Resume Building

August 5, 2025
By Celina Che

Although finding a job may seem very farfetched for many middle and high school students, having the ability to build a strong resume is a valuable skills that can help you tremendously in the future. The key components of a resume for high school students are contact information, education, work/leadership experience and awards. 

1. Contact information: This section should be placed at the very top of the resume. It should include your full name, email, city and state, and optionally, your phone number or Linkedin. Be sure to use an email that is professional and try to avoid using your school email, as most employers will contact you through email and school emails may become inactive after graduation or block external emails.
   
   

2. Education: List your current school, graduation year, GPA (weighted or unweighted) and relevant coursework. The relevant coursework should be tailored to the position you are applying for. For example if you are applying for a physics research position you may want to include AP Physics 1 as a part of your relevant coursework section.
   Example:
   California High school, Class of 2027
   GPA: 3.75/4.0
   Relevant coursework: AP Microeconomics, AP Macroeconomics
   
   

3. Work or leadership experience: Even if you don't have any formal job experience you can also include any part time roles, internships, leadership positions, sports or community organizations in this section. Focus on the responsibility you had and the impact you made. For each position try to write 1-2 bullet points that use strong action verbs and quantify the your impact.
   Example:
   Lead Volunteer at Food Bank
   - Organized food distribution for over 150 families weekly
   - Led a team of 5 student volunteers during weekend shifts
   
   

4. Awards: This section is for any recognition you’ve received academically, athletically, or in extracurricular activities. Examples might include honor roll, student of the month, science fair awards, or leadership recognitions. These awards help highlight your dedication, talent, and reliability.
   
   

5. Additional sections: While the four sections above are the core parts of a resume, you can also consider adding the following sections. 

   • Skills Section: List technical skills (e.g., Microsoft Office, coding languages) or soft skills (e.g., public speaking, teamwork) that are relevant to your goals.

   • Summary Section: A brief 1-2 sentences after your contact information that that summarizes who you are and what your goal is. This can help personalize your resume for specific jobs.

The resume should be formatted in a way that is easy to read and concise. Everything should be written in the form of bullet points, and the resume should not be longer than one page. Some platforms that are commonly used to create resumes include Google Docs and Canva, however now there are many other AI resume building tools to assist you.