3 High School Student CV Examples & Templates (+How-To Guide)

Many high school students consider their lack of hands-on work experience to be problematic when it comes to writing their CV.

However, a lack of work experience doesn’t need to be a disadvantage for high school students.

In this guide, we’ll show you how high school students can prepare very effective CVs that use their education, school experiences and extra-curricular activities to present them as the perfect candidates for jobs.

Whether you’ve just left school and you’re pursuing your first job or you’re a high school student looking for a part time work, the guidance and CV templates in this guide will help you achieve your goals.

This guide covers all aspects of CV writing for high school students, including students with no work experience.

Write your name at the top of your CV and include your location and contact details.

It is not necessary to include your full address. Simply list the town/city you live in and your country of residence.

Ensure to include your email address, phone number and a link to your LinkedIn profile if you have one.

After listing your name, location and contact details, it’s time to prepare your CV’s personal statement.

Personal statements, which are also referred to as professional profiles and CV summaries, are short, concise introductions at the beginning of your CV.

The goal of your CV’s personal statement is to provide an outline of you as a candidate and convey your skills and experiences to recruiters.

As a high school student and school leaver, your CV’s personal statement should ideally be focused on the skills you’ve obtained during your time at school, your work experiences (including voluntary work and non-paid work) and your ambitions.

Here is an example of a high school student’s CV personal statement:

Dependable, enthusiastic high school student with a strong work ethic and a track record of meeting challenging deadlines. Strong communicator, who is comfortable engaging with people from all backgrounds and delivering presentations to audiences.

Adept at effectively managing heavy workloads, with experience juggling heavy academic schedules with revision and extra-curricular activities. Passionate about professional development and is always eager to undertake training to obtain new skills.

If you have little or no work experience, which is the case for many high school students, consider opting for a skills-based CV.

Skills-based CVs enable students to make their skills and experiences gained at school the central focus of their CV. This style of CV is often much more effective for students as they simply don’t have enough work experience to sell themselves using the traditional CV format.

Take a look at the skills-based high school student CV template earlier in this guide. Note how, although the student has no work experience, the CV illustrates how she can add value to employers.

Of course, you don’t have to use a skills-based CV.

If you would prefer to opt for a traditional, reverse-chronological CV – like the other student CV templates in this guide – simply include a concise key skills section that highlights 9 or 10 of your strongest skills.

When employers recruit students and entry-level employees, there are a number of key skills that many tend to prioritise.

Here, we list the 5 most sought-after skills for high school students and explain how to demonstrate them on your CV.

Time management is one of the most in-demand skills for students and those looking to land their first job.

Employees with good time management are able to prioritise tasks, effectively manage schedules and meet targets. Those who don’t manage their time well may fail to meet targets and spend time procrastinating.

How do you show your time management skills on your student CV?

If you’re using a skills-based CV, use the skills section to provide concrete examples of times you have effectively managed your time. For example, while studying at school, did you create a revision schedule to help you allocate your time to all subjects equally?

If you’re not using a skills-based CV, use the work experience section to provide similar examples of your time management in the workplace.

By providing real examples such as this one, you’ll show recruiters that you’re adept at managing your time to achieve positive results.

Recruiters are always on the look out for candidates with strong problem solving skills.

Problem solving is one of the most sought-after skills because it is pertinent to almost all jobs and tasks. Employees with good problem solving skills can think on their feet and react positively when things go wrong.

Sound problem solving skills also indicate that you possess a range of other key skills, such as creativity, analytical acumen and lateral thinking.

How do you show your problem solving skills on your student CV?

The best way to demonstrate your problem solving skills is to provide examples of your achievements that resulted from your problem solving skills.

If you have no work experience, think about problems you solved at school? For example, this may include solving problems with projects you worked on.

Highlight such achievements in your CV’s skills section, education section or work experience section.

Communication is an important skill for high school students and school leavers as it enables them to work effectively with colleagues. Employees with good communication skills can also follow instructions correctly and ask the right questions.

Good communication underpins many other valuable skills, such as leadership and relationship building, so it’s important to draw attention to your communication skills on your student CV (if you have good communication skills, of course).

How do you show your communication skills on your student CV?

During your time in school, you have likely participated in projects, events or activities that required you to communicate effectively. These are the types of activities that you should showcase on your CV to highlight your communication acumen.

For example, this may include delivering presentations as part of your coursework or taking part in drama performances.

Use your CV’s skills and education section to describe times you’ve demonstrated sound communication skills.

Employers want to recruit people who are enthusiastic about their work.

Enthusiasm is transmissible in the workplace and it helps to build positive environments in which employees flourish. Those who are enthusiastic about their job are also more likely to be open to learning new skills and taking on additional tasks.

How do you show your enthusiasm on your student CV?

While the cover letter is the best place to describe your enthusiasm for the job you’re applying for, you can demonstrate enthusiasm for learning and performing to high standards on your CV.

Highlight your commitment to learning and professional growth in your CV’s personal statement. Additionally, if you’ve obtained any work experience, show how your enthusiasm for your work helped you achieve results.

When you leave school and start your first job, you’ll need to be well-organised in order to manage your workload. Good organisation helps employees meet deadlines, save time and complete tasks to higher standards.

How do you show your organisation skills on your student CV?

You don’t need to have work experience to demonstrate your organisation skills. School work and extra-curricular activities also require a high degree of organisation, so show how you utilised your organisation skills to excel in these areas.

For example, have you used specific software to help you manage your revision schedule? Or have you organised activities for a local sports club?

By drawing attention to these types of experiences, you’ll show recruiters that you can be a highly organised team member when you start your first job.

In this section, list your education details. As a high school student, this will most likely be your A Levels or your GCSEs.

If you are progressing towards your GCSEs or A Levels but haven’t yet sat your exams, include your predicated grades.

Consider using your CV’s education section to highlight key projects and activities that you’ve taken part in. For those with little or no work experience, this can help to illustrate your skills.

For example, if you’ve captained the school’s football team, you may want to highlight this to demonstrate your leadership skills.

Additionally, if you’ve studies subjects that are relevant to the job you’re applying for, include a list of topics/modules that you’ve undertaken. For example, if you’re applying for a job related to IT, include a list of the topics you’ve covered during your IT studies.

How should you format your education on your student CV?

Start by writing the name of the qualification, such as GCSE, followed by your grades, the name of the high school and the dates of study. Then, if relevant, list any modules and key projects/activities you’ve been involved in.

Here is an example of a high school student CV’s education section:

As a high school student, you may not have much, or any, work experience. If you do, include your work experience in this section.

View StudentJob's useful article on how to gain work experience as a student.

Use the reverse-chronological format, starting with your current or most recent position and progressing backwards.

List your job title, the company name, the location of employment and the dates of employment. Then use bullet points to describe your duties and achievements.

If you don’t have any work experience, feel free to skip this section. However, you may want to consider including activities and non-paid work you’ve carried out if it’s relevant.

For example, if you’re applying for jobs in IT and you’ve spent some time helping friends with IT projects, drawing attention to this would illustrate your relevant skills. However, you should state that this was not paid work.

While your high school work experience placements may have only lasted one week, they can add a great deal of value to your CV, especially if you have no other work experience.

For many high school students, their only hands-on experience is there work experience placements. For others, it may be their only hands-on experience in the field they want to commence a career in.

So, it’s often highly beneficial to include work experience placements on your CV.

If possible, focus on the skills you developed during your work placement, as well as your accomplishments and duties.

Have you undertaken any voluntary work? If so, include it in this section. Including voluntary work on your CV is a great way of bolstering it and impressing recruiters.

Format your voluntary experience in the same way you formatted your work experience. List your voluntary roles in reverse-chronological order, and use bullet points to highlight your duties and accomplishments.

Have you achieved awards or honours during your time in school? If so, list them in this section.

Including honours and awards is a great way of highlighting valuable skills and showing recruiters that you can add value.

How should you format honours and awards on your CV?

Include the name of the honour or award, followed by the name of the institution and the date you were presented with the honour/award.

Here is an example:

Young Leader Award, Example High School (2020)

If you only have a small number of honours and awards, you may not want to dedicate an entire section to them. If this is the case for you, simply list your honours and awards in your CV’s education section.

Finally, include any additional information in the final section of your CV.

This may include hobbies, interests, IT skills, language proficiency and licences.

The optimal length for student CVs is between one and two pages.

If you have little or no work experience, one page will probably provide you with enough space to include all relevant sections. If you have a significant amount of work experience or voluntary experience, you may find that you need two pages.

One-page CVs are often more effective than longer CVs as they make for a better reading experience and the key information is easy to locate.

Check out our ultimate guide on how long a CV should be.

Which font and font size should you use when writing your high school student CV?

Select one of the modest, commonly used fonts, such as Calibri, Arial or Times New Roman. Steer clear of creative fonts; they look unprofessional and they’re often difficult to read when skim reading.

The best font size varies depending on the font you’re using and the amount of space you have to fill, but aim for a font size of between 10 pt. and 11.5 pt.

CVs for job applications in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand usually should not have a photo.

However, CVs for jobs in continental Europe, including Spain and Germany, usually should have a photo.

For more information on this topic, check out our ultimate guide on whether you need to include a photo on your CV.

A significant number of recruiters and HR departments use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). ATS is a type of recruitment screening software that filters and ranks applicants’ CVs based on their suitability for the role. ATS determines candidates’ suitability based on specific keywords.

These keywords include essential skills and qualifications. A great way to discover the essential skills for jobs is to study the job description for the role you’re pursuing. This will give you an idea of the essential criteria for the job and the necessary keywords to include on your CV.

Formatting and layout also play a role in ATS compatibility. The high school student CV templates in this guide are optimised for ATS, so feel free to grab yours now.

Interested in learning how to write a graduate CV? Take a look at our three graduate CV templates and CV writing guide.

Or if you feel you could benefit from more comprehensive CV writing help, check out our ultimate guide on how to write a CV.