CV example

School Leaver CV Example

School leaver CV example with no paid work history, built from A Levels, work experience, volunteering and the DofE Award. A strong start for a first job.

Illustrative example written with AI. The person is fictional, and employer names are used for realism only.

  • Early Careers
  • Entry level
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Roles3
Skills16
Years of experience3
Qualifications2
Same content, four looks.

Ethan Clarke

School Leaver

Profile

Motivated school leaver with A Levels in Maths, Physics and Business, looking for an engineering or business apprenticeship or a first full-time role. Shows reliability through two years of weekly volunteering, teamwork from the Duke of Edinburgh's Silver Award, and a week of work experience in an engineering firm's planning office. Quick to learn, good with numbers, confident with Excel, and keen to earn while training towards a qualification.

Experience

Work Experience Placement (1 week)Jul 2025
Trentvale Engineering Ltd, Stoke-on-Trent

A week in the production planning office of a 120-person precision engineering company.

  • Shadowed the planning team as they scheduled around 300 jobs a week across 18 machines
  • Updated a stock spreadsheet in Excel and spotted 2 parts recorded in the wrong location
  • Joined a health and safety walk-round and a shift briefing on the shop floor
  • Presented a 5-minute summary of the week to the operations manager
  • Wrote a one-page summary of how the team prioritised urgent orders, shared with the planning manager
Volunteer Shop AssistantSep 2024 – Present
Hope Street Hospice Shop, Hanley

Saturday volunteer in a busy charity shop on the high street, started as the volunteering section of the DofE Award.

  • Volunteer 4 hours every Saturday, missing only 2 weeks in 2 years
  • Sort and price around 150 donated items a shift, and serve customers on the till
  • Helped set up the shop's first online listings, raising around £600 from collectable items
  • Showed 3 newer volunteers how to use the till and price stock
Volunteer Assistant CoachSep 2023 – May 2025
Trentham Juniors FC, Stoke-on-Trent

Sunday morning volunteer coach for an under-9s football team.

  • Helped run training sessions and matches for a squad of 14 children
  • Planned warm-ups and drills with the head coach, and kept the kit and equipment organised

Skills

  • Numeracy
  • Microsoft Excel and Word
  • Teamwork
  • Reliability and Punctuality
  • Customer Service
  • Cash Handling
  • Communication
  • Problem Solving
  • Time Management
  • Willingness to Learn
  • Presenting to a Group
  • Basic CAD (from GCSE Design and Technology)
  • Organisation
  • Following Health and Safety Rules
  • Coaching and Encouraging Others
  • Leadership

Education

A Levels: Maths (B), Business (B), Physics (C)Hartshill Park Sixth Form, Stoke-on-Trent (2024–2026)
GCSEs: 9 subjects at grades 9 to 4, including Maths (7), English Language (6), Combined Science (6-6) and Design and Technology (7)Hartshill Park Academy, Stoke-on-Trent (2019–2024)

Certifications

  • The Duke of Edinburgh's Award: Silver
  • Emergency First Aid (1-day course)
  • Provisional Driving Licence (theory test passed)
  • FA Introduction to Coaching Football
TipsCV

How to adapt this school leaver CV

  • Open with a short profile: the job you want, what you have studied or done so far, and one or two strengths you can back up.
  • Little or no paid experience? Part-time work, volunteering, projects and placements all count. Say what you did and what changed because of it.
  • Keep education near the top while it is your strongest selling point, with relevant modules, grades or projects.
  • Match your skills to each advert. This example leads with Numeracy, Microsoft Excel and Word and Teamwork; keep the ones that are true for you, in the employer's own words.

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