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Worried your teen won’t get a job? The CV trends parents need to know before they start applying

Worried your teen won’t get a job? The CV trends parents need to know before they start applying

New CV data suggests young jobseekers are entering the market with less work experience, and employers may need to rethink what ‘job ready’ means

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MadeForMums

Published: September 9, 2026 at 12:05 PM

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Your teenager might not have a string of summer jobs, volunteering placements or work experience to put on their first CV, and new data suggests they are far from alone.

Analysis of 5 million UK CVs by LiveCareer UK shows that the amount of work experience candidates are listing has fallen sharply over the past year, while applications are increasingly being built around skills, education and shorter spells in different roles.

For parents worrying about whether their teen will be able to compete for that all-important first job, the figures offer an interesting insight into how the job market is changing, particularly when it comes to what young people can realistically be expected to bring to an entry-level role.

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Young people are finding it harder to get a foot on the career ladder

In a poll shared exclusively with LBC, Youth Employment UK asked 11,500 people aged 11 to 30 about their experiences of education, transport and employment opportunities.

LBC reports that just 18% of respondents felt employers were “supportive” of hiring young people, while 47% described employers as either “unsupportive” or “very unsupportive”.

Lauren Mistry, Deputy CEO of Youth Employment UK, told LBC: “This sense that young people aren't ambitious, aren't connected, isn't true. They want access to opportunity, that's really clear… What they are often met with are employers asking for high demands of experience, high requirements for really entry-level opportunities and really entry-level roles.”

That could leave teenagers and young adults in a frustrating position: they are being asked for experience in order to get the job that would give them that experience in the first place.

Work experience isn't necessarily the CV must-have it once was

Interestingly, the latest CV data suggests the typical applicant is now bringing considerably less professional experience to the table.

LiveCareer UK analysed 5 million CVs created between August 2025 and August 2026 and found that average claimed work experience had fallen by 55.5% year on year, from six years and nine months to three years, or 36.01 months.

That doesn't mean work experience has suddenly become unimportant. Instead, it reflects a job market where shorter careers and more varied employment histories are becoming increasingly common, and where young applicants make up a bigger part of the pool.

In fact, “Intern” was the most common recent job title listed on CVs in the LiveCareer UK data, accounting for 1.83% of CVs. Those candidates reported an average of 9.73 months of experience.

So if your teen is preparing their first CV and doesn't have years of employment behind them, they're not necessarily starting from an unusual position.

Job-hopping is becoming much more common

The data also suggests that staying in one role for years is becoming less representative of the modern CV.

According to LiveCareer UK's analysis, 27.71% of candidates listed four or more previous jobs in 2026, compared with 10.98% in the previous year.

Every returning job title in the report also saw a decrease in average months of experience, suggesting that candidates are moving between roles more frequently or entering the workforce with less experience overall.

For teenagers, this is a useful reminder that their first job doesn't have to define their entire career. A short stint in hospitality, retail or another entry-level role can still form part of a much broader story about the skills they are developing.

What should your teen put on their first CV?

If there's not much employment history to list, education and transferable skills become more important.

Highlight relevant skills, including communication, teamwork and customer service
Include qualifications and education, even if your teen has only recently finished school or college
Think beyond paid work, including appropriate volunteering, school responsibilities, clubs or activities where they have developed useful skills
Use specific examples of what they have done rather than simply listing qualities such as “hard-working”
Keep the CV focused and relevant to the role they're applying for

LiveCareer UK's data found that the average CV contains around eight skills, with Customer Service, Team Collaboration and Communication among the most commonly featured.

However, only 22.87% of candidates quantified their achievements with numbers, suggesting there may be an opportunity for young applicants to make their contributions more concrete where they can.

And what about cover letters?

One of the biggest changes in the latest CV data is the apparent decline of the cover letter.

Just 1.12% of LiveCareer UK's users created or downloaded a cover letter in the last year, compared with 31.41% the year before, a 96% drop.

That doesn't mean your teen should never write one. If an employer specifically asks for a cover letter or supporting statement, they'll still need to provide it. But the data suggests lengthy additional applications are no longer a standard part of every job hunt.

So should parents still encourage work experience?

Absolutely, if it's accessible and useful, but parents may not need to panic if their teenager hasn't managed to build up an impressive employment history before applying for their first job.

The latest figures suggest the wider applicant pool is changing too. Young people are entering a competitive job market with less experience, while employers are increasingly seeing CVs that reflect shorter and more varied working histories.

Youth Employment UK is calling for a “Young Person’s Entitlement”, which would give young people greater access to careers education, employers' fairs and AI training from the age of 11.

The government has also announced a new Opening Shift work experience programme, offering 11,000 18 to 24-year-olds two-to-four-week placements at retailers including John Lewis, Tesco and Costa Coffee.

For parents, the takeaway is perhaps reassuring: getting a first job isn't necessarily about arriving with a perfect CV packed with experience. In a changing job market, helping your teen recognise the skills they already have, and finding realistic ways for them to demonstrate those skills, could be just as valuable.

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