Estimated reading time: 6 mins
As a high school student, writing a resume is an excellent way to prepare you for the employment sector. Resumes are ideal for securing internships, completing college applications, and applying for jobs. Your high school resume focuses on your education, extracurricular, and volunteer experience.
If you have no high school resume skills, you are in the right place, analysts and resume writers at Resume That Works always ready to help you. Below are nine tips that will help you develop a powerful high school student resume. With these tips, your resume will captivate potential employers and fetch you the position you desire.
1. Know What You Want
Before you start typing, take time to identify what you want. Do you want a scholarship that relates to engineering? Do you want to secure part-time employment after school hours? Or are you seeking to supplement a scholarship or a college application?
What you answer for each of these questions will serve as a guide when you start developing your resume. Scholarship judges, admission officers, and potential employers appreciate resumes with a focal point. Your resume will be more compelling when your objectives are clear.
2. Include a Career Objective
For a captivating job resume for high school student, you must include a career objective. A career objective is two or three sentence paragraph that serves two purposes. It states your career goals and summarizes how your talents and skills align with a company’s needs.
Job-seekers of any career level or age can benefit from incorporating an objective statement. But, we at WhiteEssay recommend that all high school students should include an objective statement. This is because your previous employment history might not reflect your future goals.
Incorporating a career objective will allow employers to identify what you are applying. It will also show how your potential employment will benefit the company.
3. Do Not Shy Away From Seeking Help
To draft a powerful high school graduate resume, seek help from a high school guidance counselor or an English teacher. High school guidance counselors and English teachers are adept at tweaking resumes and providing constructive feedback. Further, they can go through your resume and detect typos that you might have missed yourself.
Do not feel overwhelmed by the thought of drafting a resume. Remember, developing a persuasive resume that showcases your skills and qualifications is achievable. Experts assert that all you need is tactful research, careful planning, and help from relevant bodies.
If you are unable to compose a resume because you are juggling school work and part-time employment, rest easy. You can avail help from a coursework writing service and have an expert writer draft you a stellar resume. No matter your case, you can always get help when it comes to writing a resume.
4. Identify Your Audience.
Once you have identified your objectives, you can proceed to develop your resume. But, do not forget that you are developing your resume for a specific audience.
Research the company or scholarship you are applying for. For scholarships, research funding organization and previous recipients. For job openings, research the company and services they provide. This will give you a good angle from which you should follow when writing your resume.
5. Assess Your Experiences
What are your accomplishments so far? List down all your accomplishments and ensure that they show your passions and skills. Include anything that entails servicing others, leadership, and communication. Also, include your awards and recognition.
Re-examine your list. Highlight the things that are perfect for the scholarship or position you desire. Pay attention to experiences that show consistency. These include extracurricular activities or volunteer work, as they suggest reliability.
Remember, it is okay if you have no “real” work experience. You may have volunteered at a food pantry or picked up trash in your neighborhood in your spare time. If worded well, the work experience that you have amassed throughout your high school years can be impressive. Do not fret.
6. Include Soft and Hard Skills
Trustworthy academic writers from essayzoo.org think that employers prefer employees who possess soft, as well as hard skills. Hard skills are measurable and teachable abilities. Soft skills are skills that make you a good employee.
Soft skills are part of an individual’s personality and are hard to teach. Hard skills come through experience and are teachable.
Soft Skills Include:
- Collaboration
- Problem-Solving
- Leadership
- Interpersonal skills
- Communication
- Etiquette
Examples of Hard Skills Include:
- Writing
- Reading
- Shelf Stocking
- Phlebotomy
- Forklift Operation
7. Make Your Resume Appealing.
For an appealing high resume for college, spice up you writing with dynamic language. To capture the attention of your reader, use vibrant verbs. These include verbs such as “facilitated” or “developed” instead of “did” or “made.” Additionally, avoid using the same verb multiple times in your resume. Using a vast array of dynamic verbs instead of the same drab ones will capture the attention of your readers.
8. Make Your Education Section as Detailed as Possible.
Since you are in high school, exploration and education are your main focus. Do not worry if you do not have a lengthy list of job experiences. Your participation in academic and co-curricular activities will give insight to potential employers on your value as an employee. These include participation in both co-curricular and academic activities that illustrate that you are a versatile and well-rounded individual.
If you have completed challenging coursework or scored high GPA, make this information known to your reader. Including this information demonstrates your devotion and ability to overcome challenges. Also, ensure that you include your co-curricular activities. This illustrates that you are capable of handling multiple responsibilities.
For example, if you are seeking an internship at a newspaper agency, your education section might look like this:
St. Mark High School
Graduation Date: June 2019
GPA:3.8
Relevant Coursework: Photography, Creative Writing, Introduction to Journalism, Yearbook
Clubs Involved: School Newspaper, Journalism Club, International Relations
9. Mention Your Achievements and Awards
A compelling resume for high school student should include awards and achievements. Employers are seeking candidates with a history of making an impact. Including your achievements and awards illustrate that you can make a positive impact. Further, including your achievements and awards can help you stand out above other applicants.
Below are some examples of awards that you can mention in your high school resume:
- Elected Student Body President for the year 207/2018
- Honor Roll
- National Student Volunteer Award
- High Class Rank (e.g. top 5%)
- International Mathematical Olympiad
- Volunteer Award
- Employee of the Month
The above tips are beneficial for resume for high school students with no work experience. When you follow these tips, you will draft an impressive resume that contains abilities and skills, volunteer work, and relevant coursework. By including your strengths, objectives, skills, and abilities, you will captivate your reader and leave a lasting impression.
Author’s bio: Cody Rhodes is a learning specialist at essayzoo.org, he designs and delivers learning initiatives (both in class and online) for a global and internal audience. He is responsible for on-going development, delivery and maintenance of training. He has the ability to manage competing priorities to execute on time-sensitive deliverables within a changing environment. He contributes in continually improving team’s processes and standards and works as a member of the team to assist with team initiatives.
