Your environmental graduate CV should be a testament to your dedication to sustainability and your academic accomplishments.
Our guide will help you plant the seeds for a blossoming environmental career, with a graduate example to nurture your job prospects.
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Environmental Graduate CV example
Use this CV example as a guide to formatting and structuring your Environmental Graduate CV, so that busy recruiters can easily digest your information and determine your suitability for the role.
It also provides some insight into the key skills, experience and qualifications you need to highlight.
Environmental Graduate CV format and structure
In a highly competitive job market, recruiters and employers are often inundated with applications. If they can’t find what they’re looking for in your CV quickly, they may skip past your application and move on to the next one in their inbox
So, it’s crucial to structure and format your CV in a way that enables them to find your essential details with ease, even if they’re pressed for time.
Tips for formatting your Environmental Graduate CV
- Length: Even if you’ve got tons of experience to brag about, recruiters don’t have time to read through overly lengthy CVs. Keep it short, concise and relevant – a CV length of 2 sides of A4 pages or less is perfect for the attention spans in today’s job market.
- Readability: By clearly formatting your section headings (bold, or a different colour font, do the trick) and breaking up big chunks of text into snappy bullet points, time-strapped recruiters will be able to skim through your CV with ease.
- Design & format: While it’s important that your CV design looks good, it also needs to be functional (which means easy for recruiters to read) Keep the design simple to achieve a good balance between looking good and reading well.
- Photos: You can add a profile photo to your CV, if you want to add some personality to it, but they are not a requirement the UK, so you don’t have to.
Quick tip: Creating a professional CV style can be difficult and time-consuming when using Microsoft Word or Google Docs. To create a winning CV quickly, try our quick-and-easy CV Builder and use one of their eye-catching professional CV templates.
CV structure
When writing your own CV, break up your CV content into the following key sections:
- Name and contact details – Place them at the top of your CV, so that employers can easily get in touch.
- CV profile – A punchy sales pitch of your key experience, skills and achievements to reel readers in.
- Core skills section – A bullet-pointed snapshot of your abilities.
- Work experience – A well-structured list of your relevant work experience.
- Education – An overview of any relevant qualifications or professional training you have.
- Hobbies and interests – A short description of any relevant hobbies or interests (optional).
Now you understand the basic layout of a CV, here’s what you should include in each section of yours.
Contact Details
Kick-start your CV with your contact details, so recruiters can get in touch easily.
Here’s what you should include:
- Mobile number
- Email address – Make sure it’s professional, with no silly nicknames.
- Location – Your town or city is sufficient, rather than a full address.
- LinkedIn profile or portfolio URL – Ensure they’ve been updated and are looking slick and professional.
Quick tip: Avoid listing your date of birth, marital status or other irrelevant details – they’re unnecessary at this stage.
Environmental Graduate CV Profile
Recruiters read through countless applications every day.
If they don’t find what they’re looking for quickly, they’ll simply move onto the next one.
That’s what makes your CV profile (or personal statement, if you’re an entry-level/graduate candidate) so important.
This short and snappy summary sits at the top of your CV, and should give a high-level overview of why you’re a good match for the job.
This way, you can ensure that busy recruiters see your suitability from the outset, and so, feel your CV is worth their time.
How to write a good CV profile:
- Make it short and sharp: The best CV profiles are short, sharp and highly relevant to the target role. For this reason, it’s best to write 3-4 lines of high-level information, as anything over might be missed.
- Tailor it: Before writing your CV, make sure to do some research. Figure out exactly what your desired employers are looking for and make sure that you are making those requirements prominent in your CV profile, and throughout.
- Don’t add an objective: Avoid discussing your career goals in your CV profile – if you think they’re necessary, briefly mention them in your cover letter instead.
- Avoid generic phrases: If your CV is riddled with clichès like “Dynamic thought-leader”, hit that delete button. Phrases like these are like a broken record to recruiters, who read them countless times per day. Hard facts, skills, knowledge and results are sure to yield far better results.
Example CV profile for Environmental Graduate
Ambitious Environmental Sustainability Graduate with a master’s degree from the University of Edinburgh and a commitment to advancing sustainability initiatives. Trained environmental consultant, proficient in conducting environmental impact assessments and risk evaluations, applying advanced modelling techniques. Specialist in carbon footprint assessment and circular economy practises.
What to include in your Environmental Graduate CV profile?
- Experience overview: Recruiters will want to know what type of companies you’ve worked for, industries you have knowledge of, and the type of work you’ve carried out in the past, so give them a summary of this in your profile.
- Targeted skills: Employers need to know what skills you can bring to their organisation, and ideally they want to see skills that match their job vacancy. So, research your target roles thoroughly and add the most important Environmental Graduate skills to your profile.
- Important qualifications: If you have any qualifications which are highly relevant to Environmental Graduate jobs, then highlight them in your profile so that employers do not miss them.
Quick tip: If you are finding it difficult to write an attention-grabbing CV profile, choose from hundreds of pre-written profiles across all industries, and add one to your CV with one click in our quick-and-easy CV Builder. All profiles are written by recruitment experts and easily tailored to suit your unique skillset.
Core skills section
Add a core skills section below your profile to draw attention to your most applicable skills and make them stand out to readers.
This should consist of 2-3 columns of bullet points that emphasise your relevant skills.
Before creating this section, review the job description and compile a list of any specific skills, specializations, or knowledge needed. Incorporate these findings into your list to portray yourself as the ideal candidate for the position.
Important skills for your Environmental Graduate CV
Environmental Monitoring Techniques – Proficient in utilising various methods to monitor and assess environmental conditions and changes.
Data Analysis and Interpretation – Capable of analysing complex environmental data sets and extracting meaningful insights.
Environmental Legislation Knowledge – Familiarity with local and national environmental laws, regulations, and compliance requirements.
Field Sampling and Analysis – Experienced in collecting environmental samples and conducting analyses in field settings.
Sustainability Principles – Understanding and application of principles aimed at promoting sustainable and eco-friendly practices.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) – Knowledgeable in evaluating the potential environmental impacts of projects and developments.
GIS and Remote Sensing – Proficient in Geographic Information Systems and remote sensing technologies for spatial analysis.
Ecological Fieldwork – Practical experience in conducting ecological field studies, including habitat assessments and biodiversity surveys.
Environmental Reporting and Documentation – Has competence in preparing accurate and comprehensive reports documenting environmental findings and assessments.
Climate Change Mitigation Strategies – Understanding and application of strategies to address and mitigate the impacts of climate change on the environment.
Quick tip: Our quick-and-easy CV Builder has thousands of in-demand skills for all industries and professions, that can be added to your CV in seconds – This will save you time and ensure you get noticed by recruiters.
Work experience
Now that recruiters have a good overview of your skills and abilities, you need to jump into the detail of your career history.
Give them a more thorough insight into what you can do by creating a detailed list of your relevant experience.
Start with your current role, and work backwards through all the relevant positions you’ve held.
This could be freelance, contract or voluntary work too; as long as it’s related to the role you’re applying for.
Structuring each job
Recruiters will be keen to gain a better idea of where you’ve worked and how you apply your skill-set in the workplace.
However, if they’re faced with huge, hard-to-read paragraphs, they may just gloss over it and move onto the next application.
To avoid this, use the simple 3-step role structure, as shown below:
Outline
Start with a 1-2 sentence summary of your role as a whole, detailing what the goal of your position was, who you reported to or managed, and the type of organisation you worked for.
Key responsibilities
Follow with a snappy list of bullet points, detailing your daily duties and responsibilities.
Tailor it to the role you’re applying for by mentioning how you put the target employer’s desired hard skills and knowledge to use in this role.
Key achievements
Round up each role by listing 1-3 key achievements, accomplishments or results.
Wherever possible, quantify them using hard facts and figures, as this really helps to prove your value.
Sample job description for Environmental Graduate CV
Outline
Selected for the competitive graduate scheme at leading environmental consultancy, ATCOM, supporting senior consultants and conducting in-depth assessments and research.
Key Responsibilities
- Collected, analysed, and managed complex environmental data using ESdat
- Contributed to project assessments including EIA, ESIA and SEA
- Conducted quantitative risk assessments and preliminary site inspections
- Oversaw waste classification and excavated soils management
Quick tip: Create impressive job descriptions easily in our quick-and-easy CV Builder by adding pre-written job phrases for every industry and career stage.
Education section
In your education section, make any degrees, qualifications or training which are relevant to Environmental Graduate roles a focal point.
As well as mentioning the name of the organisation, qualification titles and dates of study, you should showcase any particularly relevant modules, assignments or projects.
Hobbies and interests
Although this is an optional section, it can be useful if your hobbies and interests will add further depth to your CV.
Interests which are related to the sector you are applying to, or which show transferable skills like leadership or teamwork, can worth listing.
On the other hand, generic hobbies like “going out with friends” won’t add any value to your application, so are best left off your CV.
Creating a strong Environmental Graduate CV requires a blend of punchy content, considered structure and format, and heavy tailoring.
By creating a punchy profile and core skills list, you’ll be able to hook recruiter’s attention and ensure your CV gets read.
Remember that research and relevance is the key to a good CV, so research your target roles before you start writing and pack your CV with relevant skills.
Best of luck with your next application!