High school student resume: example and how to write yours

Example resume

Example

Jordan Ellis

High school junior seeking a part-time job in retail or food service

jordan.ellis@example.com · (919) 555-0162 · Raleigh, NC

Summary

Junior at Westbrook High School (GPA 3.6, honor roll) with a summer of cashier experience and two years of weekly volunteering. Comfortable with customers, cash and a busy counter. Available weekdays after 3:30 p.m., weekends, and full time in summer 2027.

Experience

Cashier and Counter Server

Jun 2026 - Present

Corner Scoop Ice Cream · Raleigh, NC · Part-time, summer and weekends

• Serve about 120 customers on a Saturday shift and handle cash and card payments on the POS system.
• Open the store two mornings a week: count the cash drawer, restock toppings and set up the counter.
• Trained 2 new summer hires on the register and the closing checklist.

Food Pantry Volunteer

Sep 2024 - Present

Oak Street Community Pantry · Raleigh, NC · Volunteer, Saturday mornings

• Sort and pack donations for about 80 families each week; 150 volunteer hours so far.
• Greet visitors at the check-in table and enter visits in a shared spreadsheet.

Treasurer, Environmental Club

Aug 2025 - Present

Westbrook High School · Raleigh, NC · School club

• Track the club's budget in Google Sheets and organized a plant sale that raised $640 for new recycling bins.

Babysitter

May 2024 - Present

Two neighborhood families · Raleigh, NC · Informal, evenings and weekends

• Care for 3 children aged 4 to 9: meals, homework help and bedtime routines.

Education

High School Diploma, expected June 2027. GPA 3.6, honor roll (4 semesters)

Aug 2023 - Jun 2027

Westbrook High School · Raleigh, NC

Skills

• Customer service
• Cash handling and POS systems
• Google Docs and Sheets
• Time management (school, job and club)
• Teamwork
• Childcare

Languages

• English native speaker
• Spanish B1 · intermediate

Interests

Junior varsity soccer (2 seasons) · Baking

Jordan is 16, a junior, and has had one summer job. This high school resume fits on one page and answers what a store or restaurant manager asks first: can this student handle customers, and when can they work?

What this example does well, and you can copy:

• the headline says the job wanted (retail or food service), not just “student”;
• the summer job, the volunteering, the club and the babysitting all count as experience, each with a number;
• the availability is written in the summary: days, hours and summer;
• the GPA and the honor roll sit in one line of education, where a reader expects them.

You can start from the same design or pick another one among our resume templates, and switch at any time without retyping.

A resume for high school students uses the same sections as any resume, in an order that puts your strengths first:

1. Contact information: name, city and state, cell phone, and an email address with your name in it (not the nickname you made in middle school). No street address needed.
2. Objective or summary: two lines on the job you want, your grade and your availability.
3. Education: your high school, the expected graduation date, and your GPA if it helps.
4. Experience: part-time and summer jobs, informal jobs, volunteering, clubs and sports.
5. Skills: the ones the job posting asks for and you can prove.
6. Optional: languages, awards, certifications such as CPR or first aid, interests that say something about you.

Leave off your date of birth, your age, a photo, your Social Security number and your parents' names. If the employer needs to confirm your age for work hours, they will ask during hiring.

With little work history, an objective works better than a summary: say what you are looking for and what you bring, in two sentences. Write it last, once you know what the rest of the page says. More examples in our resume summary guide.

On a high school student resume, school is your main experience. Write it in one or two lines:

• The school's name, city and state, and “High School Diploma, expected June 2027”.
• Your GPA if it is a strength. If it isn't, leave it off and let your classes and activities speak.
• Honors: honor roll, National Merit recognition, a science fair prize.
• Relevant classes in a short line, when they match the job: AP or IB courses, CTE classes such as culinary arts, business or health science.

Hiring managers who read a teen resume don't expect a career. They look for signs that you show up, follow instructions and get along with people. All of this counts, with dates and what you did:

• Part-time and summer jobs: retail, fast food, grocery, movie theater, amusement park.
• Informal jobs: babysitting, pet sitting, mowing lawns, tutoring a younger student, helping in a family business.
• Volunteering: food bank, animal shelter, library, church or community events, with your total hours.
• Clubs and sports: especially roles with responsibility (captain, treasurer, editor of the school paper).
• School projects: a science fair project, a fundraiser, a website or video you made.

Bullet examples for a high school resume, to adapt with your own numbers:

• Mowed and edged 6 neighborhood lawns every week from April to September, scheduling around school.
• Tutored 3 middle school students in math once a week; all three raised their grade by one letter.
• Captain of the junior varsity basketball team: led warm-ups and organized carpools for 12 players.
• Raised $1,200 for the senior class trip by organizing a car wash with 15 classmates.

Pick five or six skills from the job posting and make sure each one shows up somewhere in your experience. Your activities already prove more than you think:

A language you speak at home is a real skill for a job with customers: add it with an honest level. The full list is in our guide to skills for a resume.

Managers build schedules around your availability, so write it on your high school student resume: school days and times, weekends, summer dates. Make sure it fits the federal child labor rules of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), set out in 29 CFR Part 570:

• At 14 and 15, you can work in permitted jobs outside school hours only: up to 3 hours on a school day (Fridays included) and 18 hours in a school week, up to 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week when school is out, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. (9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day).
• At 16 and 17, there is no federal limit on hours, but you can't work in jobs the Department of Labor has declared hazardous.
• At 18, the federal youth employment rules no longer apply.

Your state may have its own rules, such as a work permit or tighter hours. When both federal and state law apply, the stricter one must be followed, as the Department of Labor's Fact Sheet #43 explains. Your school counselor can tell you what your state asks for.

• One page. Even with many activities, keep the ones that matter for this job.
• A clean, single-column layout with standard headings (Education, Experience, Skills) and a readable font.
• No photo and no date of birth: that is not done on a resume in the United States.
• A PDF named with your name (Jordan-Ellis-Resume.pdf), unless the application asks for Word.

Chains and large employers often screen online applications with software. Our ATS resume checker shows how your file is read and why each point is lost, before you apply.

If a college, a scholarship or a summer program asks for a resume, the same rules apply with a different focus: academics, awards, leadership, service hours and long-term commitments come first, and jobs still count. Keep a master version with everything, then cut it down for each job or application.

• An email like skaterboy2009@...: create a plain one with your name.
• “Hard worker, team player” with nothing to back it up: show it with a bullet.
• No availability: the manager can't schedule you.
• Making things up: a manager may call the family you babysat for.
• Typos: ask a teacher or a parent to read it once.

• In person, at stores and restaurants near you, at a quiet time (mid-afternoon on a weekday): bring a printed copy and ask for the manager.
• Online: company career pages, Indeed, and job boards for teens and students.
• Your school: the counselor's office or career center often has local openings and summer programs.
• Your network: neighbors, coaches and family friends hear about openings first.

Ask a teacher, a coach or a volunteer supervisor in advance if they can be a reference, and keep their contact details ready on a separate page. Applying for an internship? Use our internship cover letter example. After graduation, when you look for a full-time first job, see our resume with no work experience. And before the interview, practice your answer to tell me about yourself.