3 High School Graduate Resume Examples & Writing Guide

In recent years, the U.S. has seen around 3.8 to 3.9 million high school graduates annually. Approximately 30–40% of high school graduates enter the labor force directly after graduation, while the majority either enroll in college or pursue further education. That’s about 1.2–1.5 million people who are going to become your competition.

Make yourself much more marketable to employers by creating a high school graduate resume that’s better than most others. I’ll show you how.

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High School Graduate Resume Example #1—for Experienced High Schoolers

Cara Beldad

Recent High School Graduate

Phone: 607-301-7378

Email: carazbeldad@email.com

linkedin.com/in/carazbeldad_1

Resume Summary

Driven high-school graduate with exceptional communication and organizational skills. Eager to join Aardvark Inc. as a Sales Associate. As leader of the Furry Angels Fundraising Group, helped save the lives of 1,500 animals, raising $2,000+ annually.

Core Qualifications

• Marketing strategy
• Crowdsourcing
• Customer Service
• Leadership

Education

John Jay High School, Katonah, NY

August 2020–June 2024

GPA: 3.8

SAT: 1350

ACT: 30

President, High School Yearbook Committee

• Led team of 8 to source 750+ photos of 253 senior students, plus 100+ memorable quotes and other memories.
• Worked with vendors to secure a 15% cost-savings.
• Created marketing plan that raised sales 20% over previous year.

Excelled in Business Coursework

• Enrolled in 5 business classes through the school's young business leader program, including accounting, business law, and marketing.
• Maintained 4.0 GPA in all 5 core business classes.

Captain of Debate Team 2 Years

• Led team to 3rd place in New York State debate tournament.
• Coached and mentored 5 debate team members in best practices to improve debate scores by 20% in 3 months.

Lacrosse Team Co-Captain

• Led team to 2 winning seasons in highly-competitive state.
• Mentored 5 players to increase cradling and passing skills 30%.
• Led daily stretches, drills, and workouts with 30+ members.
• Organized video recording and analysis that raised performance 20%.

Experience

Co-Founder, Leader

Furry Angels Animal Fundraising Group, Katonah, NY

September 2022–June 2024

• Created crowdsourced animal fundraising group with 2,500+ members.
• Raised $2,000+ annually for homeless animals.
• Assisted with saving the lives of 1,500 dogs, cats, and a llama.

Counter Clerk, Cook

Barvel's Corner Store, Katonah, NY

April 2022–May 2023

• Opened and closed store, operated cash register, made sandwiches, and provided exemplary customer service in a busy sandwich shop.
• Commended 5x by manager for attention to detail.

Skills

• Mathematics
• Interpersonal skills
• Collaboration
• Communication
• Time management
• Problem-solving

Languages

• Spanish (Full Working Proficiency)

What makes it work:

• This sample high school graduate resume sample is perfect for candidates with work experience and extensive schooling accomplishments.
• It highlights the applicant’s qualifications, skills, and drive.
• Core Qualifications present the candidate’s most valuable strengths right away.

High School Grad Resume Example #2— With No Experience

Emma R. Taylor

High School Graduate

emma.taylor@email.com

(987) 654-3210

linkedin.com/in/emmataylor

twitter.com/emmataylor

Objective

Motivated high school graduate with strong communication and organizational skills, seeking a position as a Hotel Front Desk Associate at Sheragram. Eager to apply customer service abilities in a professional hospitality environment and contribute to a welcoming guest experience. Certified in Hospitality and Tourism Management.

Education

Springfield High School

Springfield, IL

Graduated: June 2024

• GPA: 3.6/4.0
• Relevant Coursework: English, Mathematics, Hospitality and Tourism, Business Studies

Extracurricular Activities

High School Yearbook Committee Member

August 2022–June 2024

• Contributed to the layout and design of the yearbook, helping to collect and organize photos and quotes.
• Assisted with coordinating deadlines and working with team members to meet production goals.
• Participated in brainstorming sessions to develop themes and concepts for the yearbook.

Debate Team Member

September 2021–June 2024

• Participated in local and regional debate competitions, honing public speaking and critical thinking skills.
• Collaborated with team members to develop arguments and strategies for debates.
• Attended workshops and practice sessions to improve debate techniques and performance.

Skills

• Customer Service
• Communication
• Organization
• Team Collaboration
• Time Management
• Problem-Solving
• Computer Skills (Microsoft Office, Google Workspace)

Certifications

• CPR and First Aid Certification, American Red Cross, January 2023
• Hospitality and Tourism Management Certification, AHLEI, March 2024
• Guest Service Gold Certification, AHLEI, May 2024

Languages

• English: Native Proficiency (C2)
• Spanish: Conversational Proficiency (B2)
• French: Basic Proficiency (A2)

Hobbies & Interests

• Reading: Enjoy reading books on hospitality, tourism, and customer service.
• Traveling: Passionate about exploring different cultures and hotel experiences.
• Art: Interested in interior design and decor, with a focus on hospitality environments.

What makes it work:

• This inexperienced high school grad resume template works wonders, despite not having any work experience.
• It puts extra emphasis on the education section, showcasing multiple accomplishments and skills.
• Additional sections present the candidate as a driven applicant who showcases a lot of skills transferable to their chosen industry.

High School Graduate Resume Example #3—for Interns

Ethan J. Miller

Welder Intern

ethan.miller@email.com

(123) 456-7890

linkedin.com/in/ethanmiller_weld

Career Profile

Dedicated high school graduate currently with a year of hands-on experience through an internship as a welder. Assisted senior welders in performing MIG, TIG, and arc welding tasks on various metal structures. Participated in metalworking projects, including the creation of metal sculptures and tools, as a member of the Trades Club. Looking to join MTL Inc. to contribute to overall team productivity and decrease project completion times.

Core Competencies

• MIG, TIG, and Arc Welding
• Metal Cutting and Shaping
• Tool Maintenance
• Blueprint Reading
• Safety Protocols

Education

Springfield High School

Springfield, IL

Graduated: June 2024

• GPA: 3.5/4.0
• Relevant Coursework: Physics, Mathematics, Technical Drawing
• Honors: "Future Engineer Scholarship," awarded to students demonstrating exceptional skills in technical subjects, 2023

Extracurricular Activities

Trades Club

September 2022–June 2024

• Participated in metalworking projects, including the creation of metal sculptures and tools.
• Assisted in organizing workshops and demonstrations for fellow students interested in metalworking and welding.
• Collaborated with club members to design and build a metal bench for the school campus.

Competitions

1st Place, Statewide Engineering Design Challenge

• Led a team of four students in the Statewide Engineering Design Challenge, where participants were tasked with designing and building a functional bridge model using limited resources.

Internship Experience

Welding Intern

ABC Fabrication, Springfield, IL

June 2023–June 2024

Key Responsibilities

• Assisted senior welders in performing MIG, TIG, and arc welding tasks on various metal structures.
• Prepared materials for welding by cutting, shaping, and cleaning metal components.
• Followed safety protocols to maintain a safe and organized work environment.
• Inspected welds for quality and ensure they meet specified standards.
• Learned and apply various welding techniques under the supervision of experienced welders.

Key Achievements

• Successfully completed over 50 welding projects, including the fabrication of metal frames and components, with a 98% quality approval rate.
• Assisted in increasing the overall productivity of the welding team by 20% by streamlining the preparation and setup processes.
• Contributed to a 10% decrease in project completion times by adopting efficient welding practices and collaborating effectively with the team.

Other Skills

• Attention to Detail
• Team Collaboration
• Creative Thinking
• Basic Math and Measurement Skills
• Problem-Solving

Certifications

• Basic Welding Techniques Certification, Lincoln Electric Welding School, August 2024
• OSHA 10-Hour Safety Certification, OSHA, February 2024

Hobbies & Interests

• Automotive Repair: Enjoy working on cars and learning about automotive welding and fabrication.
• Woodworking: Skilled in creating wooden furniture and combining metal and wood in projects.
• Outdoor Activities: Passionate about camping, hiking, and exploring the outdoors.

What makes it work:

• This candidate is already skilled in their chosen trade. They focus on showcasing many strong accomplishments from the internship.
• While the education section takes the back spot, it still doesn’t get neglected.
• Both the hobbies and certifications sections add relevant qualifications.

A comprehensive analysis of 500,000 resumes built with our tool showed that*:

- 29.73% of our users include certifications on their resumes.
- A total of 2.65% of users report zero work experience, while 18.06% have less than three years on their resumes.
- Users most frequently highlight Problem-Solving, Teamwork, Collaboration, Adaptability, and Multitasking as key skills.
- The median time to build a resume on ResumeLab is just 21.3 minutes.
* The data comes from the last 12 months (August 2023–August 2024).

Make Sure Your Resume Passes the Test

When you graduate high school, there are two primary paths you can take. Either you pursue further education or you enter the job market. And that first option is becoming less popular each year.

This means that if you choose path #2, you’ll face increasing competition. But don’t worry. You have a major advantage on your side. You’re reading this article, which will help you write a high school grad resume that will blow the socks off of recruiters. I’ll walk you through each step.

1. Read the Job Posting

This may seem obvious, but so many people just look at the job title + salary, and they either decide to send their generic resume or skip it. To show you how to write a targeted resume, we first need a target job.

Here’s an ad for an entry-level welding job in Illinois:

This job piqued Ethan Miller's interest. Who is he? Here is some info:

But despite how skilled Ethan is, the first draft of his resume was rusty:

Unprofessional resume introduction

High school graduate eager to continue developing welding skills and pursue a career in the trade. Committed to safety, precision, and continuous learning in the field of welding. I’m looking forward to working at your company.

And he didn’t know how to display his accomplishments either:

Key Responsibilities:

• Successfully completed welding projects.
• Recognized by supervisors for quick learning.
• Prepared materials for welding

Ethan felt that something was wrong. Despite his experience, his resume sounded unimpressive, so he decided to open ResumeLab and give his high school graduate resume a much-needed lift. Here’s the advice he followed:

2. Display Your Best Qualities in the Resume Profile

Do you remember how every essay you wrote in high school had a word/page limit, and sometimes it was difficult to shorten a grand subject into a single paragraph? A resume introduction is just like that. 

To make a great first impression, Ethan made the following resume profile:

Improved Ethan’s resume profile

Dedicated high school graduate currently with a year of hands-on experience through an internship as a welder. Assisted senior welders in performing MIG, TIG, and arc welding tasks on various metal structures. Participated in metalworking projects, including the creation of metal sculptures and tools, as a member of the Trades Club. Looking to join MTL Inc. to contribute to overall team productivity and decrease project completion times.

Why is this resume profile much better than the previous one? A few things:

• It mentions a few resume keywords from the job posting.
• It shows accomplishments from both his internship and school club endeavors.
• It shows his drive and dedication.

If you already have work experience, you’re going to use a resume summary. It will focus entirely on your work accomplishments and skills. If you have little to no work experience, use the resume objective. In it, mention your school achievements or relevant extracurricular qualifications. The general structure for both is pretty much the same.

Expert Hint: If you want to add some extra flare to your high school graduate resume, consider adding a resume headline. If you have an impressive achievement, it will definitely set you apart from other candidates.

3. Prepare a List of Core Competencies

There are a lot of universal skills that most companies would be happy to see in their candidates. But those universal job skills are mostly soft skills. Technical skills are job-specific, and I recommend you show them on the top of your resume in a core competencies section.

Pick 4–8 of these core competencies. Use them to target resume keywords and make an ATS-compatible resume.

Core Competencies

• MIG, TIG, and Arc Welding
• Metal Cutting and Shaping
• Tool Maintenance
• Blueprint Reading
• Safety Protocols

What makes this list of qualifications so great?

• This list is tailored to the job offer.
• It uses vital resume keywords.
• It’s short and doesn’t take up much space.

So, where should you showcase your soft skills? Don’t worry, I’ll tell you about the additional skills section in a moment. But first, there is something more important for a high school graduate resume.

4. Emphasize Your Education

You have just now graduated from high school. You may have worked a job already, but you may also have zero minutes of past work experience. This is why you should focus your efforts on developing your resume education section.

First, take a look at Ethan’s education:

Education

Springfield High School

Springfield, IL

Graduated: June 2024

GPA: 3.5/4.0

Relevant Coursework: Physics, Mathematics, Technical Drawing

Honors: "Future Engineer Scholarship," awarded to students demonstrating exceptional skills in technical subjects, 2023

Extracurricular Activities

Trades Club

September 2022–June 2024

• Participated in metalworking projects, including the creation of metal sculptures and tools.
• Assisted in organizing workshops and demonstrations for fellow students interested in metalworking and welding.
• Collaborated with club members to design and build a metal bench for the school campus.

Competitions

1st Place, Statewide Engineering Design Challenge

• Led a team of four students in the Statewide Engineering Design Challenge, where participants were tasked with designing and building a functional bridge model using limited resources.

Why does this education section work?

• It shows Ethan’s strong determination and drive towards perfecting his craft.
• It gives the candidate additional qualifications.
• Furthermore, it mentions valuable skills like leadership and collaboration.

When it comes to your education section, the more extensive your work experience history, the fewer details you’re going to mention here.

Expert Hint: If you have no work experience, I recommend adding even more information to the education section. Include honors, awards, capstone projects, club activities, student exchange programs, leadership roles, or other qualifications.

5. Include Work Experience if You Have It

Here’s what worries hiring teams: finding applicants who’ll really get the job done. You can prove that’s you by adding a relevant experience section to your high school graduate resume. Think volunteering, internship, freelancing, projects.

Work it like this resume sample for high school graduates:

Internship Experience

Welding Intern

ABC Fabrication, Springfield, IL

June 2023–June 2024

Key Responsibilities

• Assisted senior welders in performing MIG, TIG, and arc welding tasks on various metal structures.
• Prepared materials for welding by cutting, shaping, and cleaning metal components.
• Followed safety protocols to maintain a safe and organized work environment.
• Inspected welds for quality and ensure they meet specified standards.
• Learned and apply various welding techniques under the supervision of experienced welders.

Key Achievements

• Successfully completed over 50 welding projects, including the fabrication of metal frames and components, with a 98% quality approval rate.
• Assisted in increasing the overall productivity of the welding team by 20% by streamlining the preparation and setup processes.
• Contributed to a 10% decrease in project completion times by adopting efficient welding practices and collaborating effectively with the team.

Why is this job description impressive?

• Each sentence starts with a resume action word to convey impact.
• It’s divided into non-quantified responsibilities and quantified resume accomplishments.
• They target keywords from the job posting.
• You can see the results of Ethan’s work.

Don't worry if you have no work experience whatsoever. You're writing a high school grad resume, so no recruiter is going to expect several years of work experience from you. Of course, it can help, but if you have never worked a job in your life, put extra emphasis on your education section and your bonus sections (which I'll discuss soon).

Expert Hint: To find out more about writing a resume with no experience, click the embedded link. It’s going to give you a ton of great resume tips.

6. Fill Out Your Contact Info

Okay, we went through some tough sections, so let’s take a breather with something very simple. But simple doesn’t mean unnecessary. The resume header is by far the most important part of your high school graduate resume. Without it, no one will be able to contact you.

Include your name, title, phone number, and email. Optionally add a link to your LinkedIn profile, or other relevant websites (such as your portfolio).

Ethan J. Miller

Welder Intern

ethan.miller@email.com

(123) 456-7890

linkedin.com/in/ethanmiller_weld

7. Add Bonus Sections for Additional Qualifications

You don’t have to put any more sections to your resume for high school graduates. But think of it this way.

You’ve got a finite amount of space. And your competition isn’t just other high school grads. You need to show you’re better than some experienced workers as well. A great way to do so is by incorporating bonus sections. I recommend:

• Earned Certifications
• Volunteering Experience
• Freelancing
• Personal Projects
• Hobbies & Interests
• Associations
• Awards
• Foreign Languages You Speak

Here’s which sections Ethan added to his resume:

Other Skills

• Attention to Detail
• Team Collaboration
• Basic Math and Measurement Skills
• Problem-Solving
• Creative Thinking

Certifications

• Basic Welding Techniques Certification, Lincoln Electric Welding School, August 2024
• OSHA 10-Hour Safety Certification, OSHA, February 2024

Hobbies & Interests

• Automotive Repair: Enjoy working on cars and learning about automotive welding and fabrication.
• Woodworking: Skilled in creating wooden furniture and combining metal and wood in projects.
• Outdoor Activities: Passionate about camping, hiking, and exploring the outdoors.

What makes this choice effective?

• The additional skills feature high-quality soft skills.
• His certifications are industry-specific and show Ethan’s dedication to welding and safety.
• Ethan chose two job-relevant hobbies and one additional hobby to show his outgoing personality.

If you’re skeptical about the power of bonus sections, let me tell you something: even after graduating from university, I didn’t have much work experience. However, my extensive list of certifications allowed me to secure fantastic freelance opportunities and greatly helped me get this career expert job.

Want more details on writing effective resumes? I recommend you read these articles:

• How to Start a Resume
• Common Resume Mistakes to Avoid
• How to Make Your Resume Perfect

Otherwise, continue reading to see how to make your resume look good.

The ResumeLab builder is more than looks. Get specific content to boost your chances of getting the job. Add job descriptions, bullet points, and skills. Easy. Improve your resume in our resume builder now.

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Format Your High School Graduate Resume Template

In school, you might’ve gotten away with assignments written on a crumbled piece of paper 15 minutes before the deadline. Unfortunately, you’re no longer in school, and delivering messy documents is out of the question. So take proper care of your high school graduate’s resume format.

As a high school graduate, you don’t need a fancy resume. I recommend you stick to the basics. Choose a single-column layout, and have your education section be the focal point. Separate the sections on your resume with large subheadings. Avoid infographics, use minimal icons, and choose a white background.

When it comes to creating a resume template, it’s something that takes time and some basic graphic design skills. But you don’t have to do it by yourself. The internet is full of free Word resume templates you can choose from. Or pick a simple resume template from our builder to get you started.

But if you’d like to make a template yourself, or optimize a downloaded one, see the tips below:

1. Pick the layout style: For high school graduates, a classic resume design with clear sections works best. Avoid infographic resumes.
2. Decide on the font choice: Choose between a sans-serif font like Arial or Helvetica for a clean, modern look or a serif font like Times New Roman or Georgia for a more traditional feel. Ensure that the font size for the body text is between 10 and 12 points, and use 13 to 16 points for your name and section headings.
3. Keep it concise: As a high school graduate, it’s important to keep your resume to one page. Since you likely have limited experience, focusing on relevant skills, education, and activities is key.
4. Leave some white space: Set your margins to 1 inch on all sides. This ensures a clean, professional look and provides enough white space to make the content easy to read. Use single spacing within sections, but add an extra line of space between different sections (e.g., between Education and Skills). This helps differentiate each part of your resume without wasting space.
5. Ensure ATS compatibility: Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are used by many employers to screen resumes. Make sure your resume is ATS-friendly by keeping the design simple and avoiding graphics that could confuse the system. Also, export your resume to a PDF file and copy the text into Notepad or a similar text editor. If the text appears correctly, your resume should be readable by ATS software.

If you want to learn more about resume templates, see the articles below:

• Blank Resume Templates You Can Fill In
• Current Styles of Resumes
• How to Write a Skills-Based Resume

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Do you have questions on how to write good resumes for high school graduates? Not sure how to choose what to put in your resume? Our builder can help you with that! And you can also leave a comment. I’ll be happy to help!

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