While all resumes don’t look alike, there ARE a few generally agreed upon guidelines you should follow.
1. Start early.
The sooner you start compiling information about your unique experiences, the less likely you will forget any of your accomplishments, honors, and activities. If you are a senior and you haven’t already started, hold a brainstorming session with friends to try and remember everything significant that happened during your four years.
2. Consider building a functional resume.
A functional resume focuses on your skills and experience rather than on your work history – which is especially great if you don’t HAVE any work history. Once it is developed and you have more work experience, you can tailor it for specific uses. Regardless, a functional resume has a keyword-rich “Skills” or “Expertise” section. Here are some common keywords for high school resumes:
| Key Skills & Proficiencies | |
|---|---|
| Active Listening | Adobe Creative Suite |
| Creative Problem-Solving | Customer Service & Relations |
| Inventory Monitoring | Microsoft Office Suite |
| Office Administration | Reading, Writing & Editing |
| Filing & Documentation | Task Prioritization |
| Team Collaboration | Time Management |
3. Use the EXACT SAME language and phrases from the job description on your application
Many companies use the ATS (Applicant Tracking System) software to speed up recruitment. ATS looks for keywords on candidates’ resumes to decide if the candidate has relevant experience. Thanks to this initial screening, recruiters have fewer documents to look at. This type of screening requires you to write an ATS-friendly resume. In other words: If you want to make your experience count, you have to use the wording of the job offer itself.
Consider the following two examples. The one on the top (red) is a bare-bones description of what the person did, while the one below (green) used the phrases from the job description to talk about doing the exact same thing.
Volunteering
Orlando, FL
- Writing product reviews for a local website.
- Convinced a friend to switch to an iPhone from Android.
- Helped with Facebook and posters for a garage sale.
- Made a fan page for my favorite band.
- Helped with several birthday parties for a younger cousin.
- Took marketing classes via Udemy.
Volunteer and Community Work
Orlando, FL
- Helped local community develop marketing materials to promote a series of garage sales events by designing posters and setting up a Facebook group.
- Wrote promotional texts and 20+ professional product reviews for a local technology website.
- Turned a friend into an Apple customer by effectively communicating the advantages of iOS over Android for his purposes.
- Created a fan site for a musical band, as well as built and managed a team of two regular news and content contributors. The website was mentioned in a Loudwire article.
- Organized and led games and activities for groups of 10+ school children.
- Completed a training course on the principles of effective marking on Udemy.
4. Keep it simple.
At this point in your life, your resume should only be one page. Then, when you add more experience down the road, you can add a second page.
5. Make it professional
Use an easy-to-read font, standard punctuation, capitalization, and spelling. In other words… make it look professional.
Make sure to use correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Your contact information should be at the top of the resume, and each of the resume components should be bold and prominent.
6. Use action verbs.
Using action verbs demonstrates that you are a doer. One of the most frequent resume mistakes is using too few verbs. You may repeat the same generic verb (say, “Manage”) too many times or rely on passive phrases like “Responsible for” or “Accountable for.” These tendencies can distract the hiring manager and fail to show the varied nature of your experience. The following list will help you mix up the verbs on your high school resume:
| Achieved | Boosted |
| Created | Decreased |
| Earned | Enhanced |
| Established | Exceeded |
| Garnered | Generated |
| Improved | Increased |
| Integrated | Introduced |
| Produced | Proposed |
| Reinforced | Strengthened |
| Surpassed | Won |
7. Be consistent and show commitment.
Focus on the activities in which you have consistently participated in high school and best represent who you are. If you were on the swim team for half the season and stopped going to meets… don’t put that down as an extracurricular activity. If you helped feed the homeless one weekend… don’t brag. You’ll look silly. Pick those things which PROVE you can stick with an obligation, that you keep your commitments, and which demonstrate personal discipline.
8. Do NOT exaggerate.
Be honest and don’t exaggerate your experience or skills. Pretending to be someone you’re not, or more qualified than you are, can backfire on you by getting you in over your head.
9. Review other sample resumes.
Ask your friends if you can read their resumes, consider the examples at the bottom of this post, or google “great first resume examples” to get ideas and inspiration.
10. Get feedback.
Having others proofread your resume is essential. A single error can get your resume tossed in the trash. Ask a few people to review your draft resume. A fresh set of eyes will be able to catch errors you may have missed and give you insight into how others perceive your resume.
RESUME EXAMPLES
Sometimes, we get a better idea on how to write our OWN resume by studying good resumes that others have made. Consider these examples when planning yours: