

Have a look at this school leaver’s work experience bullet point about their experience as a retail assistant:

Bullet points for a school leaver with work experience

Retail Assistant, Miss Sixty

June 2022–February 2023

• Processed sales transactions efficiently and accurately using point-of-sale systems
• Maintained a clean store environment to ensure a positive shopping experience for customers
• Collaborated with 8 team members to make sure all customer needs were met in a timely and efficient manner
• Demonstrated strong attention to detail by accurately pricing and labelling 100+ products per shift
• Assisted with inventory management, including restocking and organising products
• Contributed to 2 team meetings every month and provided suggestions for improving customer service and store operations

3. Include your education details

Whatever position you apply for, employers will want to see how you did in school.

A CV education section is where you should list your GCSEs, A-Levels, and vocational qualifications.

You should also add Scottish Highers, N5s, IBs, and Irish Junior and Leaving Certificates to your education section if you didn’t do GCSEs or A-Levels.

List A-Levels or vocational equivalents (Level 3 BTECs or NVQs) first if you have them, then GCSEs.

A-Levels (as well as AS-Levels) indicate a better understanding of a topic, so they should come first. Write each A- (and AS-) Level along with the grade you got, as well as the school (or sixth-form college name if you’re a college leaver).

If you don’t have A-Levels, you can list your GCSEs and vocational equivalents (Level 2 BTECs or NVQs).

Most employers require you to have Cs (or 4s under the new system introduced in 2019 in England) or above at GSCE level in English, Maths, and ICT to show you have basic literacy, numeracy, and computer skills. So list these GCSEs first to let the employer quickly see you have them.

After that, list your other qualifications starting with the highest grades so employers see them first. For example:

Example of an applicant's GCSEs on their school leaver CV

GCSEs
English (B), Maths (C), ICT (B), PE (A), DT (A), History (B), French (B), Spanish (C), Double Science (C/C), Geography (D)

Here’s an example of a school leaver’s CV education section:

4. Write a targeted hobbies and interests section

One of the most important tips for writing a good CV as a school leaver is that every section should showcase your best self, achievements, and value to potential employers.

Your hobbies and interests section on your CV provides a valuable opportunity to highlight your personal interests and activities, which can help to round out your profile and give employers a sense of who you are outside of your work experience and education.

Just remember to keep this section concise and relevant to the job you’re applying for by focusing on interests and activities that demonstrate skills or qualities that are valued in the role you want.

For example, if you’re applying for a customer service role, you might mention hobbies that require you to interact often with others (like volunteering or playing a team sport).

Or if you’re applying for a role in a technical field, you might mention any hobbies or interests that demonstrate your problem-solving or analytical skills (programming or playing chess, for instance)

Here’s an example of an applicant’s hobbies and interests section showcasing their interest in a creative role:

5. Look at other school leaver CV examples for inspiration

It can be helpful to look at other school leaver CV examples to get some ideas while you’re creating your own.

Here are a few tips for finding and using CV examples effectively:

• Look for CV examples that are related to the field you’re interested in: Find CV examples relevant to the job you’re applying for so you can learn how to tailor your own CV to the specific requirements of your desired role.
• Use the examples as guides, not templates: You can borrow ideas from CV examples, but ensure you personalise the information to your own experiences and skills. We don’t recommend you to copy a full example as doing so is dishonest and may not accurately reflect your own abilities.
• Don’t be afraid to get creative: While following certain rules when creating a school leaver CV is important, you can still be creative and showcase your personality by changing the layout or format. Try experimenting by downloading pre-formatted CV templates with readable fonts and striking (but still professional) colours.

Here’s another well-written school leaver CV (from an applicant with some work experience) to help point you in the right direction:

Download This Free CV Example