An architecture graduate CV and portfolio should make your potential easy to understand. You are not expected to know everything, but you are expected to show clear thinking, care, curiosity and evidence.
The mistake many graduates make is trying to look more senior than they are. A better approach is to show what you can already do, how you think and where you are ready to learn.
Watch: Architecture Social video
This Architecture Social video adds useful context before the practical guidance below.
What practices scan first
Practices usually want to know your level, location, availability, education, software, portfolio link and project evidence quickly. If those basics are hidden, even strong work can be missed.
- Your current level and target role.
- University, Part I status or graduation date.
- Software used on real projects or coursework.
- Portfolio link or attachment that opens easily.
- Any practice, placement, competition or live project experience.
Architecture graduate CV structure
Keep the CV clean and practical. A graduate CV should not be a design object that makes the reader hunt for information. Let the portfolio carry more of the visual weight.
- Header with contact details, location and portfolio link.
- Short profile focused on level, interests and evidence.
- Education with clear dates and project highlights.
- Experience, placements, part-time work or relevant responsibilities.
- Software and skills, kept honest and connected to evidence.
- Awards, competitions, volunteering or public work if relevant.
What the graduate portfolio should prove
Your portfolio should show design thinking, process, clarity and communication. It does not need to show every project. It needs to show the right projects with enough explanation to make them useful.
- Brief and context in plain English.
- Your design idea and how it developed.
- Drawings, models, diagrams or renders that show judgement.
- Captions explaining your role and process.
- A file size and page count that respect the reader’s time.
Use Ahrefs demand without stuffing keywords
Search demand suggests useful demand around graduate architecture jobs, architecture graduate jobs and portfolio terms. That means the page should help graduates move from resource reading into live applications, not just repeat keywords.
Prepare for interviews while building the documents
Every page in the portfolio should be something you can talk about. Before sending it, practise explaining the brief, your idea, your role, the tools you used and what you would improve now.
Go deeper with Architecture Social
These related Architecture Social episodes add more context once you have the practical framework.
Related audio: portfolio structure and presentation
This related podcast gives the page a different angle, focusing on portfolio structure, project choice and how graduates can make their work easier to assess.
You can also open the related Architecture Social podcast page.
Example graduate CV profile
A useful profile might read: Architecture graduate with Part I experience, confident using Revit, Rhino, Adobe and physical model-making to develop and communicate design ideas. Portfolio includes academic housing, civic and reuse projects, with an interest in design development and practice experience.
That is not flashy, but it gives the reader level, software, project type and direction. It is much stronger than saying you are passionate, motivated and hard-working with no evidence.
A simple graduate portfolio order
- Cover page with name, role target and contact details.
- One strong project that fits the kind of practice you are applying to.
- A second project showing a different strength, such as process, technical thinking or context.
- Selected drawings, models or diagrams with useful captions.
- One page for extra experience, competitions, construction exposure or live work if relevant.
- Clear ending with contact details and portfolio link if it is a PDF sample.
When to customise applications
You do not need to redesign the whole CV and portfolio for every application. You do need to adjust the first scan. If the practice does retrofit work, make retrofit evidence easier to find. If the role asks for Revit, make the Revit evidence obvious.
That is the practical difference between a generic graduate application and one that feels considered.
Common mistakes
- Trying to sound senior instead of being specific.
- Using a portfolio that is too long for first applications.
- Leaving academic projects unexplained.
- Listing software without showing what it produced.
- Sending the same CV and portfolio to every practice without small adjustments.
Architecture Social view
Stephen’s recruiter view is that graduate applications work when they are honest and useful. Practices know you are early in your career. They still need evidence that you can communicate, learn and contribute.
Next step
Open one live role from the Architecture Social jobs board and mark where your CV and portfolio already match it. Then strengthen one weak area using the architecture CV guide, the architecture portfolio guide and the Part I Architectural Assistant guide.
Add a comment