Life as a high school student can be exhilarating, but it can also feel like you’re juggling five million things. You’re sending out college applications, doing interviews, taking extracurricular courses, trying to have a social life, and prepare your resume for that killer job you’ve been eyeing.
If you don’t have a lot of experience, you might feel like it’s impossible to create a resume as a high school student headed to college. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be!
We’ve helped thousands of high school students craft awesome resumes and master writing a great cover letter for that college job over the years, which is why we’ve created this guide with everything you need to know—starting with three sample high school student for college resumes.
The Most Important Part: Skills & Work Experience
As a high school student, you may be short on career experience, but you can use this section to focus on all the skills you’ve gained from the activities that keep you busy!
Your goal here is to show that you’re a motivated go-getter, and you can use the skills section to do just that. Start by reading the job description carefully to see what kind of skills they might want, like verbal communication, time management, or research.
Then, think about what skills you’ve picked up from school clubs, after-school activities, odd jobs, or errands, and write those down. If you’re stuck, ask a friend: sometimes the skills may seem so obvious to you that you’ll forget to include it!
9 Best High School Student for College Skills
- Teamwork
- Customer service
- Microsoft Office
- Social media marketing
- Determination/diligence
- Research/analytics
- Bilingualism
- Time management
- Collaboration
Sample High School Student for College Work Experience Bullet Points
So you’ve gotten the skills section out of the way. Now, you want to focus on letting your previous experience shine.
Sure, you may not have worked as a teen in a traditional 9-to-5 yet, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have the chops. So how can you convince the recruiter you can do what it takes as a high school student looking for a college job?
Focus on impact (using metrics) from previous roles like volunteer work, internships, regular chores, extracurricular activities, or side gigs. Showcase using numbers the impact you had. Recruiters will clearly see that you know what’s important, and more importantly know how to measure it.
Let’s look at a few examples:
- Started an Eastern European Literature club as a freshman, recruiting 35+ members in the first semester
- Assisted in fundraising events for inner-city kids, helping raise $40,000 in 2 weeks
- Founded and ran a comedy page on Instagram and TikTok, reaching 5 million views and 23,000 followers
- Surpassed sales targets by 6-9% on a weekly basis by upselling appetizers and desserts to diners
Top 5 Tips for Your High School Student for College Resume
- Include a custom-tailored career objective
- A career objective can help your resume stand out when you’re a high school student, but only if it’s not impactful. Clearly demonstrate your achievements and drive, and mention where you see yourself within the company you’re applying to. If it’s just generic fluff, it’s best to skip it.
- Highlight your strengths
- It can be easy to minimize your talents if you’re early on in your career. That’s a mistake! Focus on what makes you unique: are you a polyglot? A math whiz? Top of the class in Computer Science? If it could help you stand out, put it down!
- Don’t overstay your welcome
- Conversely, don’t wax poetic when writing your high school student for college resume. It doesn’t need to be a two-page resume. If you’ve got the essentials, you’re good to go. Less is more, and filler will kill your chances of getting interviewed.
- Demonstrate your impact
- Yes, we’re repeating this! Use your work experience to show what kind of positive impact you’ve had through your previous tasks and responsibilities. Whether it’s chairing class meetings, participating in community activities, or volunteering for a fundraiser, make it clear what your impact was.
- Keep it easy to read
- A good resume should be easy on the eyes. Have lots of white space, simple bullet points, and no fancy graphics or images that could mess up your layout. Remember, your resume as a high school student is the first impression your future employer might have of you!
Absolutely! Don’t worry if you haven’t had an internship or worked in retail yet. Focus on volunteer work, your education, extracurricular courses you’ve taken, hobbies, and any other achievements like a strong GPA. Remember, everyone needs to start somewhere.
Sure thing! In fact, it’s better to have less than too much. If you have all the essentials we talked about, then you should be good to go. And remember: recruiters aren’t expecting you to have that much experience out of high school.
All you need to do is make sure any skills the job description asks for are reflected in your resume. Plus, include relevant work experience that aligns with the mindset or profile they’re looking for. And don’t forget to customize your career objective!
