New Zealand student CV template

What goes first when you haven’t had a job

Tahatū, the government’s careers service, suggests a skills-focused CV for school leavers and anyone with little or no work experience. Its school-leaver template runs in this order, and this template follows it:

• Personal statement: a short summary of you and the job you’re after
• Key skills that match the job ad
• Education and qualifications
• Paid work, if you have any
• Workplace training and volunteer work, such as a Gateway placement or community work
• Achievements, interests and referees

How to write your NCEA results

Tahatū says to list your NCEA level, the subjects you took and any endorsements. Write the highest level you have finished, then the one you’re working on: “NCEA Level 3 (in progress)”. Employers hiring students for part-time work rarely need your credit totals or a list of standards.

Endorsements are worth naming, because they’re harder to get. NZQA endorses a certificate with Merit or Excellence when you earn 50 credits at that grade or higher, at the level of the certificate or above. A course endorsement needs 14 or more credits at Merit or Excellence in one course in a single school year, with at least 3 from internal and 3 from external assessment. Certificate endorsements are worked out each January, when external results come out, so a Year 13 applying in March can include last year’s.

At university or polytechnic, put your current course first and keep school to one or two lines. Wellington Careers and Employment suggests listing school only if you finished in the last few years, with achievements and leadership roles from your final year only.

Turning school, sport and volunteering into evidence

With no job history, your activities do the work a job history would. Tahatū says to include volunteer roles and interests that show skills an employer wants, like leadership, and to leave out common ones like watching TV. Wellington Careers and Employment adds positions of responsibility (class representative, team captain, coach) and helping out family and friends.

For each activity, write what you did, how much or how often, and what it shows. “Netball” tells an employer nothing. “Coach a team of 9 players aged 9 and 10 every Saturday” shows you turn up, you’re patient and you can talk to parents. Handling cash at a school fair, a Young Enterprise company or a Duke of Ed volunteering section all count. So does unpaid work through Gateway, which Tahatū lists as workplace learning. Student Job Search gives the same advice for students short on work history: put leadership roles, volunteering and awards forward.

Then make your key skills match. If you list “cash handling”, an activity further down should show where you did it.

Availability and work rights

Part-time employers roster around your hours, so put them on the line below your name: the days and times you can work, and whether you can do more in the school or university holidays. No official source requires this on a CV. It’s common practice, the sample application form in Tahatū’s workbook asks when you can start, and it saves the employer a phone call.

Offer only hours you’re allowed to work. Employment New Zealand says school-aged students under 16 can work only outside school hours, and not between 10 pm and 6 am.

New Zealand citizens and residents can say so in a few words. On a student visa, Immigration New Zealand allows Year 12 and 13 students aged 16 or over to work up to 25 hours a week during the school year, with written permission from their school and parents. Full-time tertiary students can usually work up to 25 hours a week in term. Check your own visa conditions and state them, for example “Student visa: up to 25 hours a week in term”.

Referees when you’ve never had a boss

Tahatū asks for at least two referees. If you’ve worked, one should be a manager or supervisor. If you haven’t, it names a sports coach, teacher or church leader as people who know you well. Its job-application workbook calls these character referees and adds community leaders and course tutors. Wellington Careers and Employment also suggests a fellow club member or a university staff member.

A parent you babysit for regularly can speak to how reliable you are. Avoid your own family and friends, which is usual practice, not a rule. Ask each referee before you name them, and tell them which job you’ve applied for. Tahatū says “Referees available on request” is fine unless the ad asks for names.

What to leave off, and how long to make it

• Your age and date of birth. The Human Rights Commission says employers shouldn’t ask your age, and the Human Rights Act protects you from age discrimination from 16. Some jobs have a legal minimum age, and an application form may ask if you’re over 18. Answer it there.
• Your IRD number. Inland Revenue asks you to give it to your employer on a tax code declaration (IR330) when you start the job, not before.
• A photo. Wellington Careers and Employment calls it optional; most New Zealand employers don’t expect one.
• Length: Tahatū and the Ministry of Education’s School Leavers’ Toolkit say two pages at most. That’s a limit, not a target. With little work history, one full page reads better than two thin ones.
• Use a PDF file named with your first and last name and “CV”, as Tahatū suggests: hana-walker-CV.pdf.