Last updated: August 2, 2026 · By QuickResumeAI Editorial Team

Resume for a High School Student: The 1-Page, 6-Section Template (2026)

Q: How do you write a resume for a high school student?

Write six sections on one page: contact, summary, education, experience and activities, skills, and awards. Lead with education, then turn clubs, sports, volunteering, and informal jobs like babysitting into experience entries with a number in every bullet. Use a single-column layout, 10 or 11 point Arial or Calibri, and save it as a PDF.

Q: What should a high school resume look like?

One page, single column, no photos or graphics. Education comes first, then activities and informal jobs written as experience, then an 8 to 10 item skills section. Use 10 or 11 point Arial or Calibri and save it as a PDF. All three examples on this page follow that layout.

Q: What do you put on a resume as a high school student?

Contact info, a 2 to 3 line summary, education (school, expected graduation, GPA if 3.5 or higher, AP courses, honors), experience built from clubs, sports, volunteering and informal jobs, 8 to 10 skills, and awards or certifications. Treat every activity like a job: title, organization, dates, and 1 to 2 bullets with numbers.

Q: How do you make a resume as a high schooler with no job?

List ten things you did in the last two years, put a number on each one, then write them as bullets. "In robotics club" is not a bullet. "Built 2 competition robots with a 6-person team, placed 3rd of 24 schools" is. Enter those activities at /create-resume the way you would enter a job and it writes them into proper bullets in about five minutes, then run the free ATS check at /ats-match against the posting.

Q: Should I put my high school on my resume?

If you are still in high school or it is your highest completed education, yes, and it is your strongest section. Once you have a college degree or are more than a year into a degree program, drop high school entirely and list the college instead. Nobody with a bachelor's degree lists a high school.

Q: How do you put high school on a resume?

Under an Education heading: school name, city and state, then expected graduation month and year on the next line, then GPA if it is 3.5 or higher. Add honors and AP courses on a final line. Write the graduation year even if it is in the future, and never write a GPA below 3.5.

Q: What goes in the education section of a high school resume?

School name and city, expected graduation month and year, GPA if 3.5 or higher, and a line of relevant coursework, AP classes, or honors. That is three to four lines. National Honor Society, class rank in the top 25%, and dual-enrollment college courses belong here too.

Q: How long should a high school resume be?

One page, always, with room to spare. A high school resume that runs to two pages is padded. If you cannot fill one page, add relevant coursework, a class project, and more detail on volunteer hours rather than stretching the margins or the font.

A high school resume is one page with six sections, and you do not need a job to fill it. QuickResumeAI turns clubs, sports, volunteering, and babysitting into real resume bullets in about five minutes, no signup needed to start.

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On this page

6 sections · Template · Examples · Skills · Empty experience · FAQ

What goes on a high school resume (the 6 sections)

Write each section in this order, then check its "You are short if" line before you keep it.

Section	What a teen with no job writes here	Lines	You are short if
1. Contact	Name, city and state, phone, email. No street address	2	No city and state, or a street address is still there
2. Summary	What job you want, plus two strengths and where they came from	2 to 3	It does not name a job type and two strengths
3. Education	School name, city, expected graduation month and year, GPA if 3.5+, honors classes	3 to 4	No expected graduation month and year
4. Experience and activities	Clubs, sports, volunteering, babysitting, lawn care, tutoring, school store, a class project, each with a number	2 to 4 entries	Fewer than 2 entries, or any bullet has no number
5. Skills	8 to 10 skills, mixing tools (Excel, POS, Canva) and people skills (customer service, teamwork)	1 to 2	Fewer than 8 skills listed
6. Awards and certifications	Honor roll, CPR, ServSafe, lifeguard, first aid, driver's license	1	You hold a certification you have not listed

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All six sections are laid out before you type a word. No signup needed to start.

Copy-paste high school resume template

Copy the skeleton below, paste it into a document, then replace each bracket with your own details. Keep it to one page in a single column so it parses cleanly in any ATS.

[Your Full Name]
[City, State] · [Phone] · [Email]

SUMMARY
[Reliable high school junior/senior seeking a part-time [role] at [employer].
Strengths in [skill 1] and [skill 2] from [activity or informal job].]

EDUCATION
[High School Name], [City, State]
Expected graduation: [Month Year] · GPA: [3.x] (list if 3.5+)
Relevant coursework: [AP courses, honors]

EXPERIENCE & ACTIVITIES
[Activity / Role / Informal Job] | [Organization] | [Dates]
 - [Accomplishment with a number]
 - [Accomplishment with a number]

[Activity / Role] | [Organization] | [Dates]
 - [Accomplishment with a number]

SKILLS
[Skill, skill, skill, skill, skill, skill]

AWARDS & CERTIFICATIONS
[Award, honor roll, CPR, ServSafe, lifeguard]

ATS format rules (retail and food service chains screen applications with software):

One page, single column, no tables, text boxes, or graphics
Standard headings: Education, Experience, Skills
10 or 11 point Arial or Calibri; save as PDF unless the posting asks for Word

Rather skip the formatting? Start in the resume builder and it fills this structure in for you.

Example 1: high school student resume for a part-time job

A complete, ATS-safe sample resume for a high school student applying for a part-time job. Mirror its structure and swap in your own details.

MAYA RODRIGUEZ
Austin, TX · (512) 555-0148 · maya.rodriguez@email.com

SUMMARY
Reliable high school senior seeking a part-time cashier role at Target.
Strong customer service and cash-handling instincts from 18 months of
babysitting and 2 years as debate club treasurer. Known for punctuality.

EDUCATION
Lakeview High School, Austin, TX
Expected graduation: June 2027 · GPA: 3.8
Relevant coursework: AP U.S. History, AP English Language, Honors Algebra II
National Honor Society member

EXPERIENCE & ACTIVITIES
Treasurer | Lakeview Debate Club | Sep 2024 - Present
 - Manage a $1,200 annual budget across 8 tournaments for 22 members
 - Cut travel costs 18% by coordinating group hotel bookings
Babysitter | Self-employed | Jun 2023 - Present
 - Provide childcare for 3 children ages 4-10, ~8 hours/week
 - Trusted by 4 repeat families through word-of-mouth referrals
Volunteer | Central Texas Food Bank | Summers 2023-2024
 - Logged 90 hours sorting and packing donations for 200+ families

SKILLS
Customer service · Cash handling · Public speaking ·
Microsoft Office · Google Workspace · Budget tracking ·
Time management · Teamwork · Bilingual (English/Spanish)

AWARDS & CERTIFICATIONS
Honor roll (4 semesters) · Red Cross babysitting certification · CPR certified

Need a different angle? See resume for first job or resume for no experience.

Example 2: teenager resume with no work experience

A junior with zero jobs still fills a page with school and volunteering. Every bullet has a number, which is what makes it read like experience.

JADEN CARTER
Columbus, OH · (614) 555-0192 · jaden.carter@email.com

SUMMARY
Organized high school junior seeking a first part-time role.
Dependable and quick to learn, with 40+ volunteer hours and a
track record of showing up on time.

EDUCATION
Northside High School, Columbus, OH
Expected graduation: June 2028 · GPA: 3.6
Honors English, Honors Biology

EXPERIENCE & ACTIVITIES
Fundraising Volunteer | Northside Drama Club | Fall 2025
 - Raised $840 for the drama club through a 2-week bake sale
Peer Tutor | Northside Tutoring Program | Sep 2025 - Present
 - Tutored 3 middle schoolers in pre-algebra, 2 hours weekly
Volunteer | City Animal Shelter | Summer 2025
 - Completed 40 volunteer hours walking dogs and cleaning kennels

SKILLS
Time management · Teamwork · Punctuality · Google Workspace ·
Microsoft Word · Customer service basics · Cash handling basics ·
Tutoring and explaining

AWARDS
Honor roll (2 semesters)

Example 3: teenager first job resume for fast food or retail

Applying at a fast food or retail chain? Name the employer and your availability in the summary. Hiring managers filter for schedule fit first.

SOFIA NGUYEN
Mesa, AZ · (480) 555-0136 · sofia.nguyen@email.com

SUMMARY
Dependable senior seeking a first job as a crew member at Chipotle.
Available weeknights and weekends. Fast learner with food-safety
awareness from 2 years in family kitchen catering.

EDUCATION
Desert Ridge High School, Mesa, AZ
Expected graduation: May 2027 · GPA: 3.5

EXPERIENCE & ACTIVITIES
Kitchen Helper | Family Catering (informal) | 2024 - Present
 - Prep ingredients and pack orders for events of up to 60 guests
Varsity Soccer | Desert Ridge High School | 2024 - Present
 - Practice 10 hours/week while keeping a 3.5 GPA

SKILLS
Food prep · Food safety and sanitation · Customer service · Teamwork ·
Cash handling basics · Time management · Punctuality ·
Bilingual (English/Vietnamese)

CERTIFICATIONS
Food handler card (Maricopa County)

Applying at 16? See the step-by-step resume for a 16 year old guide.

Skills to put on a high school resume

Use specific tool names, not vague labels. List 8 to 10 you actually have:

Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Gmail)
Customer service and conflict resolution basics
Cash handling and point-of-sale (POS) systems
Time management, punctuality, and teamwork
Social media and Canva content creation
Foreign languages with proficiency level
CPR, first aid, or ServSafe food handler if you have it

Start every bullet with an action verb, not "responsible for" or "helped with": Led, Organized, Coordinated, Tutored, Volunteered, Trained, Managed, Created, Raised, Captained. See the full resume skills section guide.

What to do when your experience section is empty

The template has an experience section and you have never had a job. That is the moment most high school resumes get abandoned half finished.

Nothing is missing. It is just not written in resume language yet. Employers hiring teenagers are not looking for job history, because nobody has any at 16. They are looking for evidence that you show up and finish things. Here is how to get that on the page in five steps. For more bullet examples, see how to write a resume with no experience.

Step 1, list ten things you did in the last two years. Clubs, a sport, band, church, a fundraiser, tutoring a younger sibling, a group project, mowing lawns, babysitting, running a game server, selling something online. Do not judge any of them yet.
Step 2, put a number on each one. Hours, weeks, people, dollars, placement. "In robotics club" is not a bullet. "Built 2 competition robots with a 6-person team, placed 3rd of 24 schools" is a bullet, and it says more about you than a summer at a register would.
Step 3, build it in the resume builder. Enter each activity the way you would enter a job, and it writes them into proper bullets with strong verbs and the right structure. It takes about five minutes and it is $5.99 one-time when you download the finished PDF. No signup needed to start.
Step 4, run the free ATS check with the job posting pasted in. Most retail and fast food chains screen applications with software before a manager sees them, and the check names the exact words that posting wants, like availability, cash handling, or food safety.
Step 5, add only the ones that are honestly true about you, then apply.

One honest limit: a resume gets you read, it does not get you hired. For a first job the two things that move fastest are a real availability line and one certification, food handler or CPR, either of which takes a weekend.

Frequently asked questions

How do you write a resume for a high school student?

What should a high school resume look like?

What do you put on a resume as a high school student?

How do you make a resume as a high schooler with no job?

Should I put my high school on my resume?

How do you put high school on a resume?

What goes in the education section of a high school resume?

How long should a high school resume be?

One thing teen hiring managers rarely say out loud: they read the availability line before anything else. Two candidates with identical activities are separated by who can work Friday nights, so put your real schedule in the summary and beat applicants with longer resumes.

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