How to write a CV with no work experience in Uganda

Start with the advert, not a template

Before you write, copy the requirements from the advert into a list: qualification, skills, experience and documents. Your CV should answer that list in the order the recruiter will read it. Public service adverts in Uganda set out the minimum qualification and any experience for each post, and recent Public Service Commission adverts also give a minimum age for some posts, so read every line before you decide that you qualify.

Keep one master CV with everything you have done, then make a shorter copy for each application that keeps only what matches the post.

Use a simple structure

• Name, phone number, a professional email address and your town or district.
• A short profile that names your qualification and the kind of work you want.
• Education, starting with your highest qualification.
• Practical experience: industrial training, internships, field attachment, volunteering and projects.
• Skills, each backed by an example.
• Referees, with their titles and contacts, when the advert asks for them.

Leave out details the post does not need, such as religion or marital status. If a public body needs personal details, its application form asks for them separately.

Write your education the way Ugandan recruiters read it

List your degree, diploma or certificate with the institution and the year of award. Then list your Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) and Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE). The Uganda Public Service Standing Orders make O Level and A Level certificates a requirement for public service entry points unless an advert states otherwise, and recent PSC adverts ask applicants to upload them.

If your results are not yet out, say that the award is expected and give the month. Never list a class of degree or a certificate you have not been awarded. Recruiters check: the PSC says it verifies the academic documents of successful candidates and that anyone found to have submitted forged documents is disqualified and charged.

Turn industrial training into experience

Industrial training, field attachment and internships are real work experience when you describe the tasks. Makerere University, for example, requires students on field attachment to keep a logbook of daily activities that supervisors assess and sign, and to write a report at the end. Use your logbook to recall specific tasks, tools and results.

Weak:
Did industrial training at a district health office.

Stronger:
Industrial training, [District] Local Government, Health Department, [month and year] to [month and year]. Entered weekly immunisation data into the district records, checked it against facility registers and reported missing entries to my supervisor.

Write only tasks you actually did. An interviewer may ask you to explain any line, and your supervisor may be contacted as a referee.

Count volunteering, projects and leadership

Volunteering, campus leadership, research projects and community work show responsibility and skill. Give each one dates, your role and what you did. Keep paid work, internships and volunteering clearly labelled so that nobody thinks you are inflating your record.

If you need structured experience after graduating, the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development runs the National Apprenticeship Programme and places graduate volunteers with host institutions. Registration is through the Ministry A-MIS portal at agvp.mglsd.go.ug.

Show skills with evidence

Instead of a list of words such as hardworking or team player, give proof. Name the software you have used and what you did with it, the languages you speak and how well, and any certificate you hold.

Match the words in your CV to the skills named in the advert, but never add a skill you cannot demonstrate. Some public recruiters set written aptitude or competence tests before oral interviews, as the Judicial Service Commission did in 2026.

Choose referees who know your work

A fresh graduate can use a lecturer, a project supervisor or the person who supervised their industrial training. Ask each referee before you list them. Some adverts want more than names: the JSC asked for the names, contacts and letters of recommendation of two professional and two character referees.

Check that every phone number and email address still works, and tell your referees which post you applied for so that they are ready if called.

Format, save and send

• Use a plain layout with clear headings and one readable font.
• Save the CV as a PDF unless the advert asks for another format.
• Check size limits on portals. Recent PSC adverts allowed attachments of up to 1MB each, in PDF only.
• Name the file with your name, for example Firstname-Surname-CV.pdf.
• Read it aloud once to catch mistakes, then ask someone else to check dates and spellings.

Free help is available. The Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development offers free counselling and guidance to job seekers through its ESMIS job matching portal, where you can also upload a CV to be matched with jobs. Never pay to apply for a job or to be placed on a list of candidates.

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