The short answer
A part-time job CV for a student should fit on one page and make three things obvious in the first few seconds: when you can work, that you're reliable, and that you're comfortable with customers. Put a short profile and your availability at the top, then any experience (paid or not), then your education. Change the profile and the order of your experience for each type of job.
This guide covers Saturday jobs, evening and weekend shifts, and holiday work for school, sixth form, college and university students in the UK, with three worked examples. If you've never written a CV at all, start with how to write your first CV, then come back here to tailor it.
What part-time employers actually look for
A manager hiring for weekend shifts has a rota to fill. Your CV is competing on practical things more than impressive things:
- Availability. Can you cover the shifts they need, including the awkward ones (Sunday mornings, late evenings, December)?
- Reliability. Will you turn up for every shift and give notice if you can't?
- Customer manner. Are you polite, calm and confident talking to strangers?
- Quick learning. Can you pick up the till, the coffee machine or the stock system in a shift or two?
- Staying power. Training someone takes time, so they'd rather hire someone who will stay for the school year, the whole degree or at least the season.
- Living nearby. Your town on the CV tells them you can get there easily.
Grades matter less here than for college or apprenticeship applications. That's good news: things like volunteering, sport and responsibilities at home can carry the CV.
Add an availability section (many student CVs miss this)
Availability is one of the most useful things you can add to a part-time job CV, and it's often missing. Put it near the top, under your profile, as a short list:
Availability
Term time: Saturdays and Sundays (any shift), Wednesday and Friday evenings from 4pm
School holidays: full-time, Monday to Saturday
Can start: immediately
A few rules make this section work for you rather than against you:
- Be honest. Don't claim you're free every weekend if you have football on Saturday mornings. A manager who rotas you on and finds out you can't come is worse off than one who knew from the start.
- Mention exam periods at interview rather than on the CV. Employers who hire students are used to requests for time off around exams. Ask how they handle it.
- Say when you can start. "Immediately" or "from 1 December" helps for seasonal jobs.
- Uni students: say whether you'll be around in the holidays. "Available all year, staying in Manchester over the summer" is a real advantage when many students go home.
If you're under 16, there are legal limits on the hours and times you can work, and some councils require a work permit. Check the GOV.UK rules on child employment before you apply, so your availability matches what an employer is allowed to offer.
Tailor your CV to the type of job
You don't need a new CV for every application, but you should adjust the profile and the order of your experience for each kind of job. Here's what to bring forward for the most common student jobs.
Shops and supermarkets
Lead with anything involving cash, customers, stock or busy periods. Useful lines: serving at a school fair or tuck shop, a charity shop shift, a family business, a stall at a car boot sale. Shops also value people who'll work the busiest weeks, so mention December and January availability. For the kind of language shop employers use, the retail sales assistant CV example is a useful reference, even though yours will be shorter.
Cafes, restaurants and takeaways
Hospitality managers want speed, teamwork and good hygiene habits. Bring forward anything with food (Food Preparation and Nutrition GCSE, cooking at home for the family, a food hygiene certificate if you have one), working fast under pressure (sport, events), and working in a team. If you've used a coffee machine or a card reader anywhere, say so. The barista CV example shows how cafe experience is written up.
Tutoring, childcare and leisure centres
These jobs care more about your grades, your patience and whether you can be trusted with children. Put education higher, list your strongest subjects with grades, and include babysitting, coaching, reading buddies or helping at a holiday club. Some roles will need a DBS check, which the employer arranges.
Christmas and summer temp jobs
Seasonal employers often start recruiting well before the busy period and hire fast. Make your dates crystal clear ("available full-time from 12 December to 4 January"), keep the CV short, and apply in the first week you see adverts.
Three part-time job CV examples
These three students are fictional, but their experience is typical. Each example shows the top of the CV (the part that changes most between jobs) plus one experience entry.
Example 1: Sixth form student applying to a supermarket
JAMAL HUSSAIN
Bradford | 07700 900317 | jamal.hussain@example.comProfile
Year 12 student studying A levels in Maths, Economics and Geography, looking for part-time customer assistant work. I help out in my uncle's corner shop most weekends, so I'm used to serving customers, restocking shelves and handling cash and card payments. Happy to work evenings and weekends.Availability
Term time: Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 5pm, Saturdays and Sundays
Holidays: any dayExperience
Shop assistant (family business), Bradford | 2024 to present
- Serve customers and take cash and card payments on Saturdays and some weekday evenings
- Unpack deliveries, rotate stock and check dates so older stock sells first
- Open up with my uncle on Sunday mornings and get the shop ready by 8am
Why it works: helping in a family business counts as real retail experience, and Jamal describes it in the same terms a supermarket uses (rotating stock, card payments, opening up).
Example 2: University student applying to a cafe
SOPHIE BENNETT
Manchester (term address) | 07700 900655 | sophie.bennett@example.comProfile
Second-year Psychology student at the University of Manchester looking for 12 to 16 hours a week as a barista or cafe team member. Last summer I worked full-time in a busy seaside ice cream kiosk, serving long queues on my own at quiet times and in a team of four at peak times. I'm staying in Manchester over the summer and can work all year.Availability
Term time: Monday and Wednesday from 1pm, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays
Holidays: full-time, including summerExperience
Seasonal sales assistant, ice cream kiosk, Scarborough | June to September 2026
- Served customers in queues of up to 30 people at peak times, keeping the counter clean and stocked
- Cashed up the till and completed the end-of-day checklist on my own when the manager was off
- Trained two new starters on the card machine and food safety routines
Why it works: Sophie answers the cafe manager's biggest worry (will she disappear for the summer?) in her profile, and shows speed, teamwork and trust in three bullets. For a fuller university student CV, with part-time work, a society role and volunteering, see the student CV example.
Example 3: College student applying for Christmas temp work
OWEN DAVIES
Cardiff | 07700 900941 | owen.davies@example.comProfile
BTEC Level 3 Sport student looking for Christmas temp work in retail. I coach an under-9s football team every Saturday morning and help run the club's tuck shop on match days. Friendly, confident with parents and children, and available full-time over the Christmas break.Availability
From 15 December to 5 January: any day, any shift
Before 15 December: Saturday afternoons and SundaysExperience
Volunteer assistant coach, junior football club, Cardiff | September 2025 to present
- Help plan and run weekly training for 14 players aged 8 and 9
- Run the match-day tuck shop with another volunteer, handling cash and keeping a record of sales
Why it works: Owen has never had a paid job, but his volunteering shows responsibility, cash handling and confidence with the public, and his dates make him easy to rota.
Education: keep it short
For most part-time jobs, education goes after experience and takes two or three lines: where you study, what you're studying, and your GCSE grades for English and Maths (or a summary such as "8 GCSEs, grades 9 to 5"). University students can drop GCSE detail entirely and list A level or BTEC results instead. The exception is tutoring and childcare, where your grades are part of what you're selling.
How to apply: online, by email and in person
- Big chains (supermarkets, high street retailers, coffee chains) usually ask you to apply through their careers website, often with an online form rather than a CV upload. Keep your CV open and copy your best lines into the form.
- Independent shops, cafes and local businesses are more likely to take a CV by email or by hand. Ask for the manager by name if you can.
- Handing it in: go at a quiet time (mid-morning or mid-afternoon on a weekday, never the lunch rush), print on plain white paper, and introduce yourself in one sentence: "Hi, I'm looking for weekend work and wondered if I could leave my CV for the manager."
- Follow up once, a week later, by phone or in person.
If an employer asks for a cover letter or a covering email, keep it to four or five sentences. Our cover letter examples include one written for a part-time job.
Know what you'll be paid
Minimum wage rates in the UK depend on your age and usually change each April, so check the current National Minimum Wage rates on GOV.UK rather than relying on a figure you've heard from a friend. Children who are still of school age aren't entitled to the minimum wage at all, so if you're 14 or 15, ask what the job pays before you start.
Before the interview
Part-time job interviews are usually short and friendly, but they still ask the classic questions: why do you want to work here, tell me about a time you dealt with someone difficult, how would you handle a long queue. Re-read your own CV so you can talk about every line, and have one example ready for each of reliability, teamwork and customer service. Our interview preparation guide walks through the common questions and how to answer them.
Part-time job CV checklist
- One page, with your name, town, mobile and a sensible email at the top
- A profile that names the type of job and the hours you want
- An availability section with days, times, holidays and a start date
- Experience (paid or unpaid) with bullets that mention customers, cash, stock or teamwork
- Education in two or three lines (more for tutoring and childcare)
- No age, date of birth or photo
- Profile and order adjusted for shop, hospitality or seasonal work
- Saved as a PDF with your name in the file name, and a few printed copies for handing in
Want a second pair of eyes? Get your CV scored for free: add the job you're applying for and you'll see a CV Score out of 100 with the top fixes for that role. No CV yet? Make your first CV in about 10 minutes with Mojo's guided builder, then tailor it with this guide.