Creating a High School Resume

The cool thing about high school resumes? You don’t need to stress if you have little (or no) work experience to include. You just have to think outside the box. Use it to showcase any (or all) of your:

• Academic achievements
• Extracurricular activities
• Leadership roles
• Awards
• Community service
• Work experiences 

Believe it or not, it’s worth crafting a one-page resume. Looking for a part-time job after school or on weekends? Hand your resume to the potential employer. 

Visiting colleges or attending college fairs? Hand out copies of your resume to the admissions representatives and counselors.

Applying to colleges? Some ask you to send a resume along with the other application materials. It can give admissions officers an overview of your achievements and your potential. 

Applying for scholarships? Some scholarship committees request or recommend that applicants include a resume, which you can use to showcase the qualities you have that they’re looking for.

Essential sections: What to include on your resume

Section one: Contact info

The first (and most important) element of your resume is your contact information — your name, phone number, and email address. For privacy reasons, we don’t recommend including your street address. If you have a LinkedIn profile, portfolio or website you created, include those URLs, too.

Section two: Objective

Think of this one- or two-sentence section as your elevator pitch. Use it to quickly share who you are and what you offer. If you’re applying to different jobs (or colleges), tweak it to highlight the skills the specific job or program wants applicants to have. 

For example, if you’re applying to film school, showcase your video editing skills. If you’re applying for an entry-level marketing job, highlight your sales and project management experience.

Section three: Education

This section should include your high school’s name, expected graduation date, GPA (if above 3.0), and class rank (if applicable). Next, include AP classes and any courses you’ve taken that complement your planned major. 

For example, if you’ve taken various coding language classes and plan to go into computer engineering, include them. Add classes you’ve at a local community college via dual enrollment.

And if you’ve received awards for honor roll, sports, or other academics, include them here! 

Section four: Work Experience

Have a part-time babysitting gig or work weekends and summers at a local amusement park? Add them here. Include the employer’s name, location, how long you’ve been employed there, and your job title. Then, include a sentence or two that explains your responsibilities.

If you have little or no work experience, no worries! The next section offers a place to spotlight your community service.

Section five: Volunteering

Whether you’ve had formal employment or not, include volunteerism on your resume. This work shows your commitment to community involvement and can earn you bonus points with colleges and universities. 

List the name of the organization, your length of involvement, your role, and your responsibilities. Even if you only volunteered for a limited time, it’s still worth mentioning. 

Section six: Key Skills

Call out your talents, abilities, and strengths here. If you’re a math whiz or a word wizard, or have tech skills like coding or computer building — or you’re a musical virtuoso, actor, or artist, add those things here. Include soft skills you’ve developed through working or volunteering, like collaboration and customer service. And if you’re bilingual or multilingual, add your language skills.

Section seven: Extracurricular Activities

Play a sport? Participate in a club? Show off those extracurriculars here — especially if you’ve prioritized these activities over holding a job. List all your extracurricular clubs or teams, and highlight those in which you’ve held a leadership position, like student council vice president, captain of the softball team, or stage crew manager for drama club.

Don’t forget to include any honors you’ve received that are not school-related. For example, if you earned your Eagle Scout after years of participating in Boy Scouts of America, mention it here.

Another benefit to including this section? It boosts super-involved students who may not have the highest GPA but are well-rounded and have different skills and strengths beyond academics.

Bonus section: Hobbies and Interests

While a professional resume won’t include this section (though LinkedIn has a spot), if you have other passions beyond what’s offered at your high school, include them here. For example, if you love computers and have built your own (and a few for friends and family) and plan to go into a tech career, add a note here!

Final tips and hints

When you create your resume draft, consider the formatting — after all, you’re relying on this tool to effectively communicate about you and what you have to offer.

• White space is your friend. Leave plenty of space around each section and use one-inch margins.
• Use subheadings to make it easy for readers to scan your resume. The section headings above work well.
• Contact info always comes first at the very top of your resume.
• Use 10.5 point font — too small, and it’s hard to read; too large, and the layout feels unbalanced. 
• Bullet points work well for balance and white space

Check out these example student resumes for further inspiration.