Examples & writing guide
Placement CV example and writing guide
Updated 22 June 2026
A strong placement CV turns university work, part-time jobs and extracurricular activities into evidence that you can contribute in a professional setting. This guide provides a practical placement CV example framework for students applying for a year in industry or another degree-integrated placement.
Examples by experience level
Placement Student CV
TemplateNavy Atlas4 / 5
Why this works
This placement CV sample connects degree projects and part-time work to measurable evidence of analysis, teamwork and practical problem-solving.
Continue writing your CVIndustrial Placement Student CV
TemplateAshford1 / 5
Why this works
This placement CV example connects university projects, part-time work and current industry experience through specific, defensible results.
Continue writing your CVSenior Placement Candidate
TemplateGrey Frame5 / 5
Why this works
This placement CV sample shows leadership, commercial awareness and measurable delivery across internships, university projects and part-time work.
Continue writing your CVJunior vs senior: what changes
| Aspect | Junior | Senior |
|---|---|---|
| Evidence base | Leads with degree work, part-time employment, volunteering and student activities, translating them into evidence relevant to a first placement. | Leads with substantial placement or internship evidence, then uses education selectively to support specialist knowledge. |
| Personal statement | Connects the course, target placement and two or three proven transferable or technical strengths without claiming professional authority. | Defines a clearer specialism and summarises responsibility, project scope and outcomes from previous workplace experience. |
| Experience bullets | Explains personal contributions to small projects, customer work or university assignments and gives modest, defensible measures of scope. | Shows ownership of workstreams, coordination with colleagues or clients, competing priorities and measurable delivery outcomes. |
| Skills presentation | Prioritises skills demonstrated through modules, projects and employment, with enough context to make classroom experience credible. | Prioritises applied methods, stakeholder work, project delivery and judgement developed through sustained workplace practice. |
| Education | Places education near the top because the degree, relevant modules and assessed projects provide much of the evidence. | Usually places experience first when previous placement work is more persuasive, while retaining concise degree and project details. |
| Professional development | Shows curiosity, reflection and a realistic plan for developing through the placement. | Shows how reflection changed working methods, improved later performance or informed the next stage of professional development. |
How to write a placement CV
Use a clean, reverse-chronological layout that a recruiter can scan quickly. Two pages is a sensible maximum, although one well-filled page can work when you have limited experience. Put your name and contact details first, followed by a tailored personal statement, education, experience, projects or activities, skills and relevant extras. Do not include a photo or date of birth.
| Section | What to include |
|---|---|
| Personal statement | Your degree stage, target placement area and two or three pieces of relevant evidence |
| Education | Degree title, university, dates, expected result if appropriate, and selected modules or projects |
| Experience | Paid work, internships, volunteering and positions of responsibility, with recent entries first |
| Projects and activities | Coursework, society work or personal projects that prove useful skills |
| Skills | Technical tools, methods and practical abilities you can support with examples |
| Extras | Relevant languages, interests, awards or volunteering |
Keep the personal statement specific to the placement. A recruiter should be able to see what you study, the work you want and why your existing evidence transfers. In the experience section, focus on outcomes rather than copying routine duties from a job description. Retail, hospitality and campus roles can demonstrate reliability, communication and organisation when the bullets explain what you handled and what changed.
Use the skills section as an index, then prove the strongest skills elsewhere. Your education section can carry more weight than it would on an experienced candidate's CV, so give useful detail about relevant assignments without listing every module. Extras should earn their space by showing responsibility, sustained interest or evidence related to the application.
A placement year can develop transferable skills, add work experience to a CV and help a student build a professional network. Treat a placement CV template as a structure, not a script: adapt the wording and evidence for each advert.
Personal statement examples
Second-year mechanical engineering student seeking a year-in-industry placement, with practical experience testing a prototype assembly and analysing results for a team design project. Combined a part-time customer service role with university deadlines, and now looking to apply careful problem solving, technical writing and collaborative working in an engineering team.
Hard-working student looking for a placement at a good company. I have excellent communication and teamwork skills, learn quickly and would be suitable for many different roles.
Writing your experience
Placement recruiters do not expect a long professional history, but they still need evidence. Draw it from part-time work, university projects, volunteering, student societies and short internships. For each bullet, use a simple pattern: action, scope and result. State what you did, give enough context to show its difficulty, then add a defensible number or concrete outcome.
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Helped with a university project | Coordinated task tracking for a five-person design project, helping the team submit all six deliverables by their deadlines |
| Served customers in a busy shop | Handled up to 45 customer transactions per shift while maintaining accurate cash and card records |
| Analysed survey data | Cleaned and compared 320 survey responses, then presented three findings that shaped the team's final recommendation |
The stronger versions do not inflate the underlying work. They make its scale and result visible. If you cannot support a percentage, use another honest measure: the number of records checked, team size, weekly workload, deadline met, error count reduced or feedback received. Never reverse-engineer a number simply because a placement CV sample contains one.
Open bullets with direct verbs such as analysed, built, calculated, coordinated, drafted, improved, investigated, organised, presented, resolved, tested or validated. Choose the verb that describes your own contribution. "Supported" is useful when you genuinely assisted, but repeated use can make the candidate sound passive.
For technical projects, explain the problem before naming the tool. "Used Python" says less than "Used Python to clean 1,200 sensor readings and identify four anomalous batches for review." For customer-facing work, connect pace or volume with accuracy, service or problem resolution. For society roles, record attendance, budget, event scale or delivery against a deadline.
Some industrial placements involve applying technical skills to real-life business problems, while project engineering work can include testing procedures or machines to validate equipment and processes. A compulsory course placement may also involve a report, reflective log, specified tasks or another assessed activity. Include that work only when it matches your route and experience, and describe the output rather than assuming every placement uses the same assessment model.
Keep the most relevant evidence near the top of each entry. Two strong roles with specific bullets are more persuasive than a long list of unexplained activities. Read every bullet aloud before submitting: if it describes only a duty, add the scope, purpose or outcome.
Key skills & ATS keywords
Hard skills
Soft skills
ATS keywords
Education & certifications
For most student applicants, education belongs near the top of the placement CV because it supplies much of the relevant evidence. List your current degree first, with the institution, start date and expected completion date. Add an expected classification only when your university has provided one or you can describe it accurately. Beneath the degree, select a few modules, assignments or laboratory projects that relate directly to the advert. Explain what you produced, tested or analysed instead of filling the section with module titles.
A placement year may be an optional route that changes a three-year course into a four-year Degree with Placement Year. State the exact course title shown by your institution and make clear whether the placement is planned, under way or completed. Do not present an intended award as one you already hold.
Students completing some placement-year routes gain a Diploma in Professional Studies (DPS) or a Diploma in Industrial Studies (DIS). Include either award only if it applies to your course, and copy the exact title from your official record. Place a completed award under education or achievements; label an unfinished one clearly as expected rather than completed.
Industrial placement students are required to complete a formal induction by the end of the second week and complete health and safety documents when starting the placement. These are onboarding requirements, not qualifications to advertise as credentials. Mention completed training only when it adds useful evidence and you can name it accurately.
Do not add unrelated online certificates merely to lengthen the CV. Where an advert asks for a role-specific qualification, reproduce its wording accurately and state your real status without implying that you have completed it. Earlier school qualifications can be condensed once your degree and university evidence are stronger, but retain any subject or result that directly supports the application.
Common mistakes to avoid
AvoidUsing one generic placement CV for every sector, with a personal statement that never connects the degree, modules or projects to the advertised work.
InsteadTailor the opening and evidence to each placement. Name the relevant subject knowledge, then show where you applied it in coursework, employment, volunteering or a student project.
AvoidListing modules, duties or software without showing what the candidate did with them.
InsteadTurn each claim into evidence. State the task, your contribution and a defensible result, such as the size of a dataset, number of users, deadline met or reduction in errors.
AvoidTreating part-time work as irrelevant because it is outside the target sector.
InsteadUse part-time work to prove transferable skills such as handling competing tasks, communicating with different people, checking accuracy and contributing within a team.
AvoidOverstating group-project ownership by writing every result as an individual achievement.
InsteadSeparate the team's outcome from your own contribution. Use wording such as "worked in a team of five" followed by the analysis, testing, writing or presentation work you personally completed.
AvoidPacking the skills section with unsupported traits such as "excellent communicator" or "hard-working".
InsteadKeep the skills list concise and support the strongest claims elsewhere with a specific project, job, society role or volunteering example.
AvoidUsing invented, estimated or borrowed figures to make limited experience sound stronger.
InsteadInclude only figures you can defend. If no useful number exists, give concrete scope through the audience, process, deliverable, deadline or problem addressed.
Frequently asked questions
For most students, one or two pages is enough. Use the space earned by your evidence: a concise one-page CV can suit limited experience, while two pages can accommodate relevant projects, part-time work and activities without cramped formatting.
Use assessed projects, laboratory or technical work, part-time jobs, volunteering and society responsibilities. Explain what you personally did and connect that evidence to the placement, especially where you applied knowledge, solved a problem, worked with others or evaluated your performance.
No. Under British CV conventions, use the space for evidence and leave out both a photograph and date of birth.
The core history can stay consistent, but the personal statement, skills order and strongest evidence should reflect the advertised placement. Tailoring means selecting truthful examples that fit the work, not changing facts or inflating results.
Do not add certificates simply to fill space. Include a named credential only when you genuinely hold it and it is relevant; otherwise, give more room to your degree work, projects and practical evidence, and check whether the advert asks for a role-specific qualification.
Make the reason for the move clear in the personal statement, then translate earlier employment into relevant evidence such as task management, client communication, analysis or accurate delivery. Keep the chronology honest and use recent study or projects to show readiness for the new field.
From example to application
Turn this placement example into a CV that sounds like you.
Keep the structure that works. Tailor the details around your experience, strengths, and the role you want.