No CV? No Problem — How to Create One from Scratch in 60 Seconds

Maybe you’re a student applying for your first proper job. Maybe you’re returning to work after a career break. Maybe you’ve been in the same role for years and your CV hasn’t been touched since you last needed it. Or maybe you’ve simply never had one.

Whatever the reason, the idea of creating a CV from scratch can feel overwhelming. You’re staring at a blank Word document, wondering what to include, how to format it, which template to use, and whether it’ll look professional enough to actually get you an interview.

Here’s the good news: you don’t need to worry about any of that.

Forget Templates, Formatting, and Word Documents

Traditional CV advice tells you to download a template, carefully format your headings, choose the right font, get your margins right, and spend hours agonising over layout. Then, once you’ve done all that, you’ve still only got a generic document that you’ll need to adapt for every role you apply for.

Or you could pay a CV writer £200–£300 to do it for you. But even then, you get one polished document — and it still won’t be tailored to the specific job you’re going for.

Job Search Bud takes a completely different approach. You don’t need an existing CV. You don’t even need a document. You just type what you know about yourself — in your own words, in whatever order you like — and the AI builds a professionally structured, ATS-optimised CV tailored to the exact job you’re applying for.

No templates. No formatting. No fighting with Word. Just your information and the job description.

What Information Do You Need?

This is the part most people get stuck on. So here’s a simple breakdown of everything you should include. Don’t worry about getting it perfect — just get it down. Job Search Bud will organise and polish everything for you.

1 Your Personal Details

Start with the basics:

• Full name
• Phone number
• Email address (use a professional-sounding one — firstname.lastname@gmail.com, not partyanimal99@hotmail.com)
• Location — you don’t need your full address. City or region is fine (e.g. “Manchester” or “West Midlands”)
• LinkedIn profile URL (if you have one — and if you don’t, consider setting one up)

2 A Bit About You

This becomes your personal statement or professional summary at the top of your CV. Don’t overthink it. Just answer these questions in a few sentences:

• What are you looking for? (e.g. “Looking for my first role in digital marketing”)
• What are your strongest skills or qualities?
• What are you passionate about or interested in?
• What makes you a good fit for the type of role you want?

Even something as simple as “I’m a recent business studies graduate, strong communicator, really interested in tech sales and keen to start a career in SaaS” gives Job Search Bud plenty to work with.

3 Work Experience

Everything counts here. If you’re early in your career, don’t leave out part-time jobs, internships, work placements, or voluntary work just because they’re not “proper” jobs. A Saturday retail role shows customer service skills, teamwork, reliability, and the ability to handle pressure. That matters to employers.

For each role, include:

• Job title and company name
• Dates (rough is fine — “June 2024 to present”)
• What you did — but more importantly, what you achieved

4 Education & Qualifications

• University degree (subject, university, grade if it’s a 2:1 or above)
• A-Levels or equivalent (subjects and grades)
• GCSEs (you can summarise, e.g. “9 GCSEs including Maths and English at grade 6+”)
• Any professional certifications or online courses (Google Analytics, HubSpot, Salesforce Trailhead — these all count)

5 Achievements & Interests

This is where a lot of people — especially those early in their career — sell themselves short. Your achievements don’t have to be work-related.

Sporting achievements are brilliant for showing discipline, teamwork, competitiveness, and goal-setting. Academic awards demonstrate intellectual curiosity and commitment. Volunteering shows character.

Don’t overthink what’s “relevant.” Include it all and let Job Search Bud figure out how to present it in the context of the job you’re applying for.

How It Actually Works

Here’s the process, step by step:

1 Go to jobsearchbud.co.uk and sign up with your email (it’s free — your first CV doesn’t cost anything).

2 Click “Paste Text Instead” underneath the CV upload box. This switches to a text input where you can type or paste your information directly — no document needed. Just get everything in there: your name, contact details, work history, education, achievements. Bullet points, full sentences, rough notes — whatever works for you.

3 Paste the job description you’re applying for into the other box. You’ll need a specific role in mind — that’s how Job Search Bud tailors your CV to match what each employer is actually looking for. Copy the job ad from LinkedIn, Indeed, or wherever you found it.

4 Hit generate. In under 60 seconds, you’ll get a professionally structured CV tailored to that specific role, optimised for ATS screening software, plus a personalised interview prep pack.

That’s it. No templates. No formatting. No stressing about margins and fonts.

What Does “Just Type It In” Actually Look Like?

Here’s an example. Say you’re a recent graduate applying for your first marketing role. You could literally type something like this into the box:

Sarah Johnson
07700 900123
sarah.johnson@gmail.com
Leeds
linkedin.com/in/sarahjohnson

Just finished my degree in Business & Marketing at Leeds Beckett, got a 2:1. Looking for a junior marketing role, really interested in digital marketing and social media.

Worked part time at Costa Coffee for 2 years during uni. Was shift supervisor for the last 6 months, trained 4 new starters. We hit our sales targets every month I was supervisor.

Did a 3 month placement at a small marketing agency called BrightSpark in Leeds over summer 2025. Helped manage social media for 3 clients, wrote blog posts, created email newsletters. One of my social posts got 12,000 impressions which was a record for that client.

GCSEs - 8 including maths and english at grade 7. A-levels: Business Studies (A), English (B), Psychology (B).

I'm Google Analytics certified and did the HubSpot inbound marketing course.

I run the university netball team social media account (grew it from 200 to 1,100 followers in one year). I also volunteer at Leeds Food Aid once a month. I did the Three Peaks Challenge last year for charity and raised £800.

That’s it. Rough, unformatted, written in plain English. But it contains everything Job Search Bud needs to build a polished, professional CV. The AI will structure it properly, highlight the most relevant experience for the job you’re going for, and make sure it gets past ATS screening software.

Compare that to spending 3 hours wrestling with a Word template or paying £300 for a CV writer to do essentially the same thing — once — for one generic version.

Why This Matters for Every Application

Here’s something most people don’t realise: the CV that gets you an interview for a marketing assistant role is not the same CV that gets you an interview for a social media coordinator role. Even if the jobs sound similar, different companies use different keywords, prioritise different skills, and look for different things.

Job Search Bud doesn’t just build you a CV. It tailors it to each specific job description. So the marketing agency version will emphasise your social media results and content creation. The corporate version might lead with your analytics certification and data skills. Same information, presented differently for each opportunity.

And because your first one is free, you can see exactly how it works before spending a penny.

Quick Recap: Your Information Checklist

Before you start, make sure you’ve got the following to hand. Remember, you can type it all as rough notes — Job Search Bud does the formatting for you.

• Personal details: Name, phone, email, location, LinkedIn URL
• About you: A few sentences on what you’re looking for and your key strengths
• Work experience: Every job, part-time role, internship, or placement — with dates and achievements
• Education: Qualifications, grades, certifications, courses
• Achievements: Sporting, academic, volunteering, personal projects
• Interests: Anything that shows who you are beyond your qualifications
• A job description: The specific role you’re applying for

That’s all you need. No document, no template, no formatting. Just your story and the job you want. Job Search Bud handles the rest.