How To Create A Resume For A High School Student

High School Resume Examples And Writing Tips

Theresa Chiechi / The Balance

Writing a resume when you’re a high school student can seem daunting. How can you demonstrate your aptitude for the job when you dont have much formal work experience?

Here’s the good news: Even if you’re writing your first resume, chances are that you have more work experience than you think. Experiences like babysitting, lawn mowing, and volunteering all help to show valuable work skills that employers want to see. Just because you havent had a job like the one you are applying for, doesnt mean you havent acquired the skills necessary to succeed.

One of the best ways to get started on your resume as a high school student is to look at examples of student resumes and read tips on what to include and how to format your resume.

Get Writing Tips And Examples For Jobs Or College Applications

High school students may need a resume to apply for a job or as part of a college application. Even if you haven’t held a paid position before, there’s still plenty of information to include on your resume. High schoolers can highlight educational achievements, after-school activities, and volunteer work.

Here are some tips for writing your high school resume.

How To Write A High School Resume

Start with the job search.

Determine if you want a part-time job, an internship, a seasonal job or a trade job. This will help you determine what work experiences and skills you need to highlight in your resume. Remember that theres no one-size-fits-all resume each one should be tailored to the specific job youre applying for.

Establish your strengths.

Think of your participation in clubs, teams, associations or even hobbies. Make a list of these activities and what youve learned in them it could be teamwork, self-discipline, creativity, communication. You will use these qualities to write your resumes skills section.

Choose the right format.

The same way one resume wont work for every job application one resume wont work for every candidate. The following three resume formats help present you in the most flattering way while downplaying any potential weaknesses you may have like, say, lack of extensive work experience.

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Include Your Name And Contact Information

Your name should be at the top. You can bold it and make the font larger than other text on the document, but make 14 point font the maximum size. Include your email address and phone number. You may also want to include a link to your LinkedIn profile that highlights skills, professional experience and community service, an online portfolio or even an Instagram page if it’s appropriate. If you are applying to college as a photography major, for example, an Instagram page with your photos could be a great way to share your work.

Sample Retail Position Objectives

If you are looking to apply for a part-time position at a retail store, use the following objective examples as a guide to help you create one that works for you.

• Reliable, mature, and creative high school junior seeking a part-time retail sales associate position with a growing clothing company to gain experience and insight into the fashion industry for a future career in fashion and design.
• Mature and reliable high school senior looking for a part-time retail position with a desire to learn as much as possible about customer service and management for a future career in retail management.
• Reliable, respectful, and mature high school senior seeking a challenging position as a customer service representative in a local store setting.

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How To Write A High School Resume For College Applications

Think resumes are only for job seekers? Think again. High school student resumes give colleges a snapshot of your accomplishments, extracurriculars, hobbies, and work history. They can also be a useful tool for prepping for a college interview or to give to the teachers who are writing your letters of recommendation.

Not sure how to get started? Follow our tips for crafting a standout resume for college and scholarship applications.

How To Write An Objective Statement For A High School Resume

The objective statement on your high school resume is quite literally answering the question, What is the purpose or objective of this resume? While on the surface it may seem obviousyou want to get hired for a specific job or accepted to a specific collegeyoull need to dig deeper in order to write an impressive objective statement.

Your objective statement should provide three important pieces of information:

• Why do you want this specific job or why do you want to attend this specific college?

• What makes you the best candidate for this position or school?

• How can this company or college help you reach your larger goals?

Oh, and you only have one or two sentences to share this important information. Piece of cake, right? Dont worry, its easier than you think if you use a specific formula for writing your objective statement:

student seeking to with gained from .

Youll understand this formula best if we use an example. Lets say youre applying to a graphic design internship at your local newspaper. You have a keen eye for detail, your goal is to tell impactful digital stories, youre already skilled at using Adobe to create page layouts, and you have design experience from working on your school yearbook. Heres an example objective statement for your high school resume:

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Emphasize Teamwork And Leadership

Good teamwork skills are necessary for most entry-level jobs, and so its wise to provide examples of how youve participated in school, church, club, or scouting roles requiring teamwork. Its even better to describe any leadership roles youve held, since this demonstrates to your employer that you can hold responsibility, take personal initiative, and organize and support others.

The chances are high that you havent had a lot of paid work experience since you’re a high school student. While you should describe any actual real jobs youve held, its also a good idea to describe volunteer experience, accompanied by dates, your responsibilities, and your contributions in these roles.

Volunteer experience is important for high school students because it provides experience and shows that you’re trying to find out what you might be interested in.

At the end of your resume, include a statement of selected interests. Employers like candidates who are well-rounded and involved in their communities.

Theyll get a better idea of your personality if you mention a few sports that you play or interests like theater, music, or environmentalism. Be careful, however, not to mention interests that are too political or might distract you from your job .

Ow To Write A Resume Without Work Experience

I need a job to get experience, but I need experience to get a job. This vicious circle often scares students and graduates. How do I start the job search? Start with the best resume possible!

This guide will show you:

• How to create a perfect resume without work experience?
• How to decide which information to include in your resume
• Great samples to use if you are a student or just are looking for your first job and have no work experience
• Magic tips to succeed at this task
• Learn how to format that resume with no work experience

Dozens of people apply for the job you want to get. They have professional skills and achievements. 65% of employers are looking for experienced candidates.

What if you are a student? You may have an empty space in the section on experience. We dont want empty white space so keep reading! You may find out you do have experience after all.

If you are a college graduate and/or have an advanced degree, your resume for a college graduate with no official work experience can still look very impressive!

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Where Can I Get A High School Resume Template

Here at ResumeGiants, weve got all the tools you need to create a comprehensive high school resume from scratch. Our resume builder can help you start your very first resume free with step-by-step support and optimized, stylized templates.

Alternatively, some of the resume templates provided with Google Docs or MS Word can be modified for your needs. However, these can be trickier to customize and wont always be properly optimized for ATS.

Sample Food Services Position Objective

Most high school students tend to apply for a food services position. Stand out from the other high school students by adding a resume objective to your food services application. The following are a few examples of resumes objectives for high school students.

• Seeking a server position where I can use my exceptional customer service skills to enhance and elevate the customer’s dining experience.
• Responsible and reliable high school senior seeking a cashier position at a popular, local restaurant.
• Reliable high school junior seeking a busboy position in a busy, but inviting restaurant atmosphere.
• High school senior seeking cashier position where I can use my exceptional mathematics and customer service skills to best serve the customer.

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High School Graduate Resume Exampleeducation

SAT Score: 1450

John Jay High School, Katonah, NY

GPA 3.8

20152019

President, High School Yearbook Committee

• Led team of 8 to source 750+ photos of 253 senior students, plus 100+ memorable quotes and other memories.
• Worked with vendors to secure a 15% cost-savings.
• Developed plan to include underrepresented groups 50% more.

Excelled in Business Coursework

• Enrolled in 5 business classes through the school’s young business leader program, including accounting, business law, and marketing.
• Maintained 4.0 GPA in all 5 core business classes.
• As business management class project, created team that raised concessions sales at all home football teams by 25%.

Captain of Debate Team 2 Years

• Led team to 3rd place in New York State debate tournament.
• Coached and mentored 5 debate team members in best practices to improve debate scores by 20% in 3 months.

• Co-captain of school track team

Get the point?

You dont have to use those exact high school graduate resume examples.

Dont just slap your GPA in there, plus a team sport.

If youve got projects, classes, or high school achievements thatll wow them, show them.

And if not?

Dont sweat it. Just fill your high school graduate resume with no work experience with other high-flying moments from your life.

Expert Hint: Include your GPA only if its 3.0 or above. Otherwise you might hurt your chances.

Employment History Or Experience Section: An Overlooked Gem

Many students writing their first resume dont bother with anything except the education section. With no job experience, it seems pointless. But even if youre young, you have lots to offer. If you do have job experience, however, you can call this the employment history section, otherwise you may choose to name it the experience section. But if done right, this section can make you look more vibrant, active and creative.

What can you write in the experience section of a student resume? Here are some ideas:

• Summer or temp jobs. You mainly want to show the employer youve already been part of the workforce. You know what a job is.
• Internships. If you have these on your list, its one of the greatest advantages possible. Internships usually take place at more complicated jobs and are related to more advanced professions.
• Social / volunteer work. This demonstrates your ability to cooperate with other people and work towards a goal.
• Other projects . Anything that didnt land in the above categories goes here. Examples: Websites you ran with friends, local community events you helped with.

Make sure to use the same approach as in the education section: provide detailed descriptions of your duties, results, projects, interactions and any pertinent information. Even if it doesnt seem that impressive to you, on your resume it shows that these were real activities and/or work experiences.

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What Additional Sections To Include On A High School Resume

After youve completed the above sections, you might find you still have some space on your high school resumeand thats good! It gives you an opportunity to further impress potential employers and colleges. Lets explore the different types of sections you can add to round out your resume.

Honors and Awards. Many students will include this section in their high school resume because its the perfect way to showcase their academic, sport, and extracurricular achievements. You might include being on the Honor Roll, having perfect attendance, winning a sports championship, placing first in a robotics competition, or receiving a scholarship, to name a few examples.

Relevant certifications. If youve had the opportunity to complete training and earn certifications relating to the position youre applying tofor instance, a CPR certification for a lifeguard or preschool assistant jobyou might want to devote an additional section to those.

Portfolio or published works. If youre an artist, writer, or other type of creative, you can add a section to your high school resume that specifically highlights your best creative achievements. For example, you can share the artwork youve publicly displayed, the poems youve had published, or the musical pieces youve performed.

Remember, your high school resume is all about you. So tailor the focus of your additional sections to showcase your uniqueness and bring you closer to the job, internship, scholarship, or college youre pursuing.

Build A Functional Resume

Remember that a winning high school resume needs to paint a picture of who you are. It should include the following:

• Your basic information: name, address, phone and email.

• Education: high school name and address, graduation date, class rank, GPA, specific courses.

• Activities: extracurricular in and out of school

• Community service: in and out of school. Make sure you list any leadership roles.

• Work experience: any summer or school-year jobs.

• Accolades: academic and nonacademic awards and honors

You can create a basic resume, then tailor it for each specific use. For example, on college applications, put more emphasis on academics, extracurriculars and community service. For internship and job applications, highlight your experience, community service and include references, pertinent skills and possibly your job objective. That might be, for example, to get experience working with animals or to learn business skills.

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What Is A High School Student Resume

Youve graduated from high school and its now time to face the job market. To move on into your professional career youll need a high school resume template.

This, however, differs from most resumes youll come across in the professional world such as simple resumes or professional resumes. This is because it has to be written and prepared with your lack of work experience in mind.

Resume templates for high school students can help you apply special tricks to make sure they get the results needed. Keep reading to learn how you can create one online now with the help of a free resume builder.

What Skills Can High School Students Add On Their Resume

If you are like many students, you probably feel youre yet to accrue enough relevant experience to write a convincing resume. Nothing further from the truth. You probably have more relevant knowledge than you think.

Take into account your life experience, work experience, academic achievements, volunteer work, skills, and personality strengths, and write it all down. This list will come in useful when filling in those sections on your resume.

The education section is likely to be a key feature of your high school student resume so rack your brain for extracurricular activities. Include honors and awards and If you have been a member of a club, association, or a sports team, mention it.

Do not be modest. Make it clear If you were captain of a team as it demonstrates leadership skills. Likewise, if you have helped to run or organize something it shows you are responsible and have organizational skills.

Focusing on your education and achievements at school will help you to write an attractive high school student resume with no work experience.

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How To Write An Awards & Achievements Section For Your Student Resume

Want to take your student resume to the next level? Adding an awards & achievements section is an easy way to capture attention.

Before you say, But I dont have any awards or achievements! take a moment to think back on your studies so far. Chances are that you have much more to highlight than you first realize. Here are a few ideas to get you thinking:

• Your GPA
• Being part of the student body
• Academic awards
• Valedictorian and Deans lists
• Being in the top X% of your class/course
• Professional achievements e.g. selling X amount of products or increasing profits by Y%
• Relevant school/college societies or groups you are part of
• Scholarships
• Any journals you have been published in or research papers you have written
• Relevant non-profit work you have completed

So how can you correctly format this section of your resume?

You can list each award or achievement, along with the date you received/achieved it and any other specifics that would help the person reading it better understand why the award or achievement is relevant.

If you are short on space, you can feature your academic awards and achievements in your education & coursework section instead.

High School Student Resume Sample

• Participate in after-school program to provide tutoring to other students
• Assist younger students with homework
• Follow recommended curriculum to provide core reading skills

• Maintain cleanliness in the soup kitchen, serving line, and dining areas
• Assist cooks with basic food preparation in the kitchen before meals
• Serve food and bus tables

• Have participated in concert and marching bands each year
• Attend regular rehearsals three times a week
• Promptly dress and prepare music and instruments for concert performances

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