Situation-Based · Entry level · Updated July 2026

High School Student Resume Example

You're 16 or 17, a store just asked for a resume, and your work history is zero jobs long. The example below gets a Lincoln High junior interviewed at a grocery store using pet-sitting, a library shift, a concession stand, and a clearly stated schedule. Yours can do the same.

What does a 16-year-old put on a resume?

A 16-year-old's resume is built from commitments, not jobs: paid gigs like pet-sitting or babysitting, volunteer shifts, clubs, sports, and school productions, each with dates. Two dated commitments you kept for a full school year tell a grocery manager more than ten typed skills. The manager reading it is estimating one thing, whether you'll still show up in March, and kept commitments are the only evidence there is. A season of JV soccer proves you made 5 pm practice all fall; that is work-history evidence wearing a different uniform.

• Paid informal work: babysitting, pet-sitting, mowing, tutoring
• Volunteer shifts you held for a semester or more
• Clubs, sports seasons, band, theater productions
• One-off responsibility: concession stand, school events, fundraisers
• Certifications a teen can actually get: food handler card, CPR

Everything on that list appears in the example with dates and one number attached. Write your own five-minute inventory of the last two school years before deciding you have nothing.

Your schedule is a qualification, so say it

For a first part-time job, stating your availability plainly can matter as much as anything else on the page. Grocery and retail managers hire to fill specific shifts, and a teen who can close on weekends solves a problem the resume above them couldn't. That's why this example's summary ends with "weekday evenings after 4 pm and all day weekends" instead of another adjective.

The same logic picks which entries lead. The concession-stand line sits high on this resume because balancing a cash drawer during a Friday-night rush is the job being applied for, just smaller: lines of customers, money counted back, pressure between quarters. When one of your entries rehearses the actual job, put it where the first skim will land on it. If you're bound for college soon, the college student resume example shows how this page evolves. For now, add one sentence of honest availability to your summary and make sure nothing in it overpromises a schedule your season or rehearsals can't keep.

Making unpaid work read like paid work

Volunteer and household work earns its place when you write it with the same structure as a job: title, place, dates, and a bullet with a number. Structure is what makes a manager read a library shift the way they'd read employment, because it shows you understand what a job entry is even before your first job. The example's library entry doesn't say "helped in the library"; it says 200 books per weekly shift and names a standard the librarian adopted. Paid gigs work the same way, and putting babysitting on a resume walks through that exact format line by line.

If you're out of school and job hunting without any of this school scaffolding, the no experience resume example is built for that harder blank page. Otherwise, close the loop tonight: pick your two strongest commitments, give each a number, and put your availability in the summary. That's the whole first draft.

Frequently asked questions

How old do you have to be to have a resume?+

There is no minimum age for a resume; it makes sense as soon as you apply for anything, usually 14 to 16. Most U.S. states let teens work at 14 with restricted hours, and a short resume separates you from the stack of applicants who only filled in the store's form.

Do teens need a resume for part-time jobs?+

A resume usually isn't required for part-time retail or food-service jobs, but handing one over is the cheapest possible edge. Most teen applicants submit only the application form, so a one-page resume signals effort and gives the manager concrete reasons to call you first.

Should a high school resume use a skills-based format?+

No. Skills-based (functional) formats are often recommended for teens on the theory that there's no work history to show, but undated claims are exactly what a manager can't trust from a 16-year-old they've never met. Dated entries, even volunteer ones, are checkable; lead with those.

Should I put my GPA on a high school resume?+

Include a GPA only if it's about 3.5 or higher; otherwise leave it off and let activities carry the page. For part-time retail hiring, a manager cares far more about your availability and reliability than your transcript.