🚀 Student CV and portfolio: from zero to your first offer

📄 1-page CV

🔹 Structure

• Header: name, target role (e.g., Junior Data Analyst), city, contact details, GitHub/portfolio/LinkedIn.
• 1–2 lines of profile: how you can help the team: ‘SQL + dashboards, product metrics.’
• Skills (by role): 6–10 items in blocks: LANGUAGES/FRAMEWORKS/TOOLS/ADDITIONAL.
• Experience: part-time jobs/projects — 2–3 bullet points in the format action → result → numbers.
• Education: university/course/certificate (relevant — above).
• Volunteering/clubs: only those that demonstrate soft skills/leadership.

🏆 ‘Achievements’ (bullets with results)

• ‘Built a dashboard in Power BI → reduced reporting time by 30%.’
• ‘Automated mailing with a Python script → saved 2 hours per week.’
• ‘Led a stand-up team of 4 people → met sprint deadline.’

📌 Keywords (ATS/search filters)

Take them from job postings: stack, domain, work format. Example for a product: SQL, Tableau/Power BI, A/B testing, funnels, cohort analysis, stakeholder comms.

Micro-rules: 11–12 pt, indents > 4 mm, 1 PDF page, file name: Name_Role_CV.pdf.

📑 LinkedIn and portfolio

📄 What to add for students

• Featured/Pinned: 2–3 best cases (GitHub Repo/Notion post/Behance).
• About: 3–4 sentences about your focus and the types of tasks you enjoy.
• Projects: cards with 1 screenshot, stack, link, and result.

🖼️ Portfolio page (Notion/Behance/GitHub Pages)

• Project card: context → role → tools → steps → result (metrics/screenshots/code).
• 1–2 paragraphs on ‘what you learned’: risks, limitations, what you would improve.
• Live artefacts: presentation, readme, demo video ≤ 90 seconds.

💡 Cases ‘without much experience’

💻 Training projects with numbers

• IT/data: ‘cleaned 50k lines, built DAU/WAU/MAU metrics, reduced gaps by 40%.’
• Design/UX: ‘Redesigned onboarding, increased completion +12 p.p. in a test on 50 users.’
• Product: ‘Described JTBD, formulated hypotheses, conducted 8 interviews, prioritised features (RICE).’
• Dev/Cloud: ‘Launched REST API on Render/Cloud Run, 70% test coverage, CI/CD.’

📈 How to apply

• Move projects to the OPYT section if you did them ‘as work’: deadlines, team, contribution, result.
• If the code is closed, attach mock data/screenshots/videos + an explanation of the limitations.

🤝 Recommendations and referrals

📚 Who to ask

• Teacher/research supervisor (for a project/course).
• Internship/part-time mentor.
• Club/volunteer leader (for responsibility/teamwork).

📬 How to formulate a request

• In short: ‘I want to apply for Junior X at Company. Can you give me a short written recommendation (3–4 sentences) about my work on project Y?’
• Tips: remind them of 2–3 specific behaviours/results that can be mentioned.
• Referral: provide a link to the vacancy and a PDF CV + 1 paragraph explaining why you are a good fit.

📅 Response plan

🎯 Pace and focus

• 10–15 targeted responses/week for a maximum of 2–3 roles (don't dilute a single profile).
• For each response, send a short cover letter (5–7 lines) with 2–3 matches to the requirements and a link to a relevant case study.

📊 Tracker and follow-up

• Table: company → role → date → status → contact → ‘what caught your attention’ → link to the letter.
• Follow up in 5–7 days: ‘I confirm my interest, I have attached a mini case study.’
• If you receive a rejection, ask for 1 piece of feedback and ask what you can improve.

⚡ 14-day plan (quick start)

📍 Week 1

• Collect targets for 2 roles (e.g., Junior Analyst and Product Intern).
• CV template → 1 page, 3 projects, 6–10 skills.
• Portfolio: 2 cards with numbers + readme.
• LinkedIn: About/Featured, 10 target connections (alumni, juniors, recruiters).

📍 Week 2

• 10–15 responses + 2 mini case studies tailored to the job opening.
• 2 requests for recommendations, 1 request for a referral.
• Preparation for screening: 6–8 questions/answers + 2 STAR stories.

✅ Mini checklist ‘ready to respond’

• CV (PDF, 1 page) + LinkedIn + 2 portfolio cards
• 2 STAR stories: ‘challenge → action → result’
• Short cover letter (template) of 5–7 lines
• Response tracker and follow-up templates
• 2 contacts for recommendations