High school student resume template

With all the competition to secure a good-paying job after high school, it’s never too soon to start working on your resume. As a high school student without a long work history, you may not know what to include on your resume. However, you can highlight your educational experiences, volunteer or other work, and academic achievements to make your resume shine. 

Read on for more details about your new high school resume template.

Do high school students need a resume?

If you’re a young person, you may wonder if you even need a resume while in high school. Should you wait until you’re done with school and have more experience under your belt? You benefit from starting your resume while in high school, because it gives you a head start at finding the best jobs.

Creating a resume when in high school also helps you develop your resume-writing skills at a young age. By the time you are out of college or trade school, you’ll be a pro at writing one.

What should high school students include in a resume?

Here are the five categories to include in a high school resume.

Volunteer activities

Even if you don’t have a long list of work experience, you should include the volunteer work you’ve done. Whether it’s a small position or something more prestigious, volunteer work is commendable and should be listed.

Also, don’t forget to list any after-school clubs, groups, and organizations you are involved in.

Educational achievements

Were you on the honor roll? Did you obtain a high GPA? Highlight all of these educational accomplishments, awards, and honors. Let your achievements be known.

Skills

In the skills section of your resume, you should include hard and soft skills. Hard skills consist of things like computer skills, language, first aid training, and so on. You’ll also include soft skills, which refer to your personal qualities. Examples of soft skills are:

• Dependable/reliable
• Problem-solving skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Communication skills

Leadership experiences

If you have any leadership experience, be sure to list it. This would include things like being the captain of a sports team, the student council president, and so on. These are all relevant leadership positions.

Jobs

You want to highlight any job experience you might have. You might not think that babysitting or picking blueberries on the farm was important, but those are relevant jobs to list on a high school resume, because they tell the reader specific things about you, and how others see you and have relied on you in the past.

How to write your high school resume

For a hard copy resume, use plain, white paper that is heavier than the standard 20-pound weight paper. Usually, 24- or 32-pound weight paper is of better quality. Across hard copy or digital use a plain font, such as Times New Roman, Calibri, or Arial.

Most people with experience begin their resume with a summary or introduction statement that encapsulates their work experiences. However, since you don’t have several years of work experience yet, you can create a brief tagline that captures what you can bring to a job.

At the top of the resume, include your identifying information, such as your name, address, phone number, and email address. Follow this with your objective in seeking the job and the key skills that make you a good candidate for the position.

Next, include the relevant sections for your resume as follows:

• Skills
• Education and awards
• Skills and certifications
• Activities
• Work experience

Make the headers for your resume stand out by using boldface font. If you have plenty of room on your resume, you can also make these headers one size larger than the body of the resume. You would use a 12-point font for the main text and a 14-point font for the headers, for example.

However, leaving all the text the same size and just making the headers bold is fine, too.

Example of a high school resume

Applicant Name
222 Main Street
Silver Spring, MD 44444
(123) 456-7890
[email protected]

Bringing passion, problem-solving, and enthusiasm to any position

Honor student seeking a position as a daycare worker. Top skills include:

• Excellent with children
• Time-management skills
• Strong creative ability
• Leadership experience

EDUCATION & CREDENTIALS

JC Knowles HIGH SCHOOL, Silver Spring, MD

Diploma expected 2022

Awards & Honors

• Honor Roll, all three years of high school
• First-place in JC Knowles Creative Writing Junior Contest

Skills & Certifications

• CPR
• First Aid
• Microsoft Word

Activities

• Three-year member of the drama club, named assistant to the director
• Three-year member and leader of the high school book club
• Two-year member of the school yearbook staff
• Volunteer with DC Homeless Ministries feeding homeless

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

FAIRSTON UNIFIED CHURCH, Silver Spring, MD

SUNDAY SCHOOL HELPER (October 2020–Present)

Assist a Sunday school teacher with managing a class of 3- to 5-year-old children. Help set up and clean crafts and projects.

MALEY FAMILY, Silver Spring, MD

BABYSITTER (February 2019–Present)

For more than three years, I have regularly cared for two children aged 2–8 when their parents were away.

Final tips before submitting your resume

These tips will help you make the final touches on your high school resume before mailing it out:

• Take time to proofread your resume for grammar errors, typos, or missing words.
• Make your resume relevant to the job you are applying for where possible. You may need to customize or tweak it to better fit a job description.
  • For example, if you apply for a job working at a daycare center and you only have room for three work experiences, three experiences babysitting and/or working with Sunday school children would take priority over a job mowing lawns.
• Look at other online samples and templates to see examples of high school resumes.
• Make sure you have the correct name for the person who will be reviewing your resume.
• Have a separate list of references prepared in case you are asked for it later.