Career level · Up to 2 years in work
Entry Level CV writing
Once you have a year or two in work, you are no longer competing on potential. You are competing on what you did in your first job, and most people undersell it.
Quick answer
An entry-level CV, for someone with up to two years in work, should lead with your current or most recent job and show what you learned and took on in it, not your education. Apprenticeships and on-the-job qualifications count as real credentials. Chanuka writes entry-level CVs from $129 for people making their first job move, with or without a degree.
Overview
Entry-level candidates arrive by different routes: apprenticeships, school-leaver jobs, trainee schemes, or a degree followed by a first role. The route matters less than people fear. What an employer is checking is whether you learned the job, took on more than the minimum, and can now be trusted with the next step without being taught from scratch.
Focus
What a entry level CV has to prove.
- The current job at the top, written with specifics rather than the induction checklist
- Evidence you progressed: extra tasks, training newer starters, systems you picked up quickly
- Qualifications earned on the job, such as apprenticeship standards or vendor certificates
- A profile that names the next role rather than restating the current one
- Education compressed to a few lines now that real work exists
What changes
Compared with the level below.
Compared with a graduate or student CV, education moves down and the job moves up. A degree, if you have one, becomes a line rather than a section. If you do not have one, the CV no longer needs to compensate, because a year or two of employment is evidence a degree cannot provide.
Mistakes
What costs candidates at this level.
- Keeping the student CV structure with education still on top
- Describing the first job in the words of the advert you applied to
- Presenting an apprenticeship route as if it were a weakness
- Leaving out responsibilities that grew after the first few months
- Short early roles listed with no hint of why each move happened
FAQ
Entry Level CV questions
How do I write a CV with only one year of experience?
Put that year at the top and describe it in detail: what you were trusted with, what you learned to do independently, and anything you did beyond your original tasks. One year of real work is stronger evidence than any amount of coursework, so education moves below it and shrinks to a few lines.
Do I need a degree on my CV for entry-level jobs?
No, many entry-level roles are open to candidates without a degree, and a CV built around work experience competes well for them. Lead with your job, apprenticeship or trainee scheme, list any recognised qualifications earned along the way, and let the evidence of work do what a degree would otherwise do. Check each advert's stated requirements before applying.
How do I list an apprenticeship on my CV?
List an apprenticeship as a job in your experience section, with the employer, your job title and the dates, and name the qualification or standard it led to. Describe the work you did rather than the training programme. Employers value apprenticeships because they combine formal learning with real output, so there is no reason to play one down.
Is it bad to leave my first job after a year?
No, leaving a first job after about a year is common and rarely counts against you if the move has a clear reason, such as broader responsibility or a better route into your chosen field. What raises questions is several very short roles in a row. On the CV, the new application should show what that first year taught you.
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