Writing your first CV as a fresh graduate in Kenya

Every employer knows a fresh graduate has little work history. What they want to see is evidence that you can turn up, learn quickly and finish what you start. Your first CV should be built around that evidence.

Lead with education, then prove it with experience

When you have under two years of work, put education near the top: degree or diploma, institution, year of graduation and classification, such as Second Class Honours (Upper Division). Add two or three relevant units or a final-year project if they match the job.

Example: "BSc Agricultural Economics, Egerton University, 2025. Second Class Honours (Upper Division). Final-year project: cost of production for smallholder dairy farmers in Nakuru County, using a survey of 120 farms."

What counts as experience

More than you think. Treat each of these like a job, with a title, organisation, dates and bullet points:

• Industrial attachment or internship. Describe real tasks: "Prepared weekly payment vouchers for 30 suppliers", not "assisted in the finance department".
• Part-time or casual work. Shop attendant, M-Pesa agent assistant, tutoring or data collection all show reliability and customer contact.
• Student leadership. Class representative, club treasurer or event organiser. Say what you did and how many people were involved.
• Volunteering and community work. Church, youth groups, county programmes or NGOs.
• Personal and academic projects. For technical roles, a GitHub link, a simple website you built or a dataset you analysed is strong evidence.

Write a profile that sounds like a person

Skip "a highly motivated graduate seeking an opportunity to grow". Every graduate writes that. Say what you studied, what you have done with it and what you want next.

"Recent IT graduate from Moi University with a three-month attachment supporting 200 users at a county hospital. Comfortable with Windows administration, networking basics and Python. Looking for a first role in IT support or junior systems administration."

Skills: be specific and honest

List skills you could demonstrate in an interview tomorrow. "Microsoft Excel" is vague. "Excel: formulas, pivot tables, charts" is useful. If you list a language, tool or software, expect to be tested on it.

Keep it to one page if you can

A tight, well-organised single page beats two pages of filler. Leave out primary school, your full KCSE subject list and hobbies with no link to the job. A hobby earns its place only if it shows something relevant, such as running a football club's social media for a marketing role.

Referees for a first job

Use your attachment supervisor, a lecturer who knows your work, or a manager from part-time work. Ask first, and tell them which jobs you are applying for so they are ready for the call.

Applying smart, not just often

Sending the same CV to a hundred adverts rarely works. Pick roles that match your training, adjust the profile and top bullet points for each one, and follow the instructions in the advert exactly. Graduate trainee programmes at banks, manufacturers and consultancies often open at fixed times of year, so watch for them and apply early.

Finally, keep a simple list of where you applied and when. When an employer calls three weeks later, you want to know which job they mean.