Almost every job application starts with the same thing: a resume. This is a candidate’s ticket to persuading an employer that they’re the right person for that job.
For high school students entering the workforce for the first time, job hunting can feel like being caught in a catch-22: employers want to hire someone with experience, but you can’t get work experience unless someone hires you. This means a student’s resume plays a particularly important role in their job search.
This article was designed to help high school students create a compelling resume that showcases the skills and experiences that make them a strong candidate. The following resume tips, tools and templates can be used by high school students and by those who support them in their job search.
Read more on CareerWise: Resources to support high school students’ job search
Resume-Writing Tips
First-Time Resume Writing (University of Toronto Mississauga)
This guide published on the University of Toronto’s Mississauga campus website was designed for students who have never created a resume before. The guide walks through quick facts related to recruiters, general guidelines for creating a resume, and tips for multiple sections that traditionally appear on a resume, such as the candidate’s objective, education, experience and awards.
High School Resume: A Step-by-Step Guide (Cappex)
Written in a way that feels as though you’re being talked to by a friend, this article walks students through every step of creating a resume. The article poses questions to help guide students and proposes helpful suggestions and advice for each section it explores.
High School Resume – Examples and 25+ Writing Tips (ResumeLab)
This guide is divided into the different sections that make up a resume, with useful tips to help students showcase their strengths even when they don’t have work experience. The guide uses a friendly, supportive voice and includes good and bad examples of how to execute the advice given.
Resume Skills for High School Students with Examples (The Balance Careers)
This article lists skills high students are likely to have as well as the benefits of each skill. After students get ideas for relevant skills they can share on their resume, they may find it useful to peruse these tips for writing your first resume.
Resume Summary Examples for Students (Glassdoor)
This article focuses on a specific part of a resume: the summary. It provides details on how to write a strong summary and what to include in it, as well as examples specific to high school students.
Student edition: How to write an awesome resume (Randstad)
This article suggests that when it comes to entry-level positions, employers are looking for marketable skills rather than a long list of prior work experiences. That’s why this confidence-boosting article focuses on helping students see the value in their existing skills and experiences, providing advice on how to identify their skills and strengths as well as examples to help prompt students to recognize what they have to offer.
Student Resume (Resume Build)
In addition to offering a resume-building tool, this website also provides tips on how to approach the different sections in a student resume as well as general resume tips specific to high school students.
Templates
20+ High School Resume Templates (Zety)
This page offers more than 20 downloadable resume templates designed specifically for high school students. To make it easier to choose, Zety provides a name and short description of what each template design has to offer.
High School Resume Templates (Canva)
Known for being a design tool, Canva also offers high school students a plethora of resume templates they can easily customize – from information to colours and typefaces – for free through its website.
Tools
High School Student Resume Example (Resume Genius)
In addition to providing resume-writing tips for high school students, this resource offers a downloadable resume sample and a free resume-builder tool that guides students through the process of creating (or uploading) their resume. Once students choose from among the multitude of resume templates, the tool asks them questions with pictured tiles to help them populate their resume in a simple, easy and visually inviting way. Afterwards, students can download and print their resume.
HSchool Resume
This website is entirely dedicated to helping students build their resume using its online tool. HSchool Resume promises that it takes only three easy steps: students choose a template and then answer questions so the tool can produce their resume. It costs $6.99 but after they’re done, students can update their resume as many times as they need to for free.
