

You’re done with high schooling, but yet again, you’ve got to hit the books and learn how to write a high school student resume. No worries. You’ll pass with flying colours.
When I was your age…
That’s it. That’s the last straw.
Maybe your family didn’t need a resume when applying for a job, but you do. And you’ve been well aware of that for quite some time.
Once you’re done with this high school student resume guide, you’ll prove it indeed is not a walk-uphill both ways.
You’ll make it a full sprint.
OK boomer?
This guide will show you:
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Sample resume made with our builder—See more resume examples here.
Cheryl Austin
250-827-2132
cherylaustin@email.com
Objective
Outgoing and approachable high school student, passionate about arts and teamwork. Seeking to use exceptional communication skills and creative sensitivity as an Assistant Intern at M-Socials Agency.
Education
Dawson Creek Secondary School, Dawson Creek, BC
Expected Graduation: 2022
Experience
Team Captain
DCSS Basketball Team
May 2018–Present
Key Achievements
Skills
Awards
Languages
Now, here’s the job-winning high school resume formula:
To play a game, you need to build a character first.
A well-formatted resume is money in the bank, and you’d instead create a Mortimer than a Bob. Motherlode is useless in a real world.
So, let’s learn the code language for high school student resume formatting:
Great! You know the basics.
Now take a look at the resume header formatting so that recruiters know how to contact you:
Full Name
Include your first and last name in the header. You can highlight it by changing the font size by 2 points max.
Phone Number
Add your correct phone/cell number to make sure the recruiter can contact you.
Email Address
Write your professional email address, e.g., cherylaustin@email.com. So if you have to create a new one because you’re still using your high school handle, do it.
Social Media, Blog, or Website
Whatever job you’re applying for, check your social presence. Recruiters do look at your profiles to get their first impression of you. Do yourself a favour and update your privacy settings to hide anything potentially controversial or embarrassing.
The other thing is to add your social media, blog, or website handles if you’re applying for creative jobs where employers wish to see a portfolio. Recruiters are fond of candidates who walk the extra mile, making their jobs easier.
Although you wish you were in Riverdale to deal with the mystery instead of your teach, you can’t quite run away from it.
And that’s good.
Resumes for high school students take pride in the education section. So to nail it, use it to show you’re an engaged student that knows where your priorities lay and what’s your approach to development.
You say boring, I say smart.
Check out the below example to see how to write education on your high school resume:
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Dawson Creek Secondary School, Dawson Creek, BC Expected Graduation: 2022
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There are quite a few rules to remember when writing the education section for a high school student:
Remember that whatever extra you add to your resume must be relevant to the position you wish to get. Or else, you risk losing against the Applicant Tracking Software (ATS). That’s how recruiters don’t get to read your resume.
ATS isn’t your enemy, though, as long as you know how to outsmart it. The trick is to use the keywords from the job description and stay relevant at all times. The keywords are words and phrases that describe desired skills, qualifications, and experience.
Speaking of, let’s move on to the section you dread most—
I’ve heard that Matt got an A+ and you missed only one point to get it, too.
But hey! Next time, right?
Well, sorry to disappoint, but you won’t have the next time at a job.
A Matt would take it.
Don’t let anyone do better than you and take what should be yours. Learn ways to write an A++ work experience section even if you’ve never worked anywhere.
Have you played in a team? Helped your neighbours regularly? Or maybe you did some volunteering? Each works just as well.
Recruiters looking for juniors don’t want to know where you were employed, but whether you show transferable skills that your future employer can use.
Here’s the example that shows just that:
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Team Captain DCSS Basketball Team May 2019–Present Key Achievements
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DCSS Basketball Team Team Captain
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Holy moly guacamole!
Do you know how to make your experience history such a success? Here’s how:
Pro Tip: If you have no work experience, don’t name that section “work history or “work experience.” Call it “experience” instead. It does the trick.
When making a resume in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building a professional resume template here for free.
When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better.
But going back to the skills—
Ever taken part in a talent show?
Hopefully.
It’s time to perform again. Show your talent, that is.
Make a shortlist of your transferable skills that’ll come in handy at work. Employers value employability skills because they give them insight into how you’re going to perform on the job.
To pick the ones you need, use the job ad again. There are skills you need to have in your resume and make friends with the ATS.
But, have you heard of hard and soft skills?
Those are the two types of skills you can learn on the job or have a natural aptitude for. The best skills section shows a mix of the two.
Hard skills are particular to each role, e.g., InDesign for graphic designers or car engine structure for a car mechanic.
Soft skills involve personal abilities, e.g., active listening, communication, or problem-solving.
See what high school resume skills you could include in yours:
Work your skills into your experience and education as if you wanted the recruiter to read between the lines.
See these two high school student resume examples of Cheryl’s list of skills and then proof of aptitude for leadership in the experience history section:
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Key achievements
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Remember that it’s never too late to get better at things. Work on your skills while you’re in high school and let employers enjoy your application.
So far, so good. Let’s keep on going, not to lose pace.
Remember when I spoke about the extras?
Fantastic.
Now it’s time to add them to your resume. And you have plenty of choices:
Awards
Don’t get shy when it comes to writing your high school resume. It’s your chance to show off and not get called names. Awards are perfect indicators of your approach to the things you’ve been working on. Who wouldn’t love a motivated employee?
Volunteering
This is one of the easiest ways to convince the hiring managers to yourself. Sometimes it’s not what you do to get better at your job. More often, it’s about becoming a better human. And the best way to do it is through giving someone else a hand, showing you’re ready to help in times of need. That’s also teamwork, isn’t it?
Hobbies & Interests
You could write you read books or listen to music, but where would that get you? Somewhere but the job-valley. It’s safe to say that only relevant hobbies are worth claiming land on your resume. Relevant, meaning the ones that give your employer insights into your skillset.
Certifications
Ooh, these look great on a high school student resume. Understandably, you may not have one yet, but you could get some. Udemy, Coursera, HubSpot, and even YouTube, where you spend so much time, offer free courses. Take the opportunity while seeking employment and make your resume so much stronger.
Languages
Young people learn languages far quicker than adults. Use that to your advantage, especially if you’re about to work in communications. Cultural sensitivity and awareness are Yeezy-new-collection-level desired. And that’s what knowing foreign languages means.
Extracurriculars
If you’re using your time at school not only for schooling, then mention it. Student president or club member? These are fantastic examples to prove you’re an interesting person and education isn’t a joke to you.
Take a look below at an example of additional sections on a resume for high school students:
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Awards
Languages
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Wowza!
The potential is striking. You can see it, and so can recruiters.
The resume objective is another way to show it.
It’s almost over.
I promise.
Before landing here, you may’ve probably heard or read about resume summary or objective. So to recap—
A career summary is a gist of your work experience, plus a brief introduction of your skillset. It’s best for candidates with an established career or a couple of years of experience.
On the other side stands a resume objective.
A career objective is a 2-3 sentence statement about what you want to bring to the table, together with your transferable and employability skills and why it’s of interest to your employer.
As much as I wish it were, it’s not a cooking recipe in which you can guesstimate the contents. Instead, you should go for the must-have ingredients:
[Your strong trait(s)][title you’re holding]. Seeking to support/gain/etc. [your offer][company name]. [2-3 skills optionally].
You must be wondering, “Why now?” as this section is at the very top of a resume?
I just wanted to make it easier for you so that you don’t have to create an objective anew, only reuse the working parts. Now you can pick up all the skills and accomplishments from the education, experience, and skills sections.
See how Cheryl used the objective template in her high school resume:
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Outgoing and approachable high school student, passionate about arts and teamwork. Seeking to use exceptional communication skills and creative sensitivity as an Assistant Intern at M-Socials Agency. |
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Outgoing high school student without social media experience, but a quick learner. Hope to get an internship as an Assistant at M-Socials Agency. |
Are you yawning?
I’m sure you are.
The second example is so generic that recruiters fall asleep mid-sentence. And there are only two.
But you have one more chance to evidence you’re an engaging writer. Or, more importantly, a perfect candidate.
You’re big enough to stop believing in tall tales your lazy friends tell you.
So, don’t get mad, but if you thought you needn’t have to write a cover letter, then you were wrong. Unless, of course, you want to lower your chances.
Remember Matt? He wrote a cover letter. And got that fancy job in a French café where you like to spend time.
Let’s do better.
Let’s write a cover letter to a high school resume that swipes recruiters off their feet and give you a job in a pâtisserie opposite where all the cool kids hang:
Alright, alright.
You’re good to go.
It wasn’t so hard, was it?
A great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:
See more cover letter templates and start writing.
Here’s how to write a high school resume step by step:
Thanks for reading my guide! Now I’d love to hear from you:
Let me know. Let’s get the discussion started!
A fan of puzzles? Then tell me this, “What is a CV?” Oh, don’t beat yourself up. Nobody can give the correct answer before reading this article. So go ahead, and find your answer!
How long should a cover letter be? That is the question. How many words are too few or too many? That’s also a good one. And you’re in a good place to find out those answers.
Have trouble picking the best resume layout for you? With our guide, the head vs. heart fight comes to an end. We hand you the best solution of both worlds.