Graduate CV Template | Resume for First Job, Word, Google Docs (Instant Download)

🎓 GRADUATE CV TEMPLATE — INSTANT DOWNLOAD

You have less history. Not less to say.

A standard resume template opens with a work experience section built for ten
years of jobs. Two summer roles look thin in it — not because they are, but
because the layout was designed for somebody else.

This one is arranged around what you actually have: your degree, your projects,
your part-time work, and the things you can already do.

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WHAT'S DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS LAYOUT

· Education at the top, with room for modules, grade and dates.
· A projects section above work experience, so coursework carries real weight.
· Part-time and placement roles framed as customers, targets and shift cover.
· Built to fill one page honestly rather than stretch to two.

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WHAT YOU GET — 8 FILES

The graduate layout, plus the five other layouts from the same pack, so you are
not locked into one shape as your experience grows:

· Graduate — education and projects lead.
· Classic — most people, most jobs.
· Modern — same structure, centred header, softer look.
· Compact — eight or more years that still needs to fit one page.
· Senior — leadership roles, built to run to two pages without padding.
· Career change — transferable skills sit above work history.

Plus:
· Start Here guide (.pdf) — which layout is yours, how to edit it, what to
leave alone, and how to write bullets that get you interviewed.
· Plain text version (.txt) — for application forms that strip formatting.

Etsy limits a listing to five download slots, so the six layouts arrive together
in one zip folder. The guide, the graduate layout and the plain text version
download on their own — nothing to unzip before you can start.

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WHEN YOU THINK YOU HAVE NOTHING TO WRITE

Six things that count, and most people leave out:

· Your final year project — scope, method, tools, result. It is the closest
thing you have to a work brief. Treat it like one.
· Coursework with an outcome — a module where you built, analysed or presented
something real.
· Part-time and summer work — retail and hospitality are customers, targets,
cash handling and shift cover. All of it transfers.
· Societies and volunteering — ran the budget, organised the trip, taught the
class. Responsibility is responsibility.
· Tools you actually use — Excel, Python, Figma, a till system, a CRM. Name
them; they are what gets matched.
· Certifications and short courses — small, but concrete.

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WHY ATS-SAFE MATTERS FOR A FIRST JOB

Graduate schemes and entry-level postings attract the most applications, which
means they are the most likely to be filtered by software before a person reads
anything.

· Single column. Two columns get read straight across, so your sentences
interleave into nonsense.
· Contact details in the body, not the header. Many systems never read the
header region at all.
· Dates on a tab stop, not in a table. Table cells get flattened into one
unreadable string.
· Real bullet list formatting. A typed bullet character is a symbol; a list is
structure, and structure is what gets read.

No tables, no text boxes, no icons, no skill rating bars, no photos.

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IT TELLS YOU WHAT TO WRITE

Every section carries a prompt in grey italic text explaining what belongs
there — written for somebody writing their first proper resume, not for someone
with a decade behind them. Replace the grey text with your own and it turns
black. When nothing grey is left, the resume is finished.

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HOW TO EDIT

1. Open in Microsoft Word, or upload to Google Docs (File → Open → Upload).
Also opens in Pages and LibreOffice.
2. Replace the grey prompts with your own details.
3. Delete any section that doesn't apply, then save as PDF.

No Canva, no subscription, no design app.

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❓ FREQUENTLY ASKED

I have literally no work experience. Is this still for me?
Yes — that is what the projects and education sections are for. The guide has a
section on what counts when you think nothing does.

Is this only for graduates?
The graduate layout is why this listing exists, but all six layouts are
included. Use whichever fits you now, and the others in a few years.

Do I need Microsoft Word?
No. Google Docs opens and edits them for free, and so do Pages and LibreOffice.

Should my CV be one page?
At this stage, yes. This layout is built to fill one page honestly.

Will this guarantee my resume passes the filter?
No honest seller can promise that. Filters differ, and what you write matters as
much as the format. What this removes are the structural reasons a resume fails
before anyone reads it.

Can I resell or share these?
No. They're for your own job applications.

When do I get the files?
Immediately. Instant download — the files are on your Downloads page the moment
your payment goes through.

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WHAT THIS IS NOT

It won't write your CV for you, it can't invent experience you don't have, and
no template can promise interviews. What it can do is make sure a short history
is presented as a real one, and that it gets read at all.

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↩️ REFUNDS

Because this is an instant digital download, it can't be returned once the files
have been accessed. If something is wrong with a file, message me and I'll fix
it.