Fresh graduate CV for Uganda: what to write with no experience

Every year thousands of graduates in Uganda apply for the same internships, trainee programmes and entry-level jobs. Panels know you don’t have years of experience. What they look for is evidence that you can learn fast, take responsibility and do the basics of the job. Your CV should put that evidence first.

The structure that works

1. 1Name and contact details: phone, a professional email address and your town.
2. 2Profile: three lines on your degree, what you are good at and the kind of role you want.
3. 3Education: degree, university, year and class or CGPA, then A-level and O-level briefly if the advert asks.
4. 4Internship and work experience: industrial training, placements, part-time or holiday jobs.
5. 5Projects: your dissertation or research project, and any practical project you led.
6. 6Leadership and activities: guild, hall, clubs, church or community roles, volunteering.
7. 7Skills: the ones the advert asks for that you really have, including computer skills and languages.
8. 8Referees: a lecturer and your internship supervisor are ideal.

Write your profile around the job

Treat your internship like a job

Your industrial training or internship is your strongest experience, so describe it properly: the organisation, the department, the dates, and three or four bullets on what you actually did and what came of it. Numbers still help, even small ones.

Use projects, leadership and volunteering

If your experience section is thin, these sections carry your CV. A dissertation shows research and writing; a guild or club role shows responsibility; running a small business or a church fundraiser shows initiative and handling money. Give each one a line on what you did and what happened.

Keep it to one or two pages

One full page is fine for a fresh graduate; two if you have an internship, projects and leadership to describe. Don’t pad it with long lists of personal details, every school since primary, or hobbies that say nothing about you.

Common mistakes

• A profile full of words like “hardworking” with no evidence.
• An unprofessional email address.
• Listing course units instead of what you did.
• Referees who barely know you, or who haven’t agreed to be contacted.
• Sending the same CV to every advert.