The No-Experience CV: A 2026 Guide for Students, Graduates and Career Changers

"No experience" almost always means "experience that has not been written up properly". Here is the structure that works.

**One page, in this order:**

1. Name, city, email, LinkedIn URL, right to work if relevant. 2. A two-line profile naming the role you want and your strongest two pieces of evidence. 3. Skills - tools, systems, languages, certifications. 4. Projects or coursework (with results and links). 5. Experience - part-time, seasonal, volunteering, family business, sports or society roles all count. 6. Education, with modules and grade only where they help.

**Write projects like jobs.** What was the brief, what did you build or organise, what happened as a result, who used it.

**Part-time work is real work.** Retail, hospitality and warehouse roles evidence reliability, cash handling, conflict resolution, speed and teamwork under pressure - say so with numbers ("served 200+ covers a shift").

**Transferable skills for career changers.** Take the target advert's top six requirements and find your closest true equivalent for each. Rename nothing dishonestly; translate honestly.

**Add a "Training" section** for short courses, bootcamps, apprenticeship units and free certifications (Google, Microsoft, AWS, CIPD, IOSH). Include the date so it reads as current.

**Skip:** school-by-school lists from a long time ago, hobbies with no relevance, "hard-working team player with excellent communication skills".

**Then apply properly.** Tailor the profile line and skills block per application, and send it with a short three-paragraph note. Ten targeted applications beat a hundred generic ones.