Placement CV Example
Updated 22 June 2026
A placement CV is your ticket to a year in industry, and it needs to work harder than a graduate CV because you are competing on potential, not polish. This guide shows you how to write a one-page placement CV that proves you are ready to learn, contribute, and hit the ground running, with real examples and sector-specific advice grounded in what placement recruiters actually screen for.
Placement CV examples
Second-Year Engineering Placement CV
entryLeads with a strong education section, uses academic projects as proof of applied skills, and tailors the personal statement to a specific sector.
Third-Year Computer Science Placement CV
midBalances technical projects with evidenced soft skills, tailors the personal statement to a specific employer, and uses part-time work to demonstrate reliability.
Final-Year Business Placement CV
seniorDemonstrates leadership through extracurricular roles, uses metrics to quantify impact, and tailors the personal statement to a specific consultancy placement.
How to write a placement CV
A placement CV follows reverse-chronological order and fits on one page (two at most, with the critical information on page one). Recruiters scan student CVs in seconds, so clarity and relevance beat creativity every time.
The right structure for a placement CV
| Section | What to include | Junior (Year 2) | Senior (Year 3+) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal statement | 3-5 sentences: who you are, why this sector, what you want to learn | Lead with degree and year; mention one strong module or project | Lead with degree classification and specific career goal |
| Education | Current degree, expected graduation, relevant modules, grades (if 2:1+), key projects | This is your load-bearing section; list modules and project outcomes in detail | Still important but can be more concise if you have strong experience |
| Experience and achievements | Paid work, volunteering, society roles, academic projects | Mix part-time jobs with academic projects; use projects to prove technical skills | Lead with leadership roles and consultancy projects; part-time work supports but does not lead |
| Skills | Hard skills (tools, languages) and soft skills (backed with evidence) | 8-12 skills; balance technical with transferable | 10-14 skills; weight toward role-specific tools and methodologies |
| Additional information | Languages, interests, volunteering (only if relevant) | Include if it adds a skill or shows commitment | Include if it demonstrates leadership or sector interest |
Use consistent formatting: one font (a professional sans-serif like Calibri or Arial), clear section headings, and bullet points instead of paragraphs. Save and send as a PDF unless the application portal specifies otherwise. Run the final version past your university careers service before you send it, it is free, placement-aware, and most schemes expect that level of polish.
The personal statement, education, and experience sections carry the detail; the dedicated sections below show you exactly how to write each one.
Personal statement examples
Third-year Computer Science student at the University of Manchester with experience in full-stack development and cloud deployment. Completed a year-long group project building a web application for local charities, deployed on AWS. Seeking a software engineering placement at a fintech company to apply my skills in scalable backend systems and learn industry best practices in agile development.
Motivated and passionate Computer Science student looking for a placement to gain experience and develop my skills. I am a hard worker with excellent communication and teamwork abilities. I am eager to learn and contribute to a dynamic team.
Writing your experience
Placement recruiters want proof you can apply what you have learned, not a list of duties. Every bullet should follow the pattern: action verb + what you did + measurable result.
Before and after: turning duties into achievements
| Weak (duty-focused) | Strong (result-focused) |
|---|---|
| Responsible for designing a suspension system for a Formula Student car. | Led a team of six students to design and manufacture a suspension system, reducing component weight by 12% through iterative FEA testing in ANSYS. |
| Worked on a group project to build a web application. | Built a full-stack web application in React and Node.js, deployed to AWS EC2, serving 120 active users during a three-month pilot. |
| Helped customers at a retail job. | Handled an average of 150 customer transactions per shift, maintaining accuracy under pressure during peak hours and training three new team members. |
Action verbs for placement CVs: Led, coordinated, built, deployed, designed, analysed, presented, secured, reduced, increased, implemented, trained, delivered, organised, managed.
Reframe the experience section to hold more than paid work
Call it "Experience and achievements" instead of "Work experience" so you can legitimately include:
- Academic projects: Coursework, dissertations, group projects. These are your strongest proof of applied ability. Say what you built, the tools you used, and the outcome (e.g. "built a REST API in C# and deployed it to AWS EC2, achieving 200ms average response time").
- Society and committee roles: Captain of a sports team, treasurer of a society, organiser of an event. These demonstrate leadership, teamwork, and project management. Quantify where you can (e.g. "organised a conference for 250 attendees, managing a budget of £8,000").
- Part-time and retail jobs: These prove reliability, customer service, and working under pressure. Frame them around transferable skills (e.g. "handled a busy till" becomes "processed 150 transactions per shift, maintaining accuracy under pressure").
- Volunteering: Tutoring, mentoring, charity work. Include if it demonstrates a skill relevant to the placement (e.g. teaching coding to kids proves communication and technical knowledge).
List everything in reverse-chronological order, most recent first. For each entry, include 3-4 bullet points with concrete outcomes. If you have no formal work experience yet, lead with academic projects and society roles, placement employers expect early-career CVs and want to see enthusiasm and applied learning, not a polished job history.
Key skills & ATS keywords
Hard skills
Soft skills
ATS keywords
Education & certifications
For a placement CV, education is the load-bearing section that compensates for thin work history. List your current degree first, in this order:
- Degree title and institution: e.g. "BSc (Hons) Computer Science, University of Manchester".
- Expected graduation date: e.g. "Expected June 2027".
- Current average or classification: Only include if you are on track for a 2:1 or First (e.g. "Current average: 71% (First)"). If you are below a 2:1, omit this line.
- Relevant modules and grades: List 4-6 modules that match the placement role, with unit grades if they are 2:1 or higher (e.g. "Software Engineering (78%), Databases (74%)").
- Key projects: Bullet-point the outcomes of your strongest coursework or dissertation. Say what you built, the tools you used, and the result (e.g. "Group project: Designed a pneumatic lifting mechanism, achieving a 20% improvement in cycle time over the baseline design").
Then list your A-Levels (or equivalent) with grades, and any other qualifications in reverse-chronological order. If you have relevant certifications (e.g. AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, Google Analytics, a PRINCE2 Foundation), list them in a separate "Achievements" or "Certifications" section.
What to include in the education section:
- Dissertation or final-year project topic (if relevant to the placement).
- Awards or scholarships (e.g. "Dean's List", "Academic Excellence Scholarship").
- Study abroad or exchange programmes (if they demonstrate adaptability or language skills).
What to leave out:
- GCSEs (unless the placement advert specifically asks for them, or you have no A-Levels).
- Modules with low grades (below 60%).
- Irrelevant coursework (e.g. a philosophy module on a software engineering CV).
Common mistakes to avoid
Sending the same generic CV to every placement without tailoring it to the job description.
Pull the named technologies, tools, and competencies from each placement advert and mirror them with concrete evidence from your coursework, projects, and part-time work. ATS systems and recruiters both screen for keywords.
Listing soft skills (teamwork, communication, leadership) with no evidence or context.
Back each soft skill with a specific instance. Instead of 'excellent teamwork skills', write 'coordinated a team of four on a group module using shared task boards, delivering the project two days early'.
Writing a personal statement full of buzzwords like 'motivated', 'passionate', and 'driven' without saying why this employer or sector.
State who you are (degree and year), why this specific placement and company, and what you want to apply and learn. Research the employer and tailor every word.
Burying academic projects at the bottom or leaving them out entirely because they 'weren't real jobs'.
For a placement CV, coursework projects are your strongest proof of applied ability. Describe what you built, the tools you used, and the outcome, and put them in the 'Experience and achievements' section alongside paid work.
Dismissing part-time retail or hospitality jobs as irrelevant and leaving them off the CV.
Part-time jobs prove reliability, teamwork, and customer-facing skills. Frame them around transferable competencies relevant to the placement (e.g. 'handled a busy till' becomes 'processed 150 transactions per shift, maintaining accuracy under pressure').
Applying too late in the placement cycle (February or March) when most schemes have closed or filled their places.
Most UK placement schemes open September to January. Polish your CV and start applying at the very start of second year (Level 5). Set up job alerts and check company websites weekly.
Junior vs senior: what changes
| Aspect | Junior | Senior |
|---|---|---|
| Personal statement | Leads with degree and year of study; mentions one strong module or project; focuses on eagerness to learn. | Leads with degree classification and specific career goal; references a consultancy project or leadership role; focuses on applying skills in a professional setting. |
| Education section | Load-bearing section with detailed module list, project outcomes, and grades to compensate for thin work history. | Still important but more concise; highlights dissertation topic and classification; relies more on experience section. |
| Experience section | Mix of part-time jobs, academic projects, and one or two society roles; academic projects carry the technical proof. | Leads with leadership roles (society president, team captain), consultancy projects, and internships; part-time work supports but does not lead. |
| Skills | 8-12 skills; balance between technical (languages, tools) and transferable (teamwork, time management); fewer certifications. | 10-14 skills; weighted toward role-specific tools and methodologies; may include one or two industry certifications (e.g. AWS, Google Analytics). |
| Achievements and extracurriculars | Volunteering, sports participation, or hackathon attendance; demonstrates enthusiasm and breadth. | Leadership roles (captain, committee chair), competition wins, published work, or significant volunteering; demonstrates impact and responsibility. |
| Metrics and outcomes | Metrics focus on academic results (project grades, module scores) and small-scale impact (e.g. 'trained two new team members'). | Metrics focus on scale and leadership (e.g. 'managed a budget of £8,000', 'led a team of 12', 'increased ticket sales by 30%'). |