Recent graduates
If you are a recent graduate, you should start by looking at the skills you picked up during your studies, or through any internships, volunteer work or any relevant jobs you had as a student. You can use the following:
- Your degree (If you didn’t go to a Danish school, you’re probably going to need to go into some detail about what your degree entails.)
- Major projects or written assignments you completed
- Relevant courses, classes, modules or assignments
- Study-abroad periods
- Internships
- Relevant work experience.
It’s important to describe in detail how the skills you list relate to what the employer is looking for. It should be clear what competencies the experience you mention has given you. What was the focus of a given project or written assignment? Is there a common thread running through the things you mention? Explain how you planned out your study-abroad period or what you did to get your internship and what your responsibilities were.
Example from a CV:
- Bachelor’s in management, master’s in international studies
- Thesis topic: human rights; experience from multiple projects relating to foreign aid and development
- Spanish and Portuguese language skills
- Independently organised research trip to Angola in connection with thesis
- Graduate programme at UN Headquarters in New York; internship with the United Nations Development Programme (responsibilities included: producing brochures about child labour)
- Study abroad in Spain; resulted in a better understanding of different societies, a more international outlook and an ability to adapt to unfamiliar situations.
The individual above is applying for jobs with humanitarian organisations, and has sought to tailor their CV by choosing to highlight internationally oriented activities and activities that relate to humanitarian work.
Relevant work experience
More often than not, students have some kind of practical experience that can help them land their first job. You may have experience from volunteering or part-time work. The important thing is that you start out by listing what responsibilities you had or what projects you worked on, the role you played and how this will benefit an employer.
The importance Danish employers place on relevant work experience can come as a surprise for foreign students. Many Danish students work in jobs that relate to their studies in some way so they can improve their chances of getting a job after they graduate. If you studied in a country that doesn’t have a similar focus on work experience, it might be a good idea to explain that to a potential employer. Otherwise, they might assume that it shows a lack of initiative on your part. Instead display your motivation by mentioning the other activities you participated in. Remember that there are many ways to gain experience: part-time jobs, summer jobs, internships, mentoring, teaching assistant etc.
Consider the following example:
You’ve been working as a bartender at a campus bar for the past three years. Your job was to serve customers, create a pleasant atmosphere, keep the bar stocked, cash up at the end of the night and clean up. At one point, you were the bar’s most experienced employee and were made responsible for training new employees and drawing up the schedule for the other bartenders.
What did being a bartender teach you? What competencies will you be able to take to another job?
If you still need help, try answering these questions:
- What would your classmates say are your three best qualities?
- What would a former boss or supervisor say are your three best qualities? Your three worst?
- What competencies do you tend to overlook when you introduce yourself to others?
- What types of assignments do you find interesting? Did you have to work with others? What was your role? What went particularly well?
- What do you not want to do in your next job?
Recent graduates can benefit as much from using success stories as anyone else.