How to Write a High School Student Resume

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Writing a high school student resume when you have limited or no working experience is challenging. You have to sell yourself to a potential employer, and make yourself stand out from the crowd, but how do you write a resume with no experience?

The good thing is that you probably have more things to add to your first resume than you imagine. All experience counts, whether it’s delivering newspapers, babysitting, or mowing lawns.

How do you do this, then?

Tips for writing a high school resume

The trick to writing a resume when you’re just out of high school is to focus on your strengths. Though you may have limited paid experience, your qualifications, volunteer work, and extracurricular activities can make your student resume shine.

We know that writing your first high school resume can seem like a daunting task. However, if you take it step-by-step it is very simple. Here are some tips on how to do it.

Where to start with my high school resume

A good way to start is to look at some entry–level resume examples to give you an idea of what you should include on your high school resume. It is also highly beneficial to use a resume writing guide throughout the process.

What skills can high school students add to their resume?

If you are like many students, you probably feel you’re 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 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.

Use a professional template

A resume is more than just a document describing your education and experience. It is a sales presentation. However, in this case, the product being sold is yourself. This means that how you present the information is just as important as the content itself.

Your resume must be engaging and eye-catching to maximize your chances of being noticed by employers. Nevertheless, don’t go overboard. Avoid too much color, extravagant designs, or excessively complicated formatting. Keep your resume simple, minimal, and professional.

To ensure the design you use is both suitable and aesthetically pleasing, it makes sense to use a resume template that has been professionally designed.

Keep your resume concise and direct

Studies have shown that recruiters only spend an average of 7 seconds looking at each resume. This means that overwhelming them with information and large blocks of text will be counterproductive to your success.

When writing your resume:

• Keep it brief and to the point
• Avoid including any extra information that doesn’t directly help your application
• Use bullet points where possible
• Keep the length of the document to one-page max

Scan each job description and identify the requirements

Read through the job description for each job position you are interested in and highlight the core skills and competencies. Identify the keywords, normally there is a list of requirements and it is important to show you meet all of them.

The skills section of your resume needs to incorporate the appropriate soft skills (personality traits) which you must be able to demonstrate, such as leadership skills, reliability, and communication skills. As well as the necessary hard skills (technical or learnable skills) such as computer skills, foreign languages, and accountancy.

Identifying the key competencies will make it easy to know what information you should add to your high school resume. This will include both soft and hard skills.

Add your education to your resume

In a high school resume, your education is more important than for an older or more experienced candidate. Unless you have a significant amount of work experience already, your high school education should come first.

When writing this section, it’s necessary to also add all relevant details in the correct order. Here’s the information you must include to correctly present your education:

• Name of degree
• Name of high school
• Years attended
• GPA
• Honors
• Courses that are relevant to the job

Include any work experience you may have

As mentioned previously, as a high school student, it’s very normal that you have little to no work experience to show. This is completely fine, and you can fill this space with additional sections we will elaborate upon later.

However, if you have already undertaken some positions or small roles, even if for a very short time, it’s always recommended to include them. Due to the fact that you’re still in high school, they will still represent an enterprising attitude to employers even if they aren’t strictly related.

When including your work history, make sure to list your duties, responsibilities, and any achievements you had using concise bullet points. Also, add your title during your time there, the company name, and the start/end dates of the experience.

Make sure you provide accurate contact information on your resume

Employers look at an incredibly large number of resumes each day. This means that the easier you make their life, the better your chances at landing an interview.

Having inaccurate or hard-to-find contact information can put them off from contacting you, and it may end up with your resume getting discarded. Therefore, it’s important you include your full name, phone number, e-mail address, and any relevant social media links in a clearly visible position on your resume.

Double-check that all the information is correct, and give as many contact details as possible to enable the company to contact you via their preferred method of communication. Make sure to also use a professional email address to avoid giving a bad impression.

Write a compelling resume summary statement

A resume summary is a statement of 3-4 sentences that outlines your skills, accomplishments, and career objectives. It should sum up why you’re applying for the position and how you are qualified for the role.

It’s important to also adapt the statement to the job you are applying to, mentioning capabilities and achievements that qualify you for the specific tasks you will be performing.

Below you can find 2 examples of well-formulated resume summary statements:

• “Honor roll high school student with experience working with children and the elderly. Looking to help a community service organization to bring a positive change to their community.”
• “Dedicated and passionate high school student looking to bring a hard-working attitude to a sales assistant position. Confident individual with excellent communication and people skills.”

Tailor your resume to fit each job

Job candidates who do not tailor their resumes for each position are putting themselves at a disadvantage. A quick and easy way of adapting your resume for each role is using a resume builder.

Once you have a list of your strengths and skills, and you have identified the key requirements of a job, it is simple to tailor your resume using a high school resume template.

Think about what the employer is looking for and highlight your achievements which clearly demonstrate that you are the right person for the job.

Create additional resume sections

Although space is precious on a resume, additional sections can go a long way to differentiate you from other candidates. As mentioned above, considering that as a high school student you may not have much work experience, adding more information can be an excellent way to show your potential.

Below are some of the most successful optional sections you can add to your resume:

• Hobbies and interests are a great way to show who you are as a person. They make you seem like a well-rounded applicant who is motivated and passionate. Pastimes with skills that are transferable to the job you’re applying to are especially valuable to include. For example, being part of a sports team may indicate that you have strong teamwork abilities, communication skills, and a competitive mindset.
• Awards can help sell yourself to employers. Regardless of the achievement, any successes you may have picked up during your high school career can help you stand out from the crowd.
• Volunteering experiences are always a good addition to any resume. These show that you are a proactive individual who cares about other people or your community. People like to work with individuals who are generous and helpful, so make sure to list any volunteering projects or experiences you’ve undertaken.

What not to do on a high school student resume

There are certain pitfalls you need to avoid when writing a high school resume. Make sure you avoid the following common mistakes:

• Do not lie. Many high school students make this mistake as they feel that they do not have enough experience. It can be very tempting to do so but it is risky. You can easily get caught. Even if you get away with it and end up getting the job, it could become obvious that you do not have the skills, qualifications, or experience you claimed to have.
• Do not use fillers. When writing a high school student resume with no work experience, the space on the page can seem infinite. There are a number of things not to include on your resume. Everything you write on your resume should help to sell you in some way. Padding out your resume will not only be a waste of necessary space but it will also distract the employer from the good parts. Using a high school student resume template will help you to fill your resume with your strong points, no fillers are needed.
• Proofread your resume multiple times. Making typos and other silly mistakes does not give a positive first impression and it looks amateurish. Proofread your resume numerous times and then give it to at least one other person to look at. Sometimes it can be hard to spot your own mistakes. Make sure your resume looks like a professional resume, not a resume for teens.
• Do not include a photo. Within the United States, photos are not generally used for almost any type of job application. Unless you’re applying to a role which asks for a professional headshot, there’s no reason for your resume to have a picture of you. In fact, including a photo may lead employers to automatically dismiss your resume to avoid the risk of accidentally discriminating. This is because there are laws in the US to ensure companies do not discriminate against candidates based on their race, gender, or age.
• Do not use an objective statement. As mentioned above, a summary statement is a great addition to your resume to show both your value and motivation for the role. However, objective statements tend to be generic and they do not help recruiters to understand your qualifications or actual goals. An example of such a sentence is: “Motivated high school student looking for first work experience”. This vague statement provides no real information and does not help the candidate to market themselves.

High School Resume Example

Now that you know the fundamentals on how to craft the best possible high school resume, it’s helpful to examine a real example before starting your own.

The following resume was created using the ResumeCoach resume builder. Thanks to this service, you can pick the template that strikes your fancy from a comprehensive library of options, including this one. You can also customize the template based on your particular needs and specifications.

Using this kind of tool, you will input your information through a simple step-by-step process and find expert guidance along the way. In just a few minutes, you will end up with an optimized resume. Take a look at how your end-result might turn out!

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