High School Resume: Example + Writing Tips

Making a resume for your first job is intimidating. It’s tough to know how you’re supposed to write a great teen resume without any real work experience.

Even if you have work experience, it probably isn’t related to the job you want.

So how do you write a resume that takes your experience and presents you as a qualified candidate?

Here are three tips for writing a successful high school resume.

1. Write an outstanding high school student resume objective

A resume objective is a type of resume introduction you can put at the top of your resume. This intro is best for job seekers with little experience because it emphasizes your future career goals and passion, making it perfect for a high schooler resume.

Before you write your resume objective, read the job ad to see what qualifications the employer is seeking. Then, write a 2–3 sentence paragraph that highlights your:

• relevant skills
• related career goals
• what you can contribute to the company

Hiring managers appreciate seeing a resume introduction because it lets them know immediately whether or not you’re qualified for the position.

Here’s an example of a resume objective that emphasizes the applicant’s job-specific strengths:

Here’s why this resume objective works: in the first sentence of this example, the candidate establishes several key skills and includes their GPA to demonstrate a capacity for high achievement.

Then, the second sentence explains the candidate’s desired career outcome, and the third sentence tells the hiring manager what skills the candidate can bring to the position to benefit the organization.

2. Highlight your volunteer experience and extracurricular activities

Few high school students have a long work history. But there’s no need to panic if you’re writing a resume with no experience.

You can replace the work experience section of your resume with a section describing your extracurricular activities, volunteer work, or both.

Here’s an example of a well-written resume volunteer section followed by an extracurricular activities list:

If you still have gaps in your resume, you can expand on activities you’ve been involved in. Include noteworthy information, like leadership roles you held, or major projects you led and organized, like this:

Heritage High School Student Council
Secretary, 2021 – Present

• Write and distribute detailed notes from 10 student council meetings every semester
• Introduced Trello to streamline management of council projects, saving an average of 3 weeks on each project compared to time frames from previous semesters

You can also include your hobbies and interests on your resume if they show how you can perform well in the workplace. For example, reading is a good hobby to put on a library page resume because it shows you enjoy literature

3. Include relevant coursework

If you don’t have many volunteer or extracurricular activities to put on your high school resume, showcase your education and include coursework related to the position you’re applying for.

Including your school coursework shows that you have some familiarity with the type of work you’ll do, which makes you easier to train than applicants who have zero background knowledge.

For instance, because the applicant in the resume sample above is applying for a Youth Development summer internship, they’ve included related courses they’ve taken in the education section of their resume:

If you’re unsure what classes relate to different jobs, here are some ideas:

• Creative Writing, Rhetoric, and Humanities → Journalism jobs
• Government, Civics, Economics, and Public Speaking → Political or legal roles
• Fundamentals of Math, Algebra, and Accounting → Accounting or finance positions
• Foreign Languages → Customer-facing roles
• Biology, Calculus, and Computer Science → STEM internships

If you don’t have volunteer or extracurricular experience to use in your relevant experience section, you can include relevant coursework instead.

Here’s an example of how to include relevant coursework on your resume:

RELEVANT COURSEWORK

Intro to Business

• Completed module on 10 types of business models and strategies
• Gave a 10 minute oral presentation on global business ethics for the class
• Collaborated with 3 other students to write a complete business plan

4. Focus on your transferable skills

While you may not possess many of the industry-specific hard skills it often takes years of experience or education to develop, you’ve likely developed some skills that are valuable to a variety of different jobs. Specifically, the soft skills you’ve acquired during your time as a high school student (and in life in general).

Soft skills are the personal qualities that determine how you interact with others, such as your communication skills or your ability to collaborate. These skills are very valuable because they’re much harder to teach.

Many employers will be happy to overlook a lack of experience if you possess a strong set of soft skills. After all, they can train you for the hard skills you’ll need for the job.

The skills section of your resume should include a mix of hard and soft skills, but don’t miss the opportunity to add skills in your resume objective and your experience section as well.

Notice all of the soft skills (in bold) mentioned in this resume objective example:

Driven and compassionate student with a 3.8/4.0 GPA and excellent organizational and interpersonal skills. Seeking to apply my tutoring and mentorship skills to the Youth Development summer internship at your company. Possess proven communication skills and passion for advocacy that will support your organization’s cause.

Including skills in your resume objective like this can help hiring managers see that you’re a good fit for the position. Try to pick out skills that are particularly relevant to the position you’re applying for, and then make sure to include examples of how you’ve demonstrated them in your experience section.

Here are some additional skills to include in your high school student resume that you’ve likely picked up through school or your social life: