High School Resume Template and Examples for a Student
Learn how to write a high school resume that shows your skills and potential to every employer, even with no experience. Kickstart your future with a standout high school resume!
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High School Resume Template
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Responsibilities and Duties for a High School Resume
High school students with no work experience can showcase their potential on a resume by emphasizing transferable skills acquired through classes, clubs, and volunteering. Examples include leadership skills gained through managing projects and teamwork from group activities, sports, and coursework.
Here are more examples of how to present school activities and projects as impactful duties on a resume for high school students:
● Worked effectively as part of a team to complete projects and tasks, demonstrating strong interpersonal skills.
● Collaborated with peers to plan and execute school events, enhancing organizational skills.
● Balanced multiple tasks and deadlines while prioritizing responsibilities in a fast-paced learning environment.
● Managed time effectively to ensure timely completion of assignments and projects.
● Presented information to classmates or groups, developing public speaking and presentation skills.
● Led group projects or team activities, coordinating roles and responsibilities to achieve common goals.
● Mentored younger students and peers, providing guidance and support to foster a positive learning environment.
● Promoted school events or fundraisers, utilizing marketing techniques to increase participation and engagement.
Knowing how to frame your activities as accomplishments is one thing, but putting them into the context of a well-formatted high school student resume is quite another! Take a look at these high school student resume templates to see them in action:
First Job High School Resume Sample
Example High School Student Resume with no Work Experience
Example High School Academic Resume for College Applications
1. Pick the Best High School Resume Format
No matter your experience level, the information you include on your high school resume has to be organized in a way that immediately makes sense to the reader. Recruiters don’t have the time to read every resume in depth—you have to give them the Cliff notes they can skim to get what they need.
That’s why using a tried-and-tested resume format will go a long way toward helping you get hired.
The most widely accepted format is the reverse-chronological resume. This is the standard layout you’ve probably seen already, focusing on experience (but you can make it work with just education, too). It’s the best format overall—it puts your achievements front and center and what recruiters expect to see.
Reverse-chronological resumes are broken into sections, including:
● Header with contact details
● Resume summary (introduction)
● Work experience
● Education
● Key skills
● Additional sections (languages, certifications, interests, and so on)
This is the resume format we’ll use in this guide, since it’s the most universal choice. However, you may consider going with a functional resume if you have zero experience—no internships, no volunteering, no projects, not even pet sitting. In such cases, the functional resume could be your friend.
Functional resumes focus on your skills, mentioning examples of when you put those skills to use (most likely during school projects). Note that this format is rarely used; it may confuse recruiters. The combination resume format is a similar solution, although it may also put you at a disadvantage just because it looks so different from what hiring professionals are used to.
In any case, remember to follow these formatting tips on your resume:
● Choose a resume font that’s clear and easy to read—something that doesn’t draw attention to itself. Arial, Helvetica, Georgia, and Roboto are perfect for the job.
● Set the font size to 10–12 points for increased readability.
● Give each of your sections a clear heading that’s around 14–16 points in size. Go with standard section names, like “Experience” and “Education.”
● Add some white space by using one-inch margins on your resume and setting line spacing to 1.15
● Make sure your resume fits on one page. If it’s longer than that, you may be including too much information or having trouble with its formatting.
When you’re ready to submit your resume, check whether the employer has specified a file type they prefer. If not, go with a PDF file, since it works on every device and always looks the same.
Ready to see some examples? Here are a few templates from our resume builder for high school students that you might find helpful:
This High School resume template lets you make an elegant use of color, ensuring a polished design. It’s two-column design also helps to keep the document better organized.
Build my resumeThis High School resume template lets you fill up more space on the page. The result is that you avoid the impression of a lack of experience with too much white space.
Build my resumeThis High School resume template is a perfect blend of creativity and elegance that doesn’t go far into the latter, avoiding a cluttered design. Using this template is a great option for those seeking creative careers.
Build my resume2. Add a Header to Your High School Resume
Your resume header is a small section containing your contact information at the top of the page. Here’s what details to include:
● Your full name
● Your phone number
● Your email address
You can also include links to relevant profiles or content online, like your portfolio, if you’re applying for a job in a creative industry. A LinkedIn profile URL is also a great option.
There’s no need to include your street address or any other contact information on your resume—you can share more details with the employer later during the recruitment process if necessary.
Pro Tip: Making a strong LinkedIn profile is free and easy—consider creating one to give yourself a professional edge. Use a business-style headshot as your profile picture, and stay active in your chosen industry to show commitment and dedication.
3. Make Your Education Stand Out on Your High School Student Resume
Typically, work experience comes before education on resumes. However, for a high school student, education will likely be the more significant asset, owing to a lack of work experience. That said, if you have work experience that’s more relevant than your high school experience, put your work experience section first.
When listing education on your resume, start by providing the basic details, including:
● The level of your education, so most likely “High School Diploma”
● The name and location of your school
● Your dates of attendance—if you’re still in high school, state your expected graduation date
Next, add more information about your activities at school, focusing on experiences most relevant to the job you’re applying for. Consider adding:
● Extracurricular activities, complete with your related accomplishments
● Academic achievements
● Relevant coursework
● Relevant projects
When describing your high school experience, show specific skills, drawing attention to what you learned with each activity.
In general, there’s no requirement to list your GPA on your high school resume. The only exception is if you’re writing a high school academic resume to attach to your college application.
On an academic resume for high school students, colleges expect to see your weighted GPA, class rank, and SAT/ACT scores. You can also include a separate section for your extracurricular activities on your resume to draw attention to specific accomplishments in relevant clubs and societies. Check out the academic resume example above to see what your document could look like!
4. Outline Relevant Work Experience on Your High School Resume
If you have work experience, list it in a separate section on your resume. Start with your current or most recent job, and include your job title, the company’s name and location, and your employment dates. Internships and volunteering are fair game on a resume with no work experience—you can treat these experiences like any other job.
Now, for each of your jobs, write 3–5 bullet points outlining the impact of your contributions. Here’s how to make your bullet points shine:
● Emphasize your accomplishments in each role rather than simply listing duties. Focus on what you helped achieve.
● Start each of your bullet points with an action word, such as “delivered,” “improved,” or “boosted.” They land much better than a passive language like “responsible for.”
● Use numbers to quantify your achievements. If you improved customer satisfaction scores, say by how much. If you serve a lot of customers, provide a figure. How many are served per day or week? This adds impact and context to your statements.
If you have your eye on several job openings, tailor your bullet points to each job you apply for. If needed, reframe or reword your accomplishments to draw attention to the particular skills required by each employer.
Build my resume5. Perfect Your High School Resume Skills Section
List 8–10 of your most relevant skills and abilities in your skills resume section. Try to match the employer’s requirements with your skill set: analyze the job ad and see what skills they’re after. Then, include those skills on your high school resume in the skills section and elsewhere to show you’re the perfect fit.
Resume skills for high school students will differ based on your experience, strengths, and the industry you’re looking to enter. However, here’s a list of high school skills for resumes that should be relevant for most candidates:
Skills for High School Resumes
● Communication skills
● Interpersonal skills
● Leadership skills
● Management skills
● Attention to detail
● Problem-solving skills
● Organizational skills
● Critical thinking
● Creative thinking
● Analytical skills
● Time management
● Teamwork
● Computer skills
● Multitasking
You’ll have developed plenty of soft skills like communication and teamwork through your high school studies, so they’ll likely make up the bulk of your list. However, try to include relevant hard skills on your resume as well. Examples could include software proficiencies, typing speed, customer service, cash handling, design basics, or social media management, depending on your industry and experience.
6. Include Relevant Additional Sections on Your Resume
Additional resume sections are your chance to share relevant details about yourself that didn’t fit anywhere else on your resume. This could include:
● Courses and certifications resume section
● Volunteering resume section, if you haven’t mentioned your volunteering experience elsewhere on your resume
● Foreign languages resume section
● Awards
● Interests
Make sure only to include relevant information on your resume, though. Everything you add to your resume should prove you’re the right candidate.
As an entry-level candidate, consider making the most of your Interests resume section. Use it to highlight your passion for the industry you’re looking to enter. For instance, if you’re applying for a job at a local movie theater, mention your love of international cinema. Look at the sample high school resumes in this guide for more examples.
Pro Tip: Short on extras for your resume? Take online courses on topics relevant to your chosen industry, then list them on your resume. Check out edX, Udemy, and Reed for inexpensive, high-quality online courses.
7. Write a Resume Objective for High School Student Resumes
Your resume objective (or summary) is the first section after the header. However, it’s best to write it last—it’s supposed to summarize your resume, which is much easier to do once the rest of your document is complete. Candidates with work experience write what’s called a resume summary. It needs to feature your most significant professional achievements, a few relevant skills, and an offer to contribute to your prospective employer’s business positively. Here’s an example resume objective for high school students:
8. Complete Your Application with a Cover Letter
Even if the job advertisement doesn’t list a cover letter as a requirement, it’s always worth writing one. A well-written cover letter can boost your chances of getting hired, if only because it shows your commitment and determination. Plus, it’s a chance to reiterate your skills and achievements. You don’t need work experience to write an eye-catching cover letter. You can draw on your other experiences to show your potential. Consider this example:
Build my cover letterHigh School Student Resume Dos and Don’ts
- Highlight extracurricular activities, particularly if you have no work experience. Include relevant clubs, sports, or volunteer work that showcase leadership, teamwork, and initiative.
- Tailor your resume to each job by focusing on the skills and experience most relevant to the position you're applying for.
- Focus on your skills—emphasize transferable skills like communication, problem-solving, or organization, even with limited work experience.
- Get too creative with your resume formatting. Stay away from images, overly decorative fonts, and vibrant colors. Keep your resume clean and professional.
- List every class you’ve taken. Only mention relevant coursework directly related to the job; everything else will add clutter to your resume and make your accomplishments harder to find.
- Submit your resume without proofreading it first. Even spell-check can sometimes fail you, so go over your resume in detail to eliminate errors.
Looking for other resume examples? Take a look at these related resume guides prepared by our experts:
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● Retail Resume Example
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Sources
1. 20 steps to a better LinkedIn profile in 2024, Jane Meehan, LinkedIn Sales Blog, accessed October 5, 2024, https://www.linkedin.com/business/sales/blog/profile-best-practices/17-steps-to-a-better-linkedin-profile-in-2017
2. Write a High School Student Resume for College Applications, The Princeton Review, accessed October 5, 2024, https://www.princetonreview.com/college-advice/high-school-resume