How to write a good CV with no work experience: example and step-by-step guide

Example CV

Example

Jordan Clarke

Customer Service Adviser

jordan.clarke@example.com · 07700 900421 · Sheffield

Summary

Reliable and well-organised school leaver with a Level 3 BTEC in Business (Distinction). Eighteen months as a weekly volunteer in a hospice charity shop, serving customers at the till and sorting around 300 donations a week. Used to calm, patient conversations after two years helping to care for my grandmother. Looking for a full-time customer service role in Sheffield, available to start immediately, including weekends.

Experience

Shop Volunteer

May 2025 - Present

Hope Lane Hospice Shop · Sheffield · Volunteer, one day a week

• Serve customers at the till, card and cash, on the busiest day of the week.
• Sort, price and display around 300 donated items a week with a team of five volunteers.
• Set up a rail for school uniform before September; it sold out in two weeks.

Young carer

Sep 2023 - Aug 2025

Family · Sheffield · Unpaid, alongside college

• Helped my grandmother with shopping, appointments and medication reminders, three evenings a week.
• Kept a shared calendar for the family so no appointment was missed in two years.

Event volunteer

Mar 2024 - Present

Don Valley parkrun · Sheffield · Volunteer, Saturdays

• Marshal and scan finish tokens for up to 400 runners; trained two new volunteers on the scanner app.

Education

BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma in Business: Distinction*, Distinction, Distinction

Sep 2023 - Jun 2025

Hillsborough College · Sheffield

7 GCSEs at grades 7 to 4, including English (6) and maths (5)

Sep 2018 - Jun 2023

Parkwood Academy · Sheffield

Skills

• Customer service
• Cash and card payments
• Microsoft Excel and Word
• Phone and email communication
• Time management
• Patience with vulnerable customers

Languages

• English native speaker
• Spanish A2 · elementary

Interests

Running: weekly parkrun, first half marathon in 2026 · Five-a-side football, team organiser

Jordan left college in 2025 and has never had a paid job. His CV still fills a page, because he treats volunteering and caring for his grandmother as experience and writes each entry like a job: a role, dates and what he achieved.

What this CV with no work experience does well:

• the title under his name is the job he wants (“Customer Service Adviser”), not “school leaver”;
• the personal statement gives a qualification, a fact with a number, a personal quality backed by proof, and his availability;
• unpaid roles sit under experience, each with a result, so the page doesn't look empty;
• the skills are the words customer service adverts use, and each one is proven above;
• there is no age, date of birth or photo, and no line apologising for a lack of experience.

Start from the same one-column template or any of our CV templates, then swap in your own details.

The National Careers Service says that for a first job you can focus on skills learned through projects, work experience or volunteering, and add interests that show a skill. Look back over the last three years and you will usually find most of these:

Caring counts: the National Careers Service job profile for care workers says that time spent caring for someone you know counts as experience in a caring role. Write it as an entry like any other.

1. Read the job advert first. Underline every skill and requirement. Your CV answers that list, in that order.
2. Contact details: name, town or city, mobile, a sensible email address, and LinkedIn if your profile is up to date.
3. A job title and a personal statement: the role you want, then three or four sentences (examples below).
4. Education, straight after the statement: the National Careers Service suggests that order when you are early in your career.
5. Experience: volunteering, placements, caring, projects and positions of responsibility, most recent first, each with dates and two lines of results.
6. Skills: the ones from the advert that you can prove.
7. Interests, only those that show a skill or make you memorable: our guide to hobbies and interests for a CV has examples.
8. References: “References available on request”. Don't put someone's phone number on your CV; more in our guide to references on a CV.

Your statement does the job a long work history would: it tells the employer who you are and why you fit. Skip “I know I don't have much experience, but…”. Lead with a fact. Three examples, with made-up details; more in our CV personal statement guide.

Employers hiring for a first job know you'll learn the specifics on the job. They look for the basics: you turn up, you get on with people, you can use a computer, you can be trusted with money or customers. Write each skill as the advert writes it, and keep the proof in your experience section. Our guide to skills for a CV lists the most requested ones.

• Practical skills: till and card payments, Excel or Google Sheets, social media scheduling, a driving licence, a Food Hygiene certificate, first aid.
• People skills: customer service, teamwork, explaining things simply, staying calm with an upset customer.
• Work habits: punctuality, following instructions, organising your time, learning fast.
• Languages, with a level: even a basic level can help in shops, hotels and call centres.

Not sure what you're good at? The National Careers Service has a free skills assessment: 40 multiple-choice questions that take 5 to 10 minutes, with career suggestions at the end.

A standard CV lists experience by date. A skills-based CV groups your evidence under three or four skills from the advert, then lists your education and any roles briefly underneath. Prospects suggests including all the skills from the job description that you can demonstrate.

Use it when your activities are scattered or unrelated to the job. If you have one or two solid volunteer roles, the classic order (education, then experience) is easier to read and suits online application systems better.

• Your highest qualification first: degree, A-levels, BTEC, T Level, Scottish Highers or an apprenticeship, with the place and dates.
• Grades when they help: “BTEC Business: Distinction*, Distinction, Distinction”.
• GCSEs as one line: “7 GCSEs at grades 7 to 4, including English and maths”. Employers often check those two.
• One relevant project or module, if it matches the job.
• Short courses and certificates: Food Hygiene, first aid, a free online course. Each one shows you are already learning.

A few weeks of any of these gives you a real line on your CV, and often a referee:

• Volunteering: gov.uk lists where to find roles, from the NCVO and NHS Volunteering to Volunteer Scotland and Volunteering Wales. You can volunteer while claiming benefits if you are only paid expenses (gov.uk).
• A charity shop: the National Careers Service suggests it as a way into retail work; just drop in and ask the staff.
• A foundation apprenticeship, if you're 16 to 21: no specific qualifications or experience needed to apply, according to the same job profile.
• A sector-based work academy (SWAP), if you claim an unemployment benefit and are 18 or over: up to 6 weeks of training, a work experience placement and a guaranteed interview or help with the employer's recruitment process. Ask your Jobcentre work coach; it runs in England and Scotland (DWP guide).
• Seasonal work: shops and warehouses hire thousands of temporary staff before Christmas, often without asking for experience. See our guide to Christmas temp jobs.

• One page. A short CV that is full is better than two half-empty pages.
• A clear font such as Arial or Calibri, size 11 or bigger, with headings and bullet points (National Careers Service).
• One column, so online application systems read it in the right order.
• No age, date of birth, marital status, nationality or photo: the National Careers Service says not to include them.
• No gaps to hide: if you've been caring, studying or job hunting, the dates can simply show it.
• A PDF named after you: “Jordan-Clarke-CV.pdf”.

Before you apply, run it through our AI CV checker: it shows whether the text reads cleanly and which words from the advert are missing.

• Apologising: “Although I have no experience…” in the first line.
• Leaving out unpaid roles because they weren't “real jobs”.
• A list of qualities (“hardworking, motivated, team player”) with no proof anywhere.
• Padding: every GCSE subject, a full address, “Curriculum Vitae” as a title.
• No availability when the job is shift work: say when you can start and which days you can work.
• One CV for every advert, without the words of the job.

In the Kandiq CV builder, add your volunteering, caring role or project as an experience entry, with dates and a contract type such as “Volunteer”. Paste the job advert and “Improve my bullets” and “Suggest skills” use its words. The AI never makes up figures: where a number is missing, it leaves a marker for you to fill in. If the advert also asks for a letter, the cover letter generator starts from your CV and the advert.