A Comprehensive CV Format Guideline for Freshers [+Examples]

cv-format-for-freshers
Created by Cake

Whether you are a fresh graduate or are about to complete your bachelor’s degree, you’ll need some guidance on how to make a CV for freshers. An excellent job CV format will undoubtedly be a good place for a fresher like you to start your journey to land your dream job. 

This article will explain why a fresher should adopt one of three CV formats, the strategies for creating a fresher CV, and how to make a professional job CV format that brings out the best side of a fresher.

What Is a CV for Fresher?

A fresher is someone who has very limited work experience and has no full-time work experience, a university graduate who has only done internships or a high school graduate with only part-time job experience.

Freshers’ first CVs are important since they will lead to their first full-time jobs and determine their career paths. 

Therefore, the strategy for writing and creating a fresher’s CV is different from that for writing a CV for any other job applicants. 

Freshers’ CVs need to convince recruiters that they are not completely inexperienced. A fresher’s CV needs to show the hiring manager that they have related experience and can perform the job perfectly. By providing relevant job experience in the CV, you tell the hiring manager to take you as a fresher with potential, rather than a rookie that knows nothing.

Combining your relevant experience with a suitable job CV format for freshers, you might interest recruiters with the skills and strengths you display.

Best Job CV Format for Freshers

We will introduce the three CV formats and analyze the pros and cons of adopting these CVs for freshers.

Reverse-Chronological CV Format

The first format, also the most commonly seen, is the reverse-chronological CV format. 

A reverse-chronological CV format for a fresher focuses on a candidate’s professional history and brings your most recent experience upfront.

The pros and cons of using a chronological CV format for freshers:

Pros:

  • The CV format recruiters expect and are most familiar with
  • Applicant-Tracking-System-friendly
  • A CV format that displays the fresher’s career path clearly

Cons: 

  • Not a friendly CV format for freshers, who have limited work experience

Functional CV Format

A functional CV format places more importance on skills for a fresher rather than working history. Your professional experience is still listed but takes up only a little space.

A functional CV format for a fresher will help a hiring manager understand your abilities and how the skills might be useful for job performance. 

The pros and cons of using a chronological CV format for freshers:

Pros:

  • Ideal CV format for freshers to highlight skills
  • Allows to explain transferable skills (great for career-changers!)
  • A CV format suitable for freshers who have limited experience

Cons:

  • Many HR managers and recruiters don’t value functional CV format
  • Not a friendly CV format for Applicant tracking systems (ATS) 

Combinational CV Format

A combinational CV format is the hybrid of reverse-chronological CV format and a functional CV format. 

With a combinational CV format, a fresher applicant gets to list skills sets and employment histories. 

A combinational CV format is mostly used by senior professional experts, who have profound experience and skill sets, and it is not-so-ideal for freshers.

​​The pros and cons of using a combinational CV format for freshers:

Pros:

  • Presents both professional career and related skills clearly
  • Will make a candidate look well-qualified

Cons:

  • Combinational CV format for freshers will make their CV filled with repetitive information
  • Not concise enough for recruiters to read
  • CV format most suitable for professionals who have 5+ years of experience or more, rather than freshers

How to Write a Fresher CV

Your fresher CV will consist of the following sections:

Full name

Professional title

[A short title describing your job position]

Contact details

[Primary phone number]
[Email address]
[Country and city you’re currently in]
[LinkedIn, Github, or personal website]

CV summary or CV objective

[A CV summary or CV objective for a fresher is 3-5 sentences that summarize the fresher’s experience].

It should be short, strong, but relevant to the job posting. Your fresher CV summary will explain to the recruiter related achievements beneficial to your position.

The overall CV header part should consist of key information that recruiters will need to identify who you are and will serve as the first impression that you give to recruiters reading your CV, so make sure to make a great impression.

Now, on to the next section.

Educational background

[Major and degree] | [Institution name]
[The city and country]
 [Time of study]

[List of GPA, relevant coursework, or academic honors]

[Study Abroad Programs, or other extracurricular activities]

For those writing a CV for freshers who graduate with little working experience, the education section can be a fresher CV’s key element.

To make your education section meaningful to the hiring manager, consider listing your accomplishments or study abroad programs in your fresher CV.

The next section that should be included in your fresher CV format is the Skills section.

Skills

  • [List hard/soft skills, computer skills]
  • [List language skills that are applicable to the job position] – [State the proficiency level]

The skills section in a CV will demonstrate for a fresher how he/she/they can utilize personality traits, techniques, or technical tools to accomplish crucial tasks.

For a fresher, skills in a CV are prominent to examine whether this candidate is worth consideration.

Next, you could also include some achievements in your fresher CV.

Achievements

  • [Achievement]
    [Grantor institution], [Date]
    • [List any relevant details about the achievement]

Achievements include the highlight of your experience that is worth a spotlight. It could be the prominent progress due to your decision or a huge project you’ve participated in.

Work experience 

[Position title] | [Company name]
 [Dates of employment]

  • [Descriptions of your responsibilities and achievements using descriptive action words and keywords, as well as quantified results]

For a CV for a fresher job, work experience still matters. As we’ve mentioned, think of this section as a “related experience” section. 

When writing about your experiences in a CV for freshers, you should:

  1. Write work experience in reverse-chronological order. 
  2. Present related achievements instead of job responsibilities.
  3. Quantified (numbers) results will make your performance more concrete.

💡What to include in a CV for freshers who have no work experience? 

One crucial thing to remember for a fresher's CV is to bring out your “relevant experience.

Whether it’s a CV format for bank jobs or electrical engineer freshers, you can find relevant experience by looking back to your extracurricular activities, side-projects, or part-time jobs. Moreover, you can add related experience by providing more materials in an additional section.

For example, if you are writing a CV for a marketing assistant fresher, experience in planning an event campaign on Instagram may help. If you are applying for customer service jobs, you should mention your experience of alleviating customers’ complaints while working at a coffee shop. Electrical engineer freshers can include side-projects or portfolios in their CV.

Additional information

If you have supplemental materials to impress the recruiters, don’t hesitate to put them in your fresher CV. This might include:

  • Certificates / Awards
  • Volunteer experiences
  • Personal projects and portfolio
  • Relevant interests and hobbies

Tips for Writing the Best Fresher CV

💡 Tailor the Job CV for freshers to the job posting description.

Read closely through each job posting you want to apply for. The best CV format for freshers are CVs that are tailored to attract certain company’s employers. 

Moreover, you might be inspired by some of the keywords and be reminded of your related and experience. 

💡 Keep your fresher CV format professional.

During your fresher job-search journey, you might feel anxious or worried. However, try not to display these emotions in your fresher’s CV. 

For example, don’t bombard the recruiter with a colorful graphic design layout or start your working section with “Although I have little work experience…”. Instead, show confidence in the skills and qualifications that you currently possess and show your enthusiasm for the role.

💡 Include only relevant interests & hobbies.

For recruiters, even though interests and hobbies in a CV reflect a fresher’s personality, they speak little about professional performance.

If you want to include interests, be sure to list those that can be helpful for your position. For example, you can add “yoga” when writing a fresher CV to apply to a well-being service company.

💡 List certifications and relevant training programs

If you took extra time completing an online certificate program or training workshops, listing them in your fresher CV is a good idea. However, you should keep it short and focus on delivering relatable content in each section.

💡 Include internships, extracurricular activities, or volunteer work

The best tip for writing a CV for freshers graduate is to dig for more related experience. Something you consider inconsequential but related can be interesting to the recruiter. 

However, don’t lie on your CV about your work experience. You might make it to an interview, but the recruiters will know if you are lying.

Fresher CV Examples

Sample Accountant/Bank job fresher CV (Combinational Format)

Ratul Neena
[email protected] | 103-53-9999 | linkedin.com/in/ratulneena/

Patient and detail-oriented economics graduate with GPA of 3.78 from Carnegie Mellon University. Analyzed 50+ financial statements to prepare insightful reports at Bank MHG’s one-year retail banking internship program. Ideated and developed a fintech Product with engineers to concatenate WhatsApp with a back-end account system. Looking forward to joining Bank XYZ to leverage banking skills.

EDUCATION

B.A. in Economics, Minor in Psychology
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh | 2017 - 2020

  • GPA 3.78, Dean’s List 2019, 2020

SKILLS

Computer skills

  • Data Entry and Advanced Analysis: Excel VBA, SQL, SAP, Oracle
  • Collaboration and Office Tools: Google Suite, PowerPoint, Word, Pages

Soft skills

  • Financial Planning
  • Risk Assessment
  • Investment management
  • Time management
  • Customer Service
  • Communication skills
  • Collaboration
  • Problem-solving
  • Negotiation

CERTIFICATIONS

  • Certified Financial Planner (CFP)
  • Certified Financial Analyst (CFA)
  • Chartered Mutual Fund Counselor (CMFC)

WORK EXPERIENCE

Retail Banking Intern | MHG Bank
July 2022 - December 2022

  • Analyzed 50+ financial statements, economic, and industry data to prepare three insightful seasonal report
  • Assisted and accompanied Relationship Managers and Group Managers with loan closing checklists, loan closings, etc.
  • Worked with engineer interns to develop Fintech product to streamline banking chat-bot experience for bank members

ORGANIZATION EXPERIENCE

Chair, Ladies in Finance Pittsburgh

  • Planned and managed Ladies in Finance Pittsburgh 2019 and attracted more than 200 women to participate
  • Researched on latest retail banking news and thorough competitive analysis on ten popular bank account deals

Sample Cabin Crew Fresher CV (Functional Format)

Aleem Tummala
[email protected] | 103-43-9988 | linkedin.com/in/aleemtummala/

Personable and responsible receptionist for a prominent hotel. Awarded highest regional client satisfaction scores (98.8%) in 2019. Seeking to develop flight attendant skills to help American Airlines provide top service for international guests.

EDUCATION

B.A. in International Hospitality Management
Chicago State University, School of Hotel Administration | 2016 - 2020

SKILLS

Computer skills

  • Google Suite
  • PowerPoint
  • Word
  • Pages

Soft skills

  • Safety Orientation
  • Announcements
  • Presentation Skills
  • Jet Bridge Maintenance & Use
  • Communication Skills
  • Safety Consciousness
  • Collaboration
  • Face Recognition

Safety Procedures

  • Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs)
  • Plane Evacuation Protocols
  • Emergency Procedures & Response
  • Aircraft Intercom Operation

Language Skills

  • Hindi (Native)
  • English (Native)
  • Bengali (Native)
  • Spanish (Fluent)
  • French (Fluent)

WORK EXPERIENCE

Guest Relation Assistant | Fairmont Pittsburgh
June 2019 - December 2021

  • Managed and developed customer service training for a team of over 20 reception and back-office employees
  • Identified key guests and administered personal assistance for celebrity events

Sample Electrical Engineer Fresher CV (Chronological Format)

Jackie P. Adams
[email protected] | 107-53-9915 | linkedin.com/in/jackieadams/

Self-driven and EIT Certified recent graduate seeking a full-time position as an electrical engineer to leverage strong design skills. Looking to leverage AutoCAD, Microstation, and Revit skills and experience to solve problems for DSR companies.

EDUCATION

BE in Electrical Engineering
Rochester Institute of Technology, School of Electrical Engineering
September 2017 – June 2021

  • GPA: 3.97, Dean’s List All semester

WORK EXPERIENCE

Retail Banking Intern | MIM Electronics
July 2021 - July 2022

Electrical Engineer Summer Intern | Benchmark Electronics
2014–present

  • Assisted senior engineers in creating budgets for construction materials and preparing presentation materials
  • Reviewed and corrected 50+ blueprint drawings, redlined, and produced field sketches to meet industry standards.
  • Maintained electrical equipment to ensure safety for three launching products

Key achievement: Redesigned Develop energy conversion wind turbine model to increase efficiency by 12%.

SKILLS

Computer skills

  • Microcontrollers (8051, ARM, AVR, PIC)
  • AutoCAD, Matlab, PLC, Simulink
  • C/C++/Java/Python
  • P Spice, Eagle, Orcad
  • Electronic troubleshooting

Soft skills

  • Collaboration
  • Communication
  • Precision
  • Active Learning
  • Presentation

CERTIFICATIONS

  • Engineer in Training (EIT)
  • AutoCAD Certified Professional
  • Certified Systems Engineering Professional (CSEP)

With Cake, you can easily create a CV online, free download your CV in PDF formats, and utilize ATS-compliant templates to create a CV. Land your dream job, create your CV online (free download) with the best resume builder now!

--- Originally written by Wu Chao Min ---

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