High School Resume Template + Examples & Guide

Remember when you thought solving quadratic equations was tough? Wait until you try writing your first resume!

I’m just kidding. Although writing a high school student resume is tough (especially if you have no experience), I’ll show you how to make it a breeze.

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Have you already graduated from high school? Go here:

• High School Graduate Resume

First, I’ll show you a step-by-step process of how to write a high school student resume. And at the end of this article, I’ll give you 3 high school resume examples. One for a candidate with zero work experience, and two others for candidates with varying levels of experience. You will be able to use these examples as a template to make writing your high school student resume much easier.

But for now, here’s how to write a resume for high-school students:

1. Choose the Best High School Student Resume Format

Think of writing your resume as a high school student like writing an essay. You need to do your research, use powerful language, and customize your resume for the job you want to land.

But unlike your teachers who read the entire assignment, recruiters can get bored really easily. In fact, you have about 7 seconds to convince them to read your high school student resume in full.

To pass the eye test, make sure your resume isn’t cluttered. Here’s how to make your high school resume format crystal clear:

• Go with the reverse-chronological resume format, as it is preferred by most recruiters. This format highlights your most recent experiences and achievements first, making it easy for recruiters to see your progress, so use it, especially if you already have some work experience.
• Choose a readable resume font like Cambria or Times New Roman in 10–12 pt. You want to appear professional and show you’ve done this before. Avoid overly decorative fonts that can make your resume hard to read.
• Embrace white space by using 1-inch margins and consistent spacing throughout the document. This will make your resume easier to scan quickly and prevent it from looking cluttered.
• Limit your resume length to one page. As a high school student, you should focus on keeping your resume concise and relevant.
• Separate your resume sections clearly. Use headings like resume header, profile, education, experience (if you have any), skills, and additional information to organize your content.
• Unless instructed otherwise, save your resume as a PDF, rather than DOC. Converting it to PDF ensures your layout works on all software and devices.

As for choosing a high school student resume template, look for simplicity and clarity. Avoid overly designed templates with excessive graphics or colors that can distract from the content (also known as infographic resumes). Opt for a resume layout that allows you to organize your information neatly and highlights your key achievements and skills.

I recommend picking a simple resume template for your first high schooler resume. You can also go for a Word resume template, but make sure to triple-check the formatting once you finish writing.

Expert Hint: Keep your contact information in the resume header concise. Include your name, professional email address, phone number, optimized LinkedIn URL, and a link to any other relevant websites, blogs, or social media profiles. You can also add a catchy resume headline for some extra flair.

2. Write a Catchy Resume Profile for a High School Student

Do you remember how I mentioned you only have about 7 seconds to pick the recruiter’s interest? Step one was preparing your resume’s format. Step two is your high school student resume introduction.

If you have no or little work experience, use a resume objective. It focuses on your career goals and what you aim to contribute to the company. This is the safest choice for a high school student resume.

Include:

1. A catchy resume adjective (determined, efficient, enthusiastic).
2. Current title (high school senior, high school student).
3. One or two accomplishments.
4. One sentence explaining what you’re seeking to achieve for the company.

If you have a couple of years of experience, opt for a resume summary. It highlights your key work achievements and skills and shows how your experiences make you a great fit for the role. If you do, substitute your academic achievements with work accomplishments.

Look at these two high school resume objective examples for reference:

High School Student Resume Objective—Examples

Objective

Enthusiastic high school senior with a passion for politics. Seeking to leverage top scores in Social Science (102%) and volunteering experience at a nonprofit voter awareness organization to deliver on all major KPIs as an intern at the Cuyahoga County Government Office.

Objective

High school student graduating next year. Want to gain experience working in an office setting for my college application.

The good example gets to the point—it details the hard work you put in as a student and shows you are knowledgeable in the industry you are applying to. Plus, it makes an offer to help achieve the company’s goals.

But if you use the bad example, you’ll be expelled from the applicant pool. It appears generic and provides no value to the recruiter. It doesn’t even use the name of the target organization—you get the feeling the resume is being spammed around to all companies within a 30-mile radius.

Expert Hint: Although the resume objective goes on top of your application, it’s not a good idea to start writing your resume with it. Finish all the other sections first. It’ll make creating a compelling objective much easier.

3. Use Your High School Education to Great Effect

You’ve been in school your entire life, and while it may seem like you have no practical skills and experience, that's not true. School is where you’ve achieved some of your greatest accomplishments.

To create a high school resume education section that makes you look like a seasoned pro, start with the basics—list your school name and expected graduation date. This provides a clear snapshot of your current educational status.

But the real fun comes next. Include your biggest accomplishments as a high school student. List any AP or Honors courses you attended under relevant coursework—extra brownie points if they connect with the position you’re applying to. Put your GPA (if it’s above 3.5) on your high school resume, as it will show your drive and determination.

And to top it all up, include at-school activities. They can significantly boost your high school resume by showcasing your involvement, skills, and dedication. Here are various types of at-school activities to include:

• Student Government: Roles like president, vice president, or treasurer demonstrate leadership, responsibility, and organizational skills.
• Science Projects: Completing significant science projects or participating in science fairs highlights your analytical skills, creativity, and dedication to scientific inquiry.
• Clubs and Organizations: Participation in clubs (e.g., debate, political science, chess, drama) shows your interests and commitment.
• Sports Teams: Being part of a sports team (e.g., soccer, basketball, track) highlights teamwork, discipline, and perseverance.
• Academic Competitions: Participation in science fairs, math Olympiads, or quiz bowls showcases your academic prowess and competitive spirit.
• Music and Arts: Involvement in band, choir, theater, or art club displays creativity, collaboration, and dedication.
• Tutoring or Peer Mentoring: Acting as a tutor or mentor shows your willingness to help others and your mastery of subjects.
• Special Projects: Projects like organizing school events, running a school newspaper, or participating in research projects highlight your initiative and project management skills.
• Honor Societies: Membership in honor societies (e.g., National Honor Society) indicates academic excellence and leadership.

Take a look at the examples below to see how you should (and shouldn’t) write your high school resume section:

High School Resume Example—Education Section:

Education

Cuyahoga Heights High School,

Garfield Heights, OH

Expected Graduation: 2024

GPA: 3.75

Relevant Coursework: AP US History, Intro to Government, AP European History

• Vice president of the student council
• Member of the debate & political science clubs
• Captain of the soccer team
• Volunteer at the local food bank
• Led a science project on renewable energy, presented at the state science fair. Received 2nd place award for the project.

Education

Cuyahoga Heights High School

Graduation: 2024

You get the difference. The bad example just lists a high school and graduation date. It’s less productive than sleeping during class.

The good example shows that you excelled during your time in high school. It signals to the recruiter that you didn’t just get by in high school but achieved and grew—two values much appreciated in the workplace.

4. Add Relevant Work Experience to Your High School Resume

You don’t need to have any relevant work experience. Hell, you don’t need to have a resume work experience section at all. But if you have any form of work experience, it will make your high school resume run laps around your peers’ resumes.

Here’s how to approach writing this section on a high school resume:

• Identify all types of work experience you had. Consider your full-time and part-time jobs, freelance gigs, and internships. Normally I’d recommend putting volunteer experience in a separate section, but on a high school student resume, you can add your volunteer work under the “work experience” section.
• Use a consistent format. List your work experiences in reverse chronological order, starting with the most recent position. For each entry, include the job title, company or organization name, location, and dates of employment.
• Emphasize experiences that are most relevant to the job you’re applying for. Highlight responsibilities and achievements that demonstrate transferable skills, such as teamwork, leadership, and problem-solving.

And then, present your experience in the form of strong resume bullet points. This is how:

• Begin each bullet point with a strong action verb to clearly articulate your role. Words like "organized," "led," "managed," "created," and "developed" are impactful.
• Whenever possible, include numbers to quantify your achievements. This provides concrete evidence of your impact. For example, "Increased sales by 20%" or "Managed a team of 5 peers."
• Focus on the responsibilities and skills that are most relevant to the job you’re applying for. You can locate these resume keywords by reading the job posting carefully.

See the examples below:

High School Student Resume Example—Work History

Work Experience

Cook

Grill & Doner, Garfield Heights, OH

June 2022–January 2024

• Participated in creating new menu items, resulting in a 20% increase in customer satisfaction.
• Collaborated with the kitchen team to implement a time-efficient system for grilling, reducing downtime between meal services by 30%.
• Received recognition for maintaining a consistently clean and organized kitchen workspace.
• Demonstrated exceptional teamwork by consistently achieving a 99% accuracy rate in preparing orders, contributing to a positive and efficient kitchen atmosphere.

Pizza Delivery Driver

PizzaMia, Garfield Heights, OH

January 2021–June 2022

• Ensured timely and accurate delivery of pizzas to customers, maintaining high customer satisfaction.
• Implemented efficient route planning, resulting in a 15% reduction in delivery times.
• Demonstrated strong problem-solving skills to address customer concerns and ensure a positive experience.
• Achieved a 98% on-time delivery rate, exceeding company standards.

Cook

Grill & Doner, Garfield Heights, OH

June 2022–January 2024

• Grilled, broiled, and prepared meat.
• Cleaned the kitchen.
• Ensured timely and accurate preparation of orders, maintaining efficient kitchen operations.

If you’re applying for your first job, and you have literally zero experience, just skip this section and highlight your skills more in the next sections of your high school resume.

And again, you’re not expected to have 20+ years of experience at 16 or 18 years old, despite what the internet says.

Expert Hint: Writing the perfect resume can seem like a hassle, so cheating can be tempting. But should you relax and let the AI write your resume? There is nothing wrong with using chatbots for help, but you should develop strong resume-writing skills yourself. They’ll greatly help you in the future.

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5. List Relevant Skills on Your High School Resume

Remember when I mentioned resume keywords? We’re going to revisit that now.

Look at the job ad again. It’s full of skills your future employer expects you to have. They act as resume keywords for their ATS scans. An ATS is a software system that recruiters use to weed out applicants whose resumes don’t match the position they are applying to. This means you need an ATS-friendly resume.

But don’t overflow your resume with dozens of skills. The sweet spot on a high school student resume is around 5–10 skills. Here are some universal skills you may want to add to your high school resume:

• Writing Skills
• Technical Skills
• Marketing Skills
• Management Skills
• Communication Skills
• Problem-Solving Skills
• Project Management Skills
• Analytical Skills
• Workplace Safety
• Critical Thinking Skills
• Time Management Skills
• Active Listening Skills
• OHS Rules & Regulations
• Computer Skills
• Decision-Making Skills
• Creative Thinking Skills
• Administrative Skills
• Leadership Skills

I also recommend you provide a good mix of both hard and soft skills when creating this section.

Hard skills are specific, teachable abilities or knowledge sets that can be quantified and measured. Examples include technical skills, computer proficiency, typing speed, and knowledge of software like MS Office.

Soft skills are interpersonal or people skills that are harder to quantify but equally important. Examples include communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and time management.

As for which skills you should prioritize—hard skills still take the first place. If you choose to list 10 skills on your high school student resume, aim for 6–7 hard skills if you can.

Expert Hint: A rather large concern for companies and teen employees is work safety. So, this skill is a rather ubiquitous one and can easily increase the value of your resume.

6. Load Your High School Student Resume With Extra Sections

Every high school student has the same resume sections we explained above. Want to make your high school resume stand out? Add 1–3 bonus sections to get recruiters to notice you. Choose from:

• Certifications on a resume are official credentials that validate your skills and knowledge in specific areas. They show that you have taken the initiative to gain additional expertise beyond the classroom.
• Known languages you speak fluently can be a significant advantage, especially for roles that require communication with a diverse group of people. This section showcases your ability to interact in different cultural contexts and adds a global perspective to your high school student resume.
• Hobbies and interests can give recruiters a glimpse into your personality and what you enjoy outside of school. This section can also highlight soft skills and qualities like creativity, discipline, and teamwork. Be sure to choose hobbies that reflect positively on you.
• If you’ve taken any courses outside of your regular high school curriculum, list them here. Highlight courses that are relevant to the job you’re applying for to show your dedication to learning and growth.
• Being a member of clubs, organizations, or professional groups can show your active engagement in the community and your commitment to specific interests or causes. If the group you’re a member of is a school club of any kind, list them under your education section instead.

Of course, this is not a complete list. If you published articles, spoke on a conference, won awards or honors, you can absolutely add a separate section for those extra qualifications.

Here’s an example:

High School Student Resume—Extra Sections

Certifications

• Google Analytics Individual Qualification, Google, August 2023
• Microsoft Office Specialist Expert, Microsoft, January 2019

Languages

• Spanish—Bilingual

Hobbies and Interests

• Reading Political Biographies: Gained insights into historical political figures and events.
• Writing Blog Posts on Civic Engagement: Created content to encourage youth participation in politics.
• Running: Participated in school track events, promoting physical fitness and discipline.

Hobbies

• Spanish cuisine
• Watching nature documentaries
• Juggling

You see how the first high school resume sample shows key skills and provides additional experience and achievements. This is how you should do it.

Meanwhile, the second candidate doesn’t present anything valuable unless they apply at a Spanish restaurant or a circus.

That’s the end of the writing guide, now I’ll show you three actionable high school resume examples that will make recruiter eyes go wide in excitement.

Expert Hint: Don’t forget to learn how to write a cover letter. Most jobs require it—and it’s where you can give more details about your passions and interests.

High School Resume Examples

As a high schooler, you might already have plenty of entry-level work experience. Conversely, you might be looking for your first job ever. Each of these types of resumes requires a slightly different approach. Below are three resume samples to help you visualize your end goal: a complete job application for a high school student with no experience, part-time experience, or plenty of work history.

#1 High School Resume Example With No Work Experience

#2 High School Resume Sample With Part-Time Experience

#3 Experienced High Schooler Resume Example

Now that you’re ready to conquer the world of employment, check out these guides for some entry-level jobs:

• Cashier Resume
• Delivery Driver Resume
• Entry-Level IT Resume
• Internship Resume
• Walmart Resume
• Warehouse Resume

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Key Points

For a high school student resume that passes with flying colors, remember to:

• Use the provided high school student resume template. It’s got everything you need.
• Showcase your achievements with a captivating objective. Highlight them further in the later resume sections.
• Detail your educational background. Don’t forget to add relevant awards and classes you took, along with the school name, city, state, and the expected graduation date.
• Highlight your skills. Refer to the job ad and add relevant hard and soft abilities.
• Write a high school cover letter. A cover letter with no experience is extremely effective at boosting your chances of landing your first job.

Do you have questions on how to write a great high school student resume with no experience? Not sure how to present your high school resume education? Leave a comment. I’ll be happy to reply.

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