A resume is not just for grownups seeking jobs, it is for anyone who wants to highlight their abilities, experiences, and accomplishments. Students in high school need a resume to apply for internships, jobs, scholarships, and college.
Your resume is a crucial marketing resource. A well-written high school resume serves as a reflection of your personality, abilities, and life priorities. Your resume should convey information about both your professional and personal selves.
Before you start reading this material, please read the key success recommendations for any type of resume: Top 6 Tips to Write Professional Resume in 2023 + Templates
1. Select the appropriate resume format
Select a straightforward format that enables you to highlight the qualifications most pertinent to the job description to make sure your accomplishments and traits are obvious. Consider adding extra parts that can be useful to employers, such as pertinent abilities, awards, achievements, or professional hobbies, to reduce blank spaces.
The easiest way to get started is to use free Google Docs resume templates for students.
2. Display your skill set and significant extracurricular activities
Candidates may not have any official work experience, but they almost certainly have relevant abilities or significant experience in a related field. Showcase extracurricular activities in which you excelled while in college to demonstrate experiences that can be applied to the workplace.
Emphasize your experience in leadership. For instance, being the president of your school's club lacrosse team may not appear related to a position as a project manager, but the leadership experience may set you apart from other applicants. Managing the work of other students while achieving group goals is a talent that frequently translates to the workplace.
3. Display distinctions and unusual experiences
To demonstrate your worth, list your charity work, subject prowess, and GPA. It's not necessary for these achievements and experiences to be listed separately on your resume. Unpaid positions can be listed just like jobs inside the experience area of your resume, they don't need to be restricted to a volunteer section. Your description clearly shows that this was a voluntary, unpaid position.
Share your student roles. You can list intriguing projects you worked on while in school that would be applicable to your goal jobs in bullet points.
4. Through an online portfolio, strengthen your personal brand
Students can present their skills to companies via LinkedIn and other social media sites. To impress potential employers include a professionally prepared portfolio of work from internships or classes to the resume as a web link.
An active and professional LinkedIn profile can make a huge impact on the hiring process for candidates with little work experience. Set up LinkedIn profiles and portfolio websites, and list both on your resume. Online portfolios, as opposed to paper resumes, can contain multimedia and projects that students have created while interning. Add images and videos to make your portfolio stand out.
Choose an online portfolio instead of a digital resume. You may more effectively and dynamically demonstrate your worth to companies in this way.
5. Pick up useful experiences while still in school
You can take efforts to acquire relevant experience while you're still in school, and you don't necessarily have to work to finish your degree. This will appeal to potential employers.
Connect with experts in your field. They often get it right when they say that it all comes down to who you know. A hiring manager might not be impressed by your resume due to your lack of experience, but a friend or family member might. That person might even hire you at their own company or serve as a reference for you with hiring managers they know.
Engage in appropriate extracurricular activities. Consider a scenario in which you are a mechanical and computer engineering double major and are too busy to do much else. You can gain valuable experience for your resume by quietly participating in the robotics club at your school in your leisure time. Giving specifics about your club's accomplishments can influence hiring decision-makers.
The best approach to obtain experience while you're in school is probably to take an internship, if you can afford to do so. Make your summer internship appear more professional by making it part of the academic year. You can mention the full time on your resume.