FresumeA teen resume replaces a work history you don’t have yet with the things you have actually done: school achievements, clubs and sports, volunteering, and odd jobs like babysitting or lawn care. List your school and expected graduation, a short objective naming the job you want, a skills section pulled from the posting, and any part-time or volunteer roles. Keep it to one clean page in a single column so the software can read it.
What should a teen put on a resume?
Employers hiring teens know you’re early in your career, so they screen for reliability, a good attitude, and any evidence you can handle real responsibility. You prove that with specifics, not adjectives. A first part-time job resume leans on education, activities, and transferable skills, and it treats babysitting, tutoring, and volunteering as genuine experience rather than filler.
- Put school and activities first. List your high school, expected graduation date, GPA if it’s 3.3 or higher, and clubs, sports, or leadership roles where work experience would normally sit.
- Count every kind of work. Babysitting, dog walking, lawn care, cashiering at a school event, and volunteering all belong in your experience section with real dates and outcomes.
- Quantify honestly. Hours volunteered, children cared for, funds raised, or events organized turn vague claims into believable ones you can back up in an interview.
- Mirror the job posting. Reuse the exact skill words a listing asks for, such as “customer service” or “cash handling,” so an applicant tracking system (ATS) scores you as a match.
Here’s what those principles look like on the page for a 16-year-old applying for a first part-time job:
Maya Chen — High School Student
Austin, TX · [email protected] · (512) 555-0148 · Available weekends and after 4 PM
Objective: Reliable high school junior seeking a part-time cashier role at Riverside Grocery. Comfortable handling cash, helping customers, and working evening and weekend shifts.
Experience & Activities
- Babysitter, Neighborhood families (2023–Present) — Care for two children 12 hours a week, managing homework, meals, and safety with zero incidents over two years.
- Volunteer, Central Texas Food Bank (2023–Present) — Sort and pack 200+ grocery boxes a month alongside an 8-person volunteer team.
- Photographer, Lincoln High Yearbook Club (2022–Present) — Cover 15+ school events and meet every weekly layout deadline across the school year.
Education: Lincoln High School, Austin, TX — Expected June 2026. GPA 3.6. Relevant coursework: Business Math, Intro to Marketing.
Skills: Cash handling · Customer service · Microsoft Excel · Teamwork · Time management · Bilingual (English/Spanish) · Reliable transportation
Certifications: Food Handler card · CPR/First Aid
Tip: Never invent a job or inflate a title. If you’re under 18, some roles need a work permit and set hour limits — note your availability and that you can get a permit, and let honest, specific detail do the convincing.
Teen resume sections and skills
Header: full name, city and state, phone, and a simple firstname.lastname email — no school address needed. Objective: two lines naming the job you want and one or two standout strengths. Skills: six to ten hard and soft skills pulled straight from the listing. Experience & Activities: part-time jobs, babysitting, volunteering, clubs, and sports with dates and action-verb bullets. Education: school, expected graduation date, GPA if strong, and relevant coursework. Run your draft through our free ATS resume checker to catch missing keywords, and start from a clean single-column simple resume template so the layout never breaks the parse.
Before and after: teen resume bullets
Weak bullets name a chore; strong bullets show what you did and the result. Three rewrites:
- Before: Babysat for neighbors. After: Cared for two children 12 hours a week for two years, managing homework, meals, and bedtime routines with zero incidents.
- Before: Helped at the food bank. After: Sorted and packed 200+ grocery boxes a month with an 8-person volunteer team on a strict Saturday schedule.
- Before: Was in yearbook club. After: Photographed 15+ school events and met every weekly layout deadline across the full academic year.
How long should a teen resume be?
One page, always. With limited history the goal isn’t to fill the page — it’s to fill it with real, specific evidence. A half page of honest activities beats a full page padded with hobbies and clichés. Use a standard font, clear headings, and a single column, and skip photos, tables, and graphics that confuse resume parsers.
Common mistakes on teen resumes
- Leaving the page blank because you “have no experience” instead of listing clubs, sports, volunteering, and odd jobs
- Using a joke or gamertag email address instead of a plain, professional one
- Adding a photo, columns, or graphics that ATS parsers scramble
- Listing hobbies with no detail, result, or connection to the job
- Forgetting to mention availability, a work permit if you’re under 18, or reliable transportation
- Sending one generic resume everywhere instead of matching keywords to each posting
In a similar spot? Compare our high school student, first job, no-experience, and student resume examples, then build and download your own polished PDF free with the Fresume resume builder.
Skills and keywords for a teen resume
Applicant tracking systems rank resumes by how closely your skills overlap the exact terms in the posting, so mirror the listing and include only skills you can honestly demonstrate.
Hard skills teens can list
Hard skills / practical:
- Cash handling and point-of-sale (POS) basics
- Microsoft Excel, Word, and Google Workspace
- Data entry and basic bookkeeping for a club or fundraiser
- Social media content and scheduling
- Food Handler card, ServSafe, or CPR/First Aid where relevant
- A valid driver’s license and reliable transportation
- Photography, video editing, or design tools like Canva
- A second language spoken at a conversational level
Soft skills
Soft skills:
- Customer service and a friendly, helpful attitude
- Teamwork on clubs, sports, and group projects
- Time management around a school schedule
- Reliability, punctuality, and following instructions
- Communication with adults, peers, and customers
- Problem-solving and staying calm under pressure
Pull the exact terms from each posting rather than a generic list, then run your draft through our free ATS resume checker to see which keywords you’re still missing.
Frequently asked questions
01Can a teenager write a resume with no work experience?
Yes. A teen resume leads with education, clubs, sports, volunteering, and odd jobs like babysitting or lawn care instead of a formal work history. Describe what you did and any result you can point to — hours volunteered, children cared for, or funds raised — and mirror the job posting’s exact skills so the ATS reads you as a match.
02What should a 16-year-old put on a resume?
Start with a header, a two-line objective naming the job, and a skills section drawn from the listing. Then list your school and expected graduation, plus any part-time work, babysitting, volunteering, or club and sports roles as your experience. Add certifications like a Food Handler card or CPR, and note your availability and whether you can get a work permit.
03How long should a teen resume be?
One page. With limited experience the aim is not to fill space but to fill it with specific, honest evidence. A short, well-organized page of activities and skills beats a padded one. Keep a single-column layout with standard headings and no photos or graphics so applicant tracking systems can parse every line.
04Does a teen need a cover letter for a first job?
For most part-time and summer jobs a resume is enough, but a short cover letter helps when a posting asks for one or when you’re applying somewhere competitive. Keep it to a few honest sentences about why you want the role and what you bring. You can draft one fast with the Fresume cover letter generator.
