High School Student Resume Example

Who this guide is for

If you are in 9th–12th grade and applying for your first job — a retail shift at Target, a spot on the swim team's coaching staff, a summer camp counselor role, a babysitting gig, or a food-service position at the local pizzeria — this guide was written for you. You may never have filled out a formal job application before, let alone assembled a resume. That is completely normal.

Hiring managers who post entry-level positions open to high school students are not expecting a polished professional with years of experience. They are looking for someone who shows up on time, communicates clearly, follows instructions, and treats customers and coworkers with respect. Your job as a first-time applicant is to give them confidence that you can do exactly that — and a well-organized, honest one-page resume does that job perfectly.

The good news: you almost certainly have more to put on your resume than you think. Between your classes, extracurriculars, sports, volunteering, informal jobs, and skills, there is a real story to tell. This guide walks you through every section, gives you an annotated sample resume to model, and shows you how to turn everyday activities into achievement-driven bullet points that catch a recruiter's eye.

Objective vs. summary: which should you use?

Both a resume objective and a resume summary appear at the very top of a resume, just below your contact information — but they serve slightly different purposes.

A resume summary is a two- to four-line paragraph that highlights what you have already accomplished. It works best for people who have some experience to reference. If you have held even one part-time job or informal role, a brief summary that ties those experiences together can work well. Browse resume summary examples to see what they look like in practice.

A resume objective, by contrast, focuses on what you are looking for and what you bring to it. Objectives fell out of fashion for experienced candidates but they are genuinely useful for high school students because they shift the frame from "what have you done?" to "what do you offer and want?" They let you lead with enthusiasm and specificity before an employer reaches your shorter experience section. See our resume objective examples for copy-and-adapt versions at every experience level.

Formatting a high school resume: keep it clean

The layout of your resume matters almost as much as the content. Employers spend seconds — not minutes — deciding whether to read further. A cluttered, hard-to-scan document is discarded before the content gets a fair reading. Follow these rules:

• One page only. If you are struggling to fill a page, expand your activity descriptions or add a coursework line — do not add blank space or inflate font sizes.
• Use a readable font at 10–12pt: Calibri, Arial, Georgia, or any clean sans-serif. Avoid decorative fonts.
• Keep margins between 0.5 and 1 inch on all sides.
• Use consistent formatting for all section headings and job titles — bold is fine; underlining is outdated.
• Leave white space between sections so the document breathes. Dense text is harder to skim.
• Save and send as a PDF unless the application specifically requests a Word file. PDFs look the same on every device.
• Name the file professionally: Jasmine_Kowalski_Resume.pdf — not resume_final_v3.pdf.
• Proofread three times. Then have a parent, teacher, or counselor read it once more. Typos in a short document are a red flag.

If you are worried about design and formatting, our AI Resume Builder handles it automatically. Pick one of the clean, ATS-friendly templates and focus on filling in your content — the spacing, fonts, and layout are handled for you.

How to apply when you have no work experience at all

Some students are at the very beginning — no clubs, no informal jobs, no volunteering yet. It happens. You still have options.

First, lead with education. A strong GPA, honor roll status, or enrollment in challenging coursework tells an employer that you show up, do the work, and deliver results. It is a proxy for reliability when there is no job history to reference.

Second, think broadly about experience. Have you ever helped organize anything — a birthday party, a church event, a neighborhood cleanup? Have you helped a sibling with homework consistently, or run any kind of social media account? These can be framed as experience if described honestly and specifically.

Third, put references to work. A teacher, coach, or neighbor who can speak to your character and work ethic is worth more than a thin experience section. Include a note at the bottom of your resume: "References available on request" — and make sure you have actually asked those people for their permission before you list their names.

For a full guide on building a strong resume when your work history is blank, see our dedicated page on writing a resume with no experience. It goes deeper on every strategy above and includes additional sample language you can borrow.

Also check out our first job resume example for a slightly more advanced version of this same situation — targeting retail, food service, or warehouse entry roles after some experience has started to accumulate.

Frequently asked questions