No work experience doesn't mean nothing to offer. It means your CV must put other proof at the top: study projects, volunteer work, part-time jobs, personal initiatives. That's where your story lives.
Substitutes for work experience
Study projects with concrete outcomes. Part-time jobs — supermarket work counts; it proves you're hireable. Volunteer work with responsibility (board member, coach, events). Personal projects (digital: GitHub, blog, portfolio; physical: a small business, a school magazine).
Profile summary with direction
No "enthusiastic starter". Instead: "Recent graduate HBO Business Administration specialising in supply chain. Seeking a traineeship or starter role at a production or e-commerce company with operations focus." Specific and directional.
What you don't do
No inflated language for what you've done ("led the team" for a school project). No empty phrases ("team player with passion"). No "references available upon request" — drop the line.
Concrete examples
- Final project "Optimising last-mile delivery at regional e-commerce startup"; grade 8.2; recommendations adopted by client.
- Board member student association (treasurer, 2024); €38k budget for annual programme of 12 events.
- Supermarket job at Albert Heijn (2 years, part-time); supervisor in last 6 months; responsible for 4 weekend staff.
- Personal project: blog on career orientation for students; 2,100 unique visitors/month since 2024.
- Skills: Excel (advanced), Power BI (basic), English C1, German B1.
Pitfalls
- Padding the CV to two pages when one is enough.
- Framing school phases as "work experience" — recruiters see through it.
- Generic hobbies. One specific interest beats five generic ones.
With little experience, a calm, modern layout convinces more than something visually loud.