Resume writing10 min read
High School Resume Examples: What to Put When You Have Little Experience
Three complete high school resume examples, for a first job, a college application and a summer job, plus what to write in each section when you have no work history yet.
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Key takeaways
- On a high school resume, put education near the top: school, expected graduation year, and GPA if it’s 3.5 or above or the application asks for it.
- With no job history, your activities and volunteering become your experience, and so does informal work like babysitting. Write them like jobs, with numbers.
- For a first job, state your availability. Stores and restaurants hire around evenings and weekends, so days and hours are part of the answer.
- A college application resume is different: it leads with academics and your most committed activities, and it backs up the Common App activities list.
- Keep it to one page, and leave out your photo, date of birth and street address.
A high school resume works when it proves you’ll show up, learn fast and follow through, using what you already have: school, activities, volunteering and any work you’ve done for neighbors or family. Nobody expects a job history at 16. Below are three complete high school resume examples (a first job, a college application and a summer job or internship), plus what to write in each section when you have no work history. For finished, editable layouts, see the resume templates for high school students.
What goes on a high school resume with no work history
The sections stay the same for almost every high school student. What changes is the order, because your strongest evidence goes near the top, where the reader looks first.
| Order | First job | College application | Summer job or internship |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Contact details | Contact details | Contact details |
| 2 | Objective with availability | Education with GPA and courses | Objective naming the program |
| 3 | Education | Activities and leadership | Education |
| 4 | Experience: volunteering, informal work, activities | Work and volunteering | Projects or relevant activities |
| 5 | Skills | Honors and awards | Work and volunteering |
| 6 | Awards, if any | Skills and interests | Skills |
Contact details: name, phone, a plain email address and your city and state. No street address, no photo, no date of birth.
Objective: one line naming the job and when you can work. An objective suits a first resume better than a summary, since there’s little history to summarize. Our post on resume summary vs objective explains the difference, and these resume objective examples show more one-liners.
Experience: anything you did regularly for someone else counts. Babysitting, mowing lawns, pet sitting, helping at a family business, volunteering, team captain, stage crew. Call the section “Experience” rather than “Work experience” so it can hold all of it.
Skills: skip “hard worker” and “people person.” Name things someone could test: cash handling, Google Sheets, Canva, a language you speak, CPR if you’re certified, food handler training if your county issues a card.
Keep it to one page. Nobody expects more from a high school student, and a second page usually means the first isn’t edited yet. See how long a resume should be for when that changes.
The education section for a high school student
For now, education is your job history, so give it more than one line. List the school, city and state, expected graduation month and year, then add what helps:
- GPA, if it’s 3.5 or higher, or if the application asks for it. Say whether it’s weighted.
- Honors, AP, IB or dual-enrollment courses that connect to the job or the major you want.
- Honor roll and academic awards, with the year.
The graduation date matters more than you’d think. Many summer programs and internships set an age or grade limit, and one internship posting we read in September 2026 asked applicants to be 18 or older with a high school diploma or GED. Check both before you apply, so you don’t spend an evening on an application you can’t be accepted for.
Turn activities and volunteering into experience
A hiring manager at a grocery store worries about three things with a teenager: will you come on time, will you be polite to customers, and will you stay past the first month. An activity written with a number in it answers all three better than any adjective. Give each one a role, the organization, the dates and one or two bullets.
Here’s the same approach across the activities high school students list most:
- Babysitting: Cared for [2] children aged [4 and 7] for a neighbor, [3] afternoons a week for [a year], including school pickup and homework.
- Lawn care or pet sitting: Mowed [6] neighbors’ lawns weekly through [two] summers, scheduling jobs around rain and invoicing by text.
- Sports: Started at [midfield] for [2] varsity seasons with [6 a.m.] practice [5] days a week, while keeping a [3.6] GPA.
- Club or student government: Ran the [Key Club] bake sale as treasurer, counting and depositing [$640] across [3] events.
- Family business: Worked the counter at [my family’s restaurant] on weekends, taking phone orders and handling cash.
- Tutoring: Tutored [3] middle school students a week in [algebra] through the school’s peer tutoring program.
Be honest about scale. “Helped organize” is fine if that’s what you did. An interviewer will ask about anything on the page, and a true small thing holds up better than an inflated big one.
Turn a weak line into a strong bullet, free
Paste a line like “volunteered at the library” into the resume bullet point generator and it rewrites it around an action and a result. You add your own numbers.
Try the bullet point generatorThree high school resume examples
Each example below is complete: copy the structure, then replace every bracket with your own details.
Example 1: first job, no work experience
[Maya Torres] · [Sacramento, CA] · [(555) 010-0000] · [maya.torres@email.com]
Objective: [Junior] at [Lincoln High School] looking for a part-time [cashier] role. Available weekdays after [3:30 p.m.] and all day Saturday and Sunday.
Education: [Lincoln High School], expected graduation [June 2027]. GPA [3.4].
Experience
- Volunteer, [Sacramento Public Library], [Sept 2025] to present: Shelve returns and help children find books [3] hours every Saturday; trusted to run the summer reading sign-up table.
- Babysitter, private family, [2024] to present: Care for [2] children [3] afternoons a week, including school pickup, snacks and homework.
- Concessions volunteer, [Lincoln High Boosters]: Took orders and made change at [8] home football games, handling [cash and card] payments.
Skills: Cash handling · Spanish (conversational) · Google Docs and Sheets · Food handler card, [county], [2026]
Why it works: the objective answers the manager’s first question (when can you work?), and every line shows reliability. Cashier jobs rarely need experience. The Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that cashiers learn on the job, in training that may last up to a few weeks, so a first resume only has to show you’re dependable and good with people.
Example 2: college application resume
[Daniel Kim] · [Austin, TX] · [daniel.kim@email.com]
Education: [Westlake High School], class of [2027]. GPA [3.9] unweighted. [AP Physics C, AP Calculus BC, AP Computer Science A]. [National Merit Commended Student].
Activities and leadership
- Captain, [Robotics Team], [grades 10 to 12]: Lead a [14]-student team; designed the drivetrain that took the team to the [state championship] in [2026].
- Founder, [Code Club]: Started a weekly club that grew to [25] members; taught Python basics to [freshmen].
- Volunteer, [Austin Animal Center]: [120] hours walking dogs and running adoption event check-in.
Work: Lifeguard, [City Aquatics], summers [2025 and 2026], [30] hours a week. [American Red Cross Lifeguarding] certified.
Awards: [AP Scholar with Distinction, 2026] · [First place, regional science fair, 2025]
Why it works: it leads with academics, then shows depth in two or three activities over several years rather than a long list of one-time memberships. A college application resume also backs up your Common App activities list, which gives you up to ten activities and just 150 characters to describe each one. The resume is where an activity gets its full detail, if a college, scholarship or interview asks for one.
Example 3: summer job or internship
[Aaliyah Brooks] · [Columbus, OH] · [aaliyah.brooks@email.com]
Objective: [Senior] applying to the [City Parks summer youth program] as a [camp counselor]. Available [June 9 to August 15], full time.
Education: [East High School], expected graduation [May 2027]. GPA [3.5]. [Child development elective].
Experience
- Day camp helper, [community center], summers [2024 to 2026]: Led crafts and games for a group of [12] children aged [6 to 8].
- Peer tutor, [East High School]: Tutored [3] ninth graders a week in [English]; [2] moved up a letter grade.
- Crew member, [school theater]: Built and moved sets for [4] productions; ran the curtain on show nights.
Skills: CPR and First Aid, [American Red Cross], [2026] · Canva · Group games and crafts planning
Why it works: the objective names the program and the dates, which is what a seasonal employer schedules around, and every bullet involves supervising or teaching children.
Cashier Resume Kit
A finished one-page resume written for cashier jobs, with brackets for your availability, school and volunteer work. The Career Kit adds a bullet library by experience level, an ATS keyword bank and interview questions.
Applying for a store floor job instead of the register? The retail sales associate kit covers stocking, fitting rooms and customer help. More layouts are in templates for high school students.
Applying for internships and summer programs
Internship calendars run earlier than most students expect. When we looked at internship listings in September 2026, most already named programs for summer or spring 2027, and one transit authority had opened an interest form before posting any roles. If you’re aiming at a summer program, have your resume ready in the fall before it, and check the age and grade rules first. Some programs are built for high school students; many corporate internships expect college students or applicants who are 18 and have finished high school.
For an internship resume, add a “Projects” section if you have one worth showing: a science fair entry, a website you built, a business you ran from your phone. Name the tool and give one result a reader could check.
Once you’re in college
By the second year of college, most high school details come off the page, unless they’re remarkable (a national award, a business you still run). Education stays at the top, but class projects, campus jobs and internships replace the activities list. The intern and student kit is laid out for that stage, and our guide to a resume with no experience covers more ways to fill the page.
What to leave off a high school resume
- A photo, your date of birth or your full street address (city and state are enough)
- An email address you picked at 12. Use firstname.lastname at a free provider.
- Middle school activities, unless you’ve kept them up in high school
- A GPA that doesn’t help you, when the application doesn’t ask for one
- “References available upon request.” Bring a list of two or three adults (a teacher, coach or supervisor) to the interview instead.
- Skills like “Microsoft Word” and “fast learner.” Name the specific tool, and prove the learning in a bullet.
Common questions
How do I make a resume in high school with no experience?
Use education, volunteering, sports, clubs and anything you did regularly for other people, like babysitting or yard work. Put them under a section called “Experience” and write each with an action and a number. Add a one-line objective that names the job and your availability.
Should a high school resume have an objective or a summary?
An objective, in most cases. One line naming the job you want and when you can work is enough. A college application resume can skip both and open with education.
Should I put my GPA on a high school resume?
Include it if it’s 3.5 or higher, or if the application asks for it, and say whether it’s weighted. For a first job at a store or restaurant, GPA matters less than availability and reliability, so a lower GPA can simply be left off.
Is a college application resume the same as a job resume?
No. A job resume leads with availability and the experience closest to the job. A college application resume leads with academics and shows depth in a few activities over several years. Keep both to one page.
What skills should a high school student put on a resume?
Skills a manager could check: cash handling, a second language, Google Docs or Sheets, Canva, typing speed, CPR or a food handler card. Match them to the posting’s wording. Soft skills like teamwork belong in your bullets as evidence, not in the skills list.
Find a finished resume for your first job
Every kit is written for one job title, with education in the right place and brackets for your school, activities and availability. Pick the job you’re applying for, check the free sample bullets, then edit the files in Word, Google Docs or Pages.
Browse resume templates
Written by
Founder, Disruptive Templates
Umair Sajid runs Disruptive Templates and has spent a decade in digital marketing, most of it looking at how people are found online. The resume templates here come from the same question asked of hiring software instead of search engines: what does the machine actually read?
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