Click here to read a detailed description of the high school student resume book. RESUME WRITING TIPS FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS High School Students Compete with Adults for Jobs Preparing for a presentation to 60 high school instructors, I pretended I was a high school student looking for a job. I then read hundreds of help wanted ads and employer job postings. To my surprise, I found that many of the "entry level" jobs high school students are qualified for also attract a large number of adult applicants. This makes it imperative that high school students learn how to market themselves at the same level as adults. With this in mind I gave a presentation to a class of Redmond High School students in my home state of Washington. Below you'll see a before resume example that was typical of what many of the students were creating. It is followed by an after example which shows how much the high school student resumes were improved by using my booklet, 6 Easy Steps to Create Resumes and Cover Letters for High School Students. Working with the students, it was very apparent that their levels of job experience varied widely. Some hadn't really worked at all while some had already assumed differing levels of supervisory experience. High School Students Don't Know How To Describe Their Skills In working with the students after my presentation, two of the biggest obstacles they faced were not knowing the business terms to describe their skills and not feeling confident in marketing or accepting the skills they did actually possess. To help students deal with both of these issues I compiled 15 lists of about 800 skills and 400 sample sentences for the most popular jobs students are employed in - such as babysitting, lawn mowing and school receptionist. Students can read these lists, check them off, edit them and include them in their resumes. Take a look at the body of Terry's resume below. It looks like his work experience and skills are pretty minimal. Then, scroll down and take a look at the body of Terry's after resume. Terry was amazed when he started reading and checking off the skill lists and sample sentences in the high school booklet. He said, "Gee, I've done all this stuff. But, I sure didn't know what to say about it." Abbreviated Section of Terry's Before Resume ____________________________________ OBJECTIVE: To gain a job in retail. EMPLOYMENT: Taco Time Handled Money Demonstrated People Skills Cooked Cleaned Trained People Old Time Buffet Served Customers Cleaned Albertsons Food Store Bagged Groceries Dealt with Customers Assisted in Finding Products ____________________________________ Abbreviated Section of Terry's After Resume ____________________________________ Seek a position utilizing my Customer Service, Retail Lead and Business Computer Training experience. LEAD - RETAIL SALES * Served as Lead to staff of up to 7 Cashiering and Sales personnel. * Worked directly with Store Manager interviewing and hiring staff. * Managed opening and closing of operations including balancing of 4 tills. CUSTOMER SERVICE * Provided service for up to 350 customers with sales totaling $1,250 per day. * Answered product questions and directed customers to appropriate departments. * Processed up to 1,200 product returns on a monthly basis. INVENTORY CONTROL / MERCHANDISING * Maintained inventory reports and stocking for 10,000 sq ft store. * Ensured product pricing on more than 2,000 items was correct. * Communicated with primary vendors to order stock. ___________________________________ Terry's At a New Level Now! As you can see, Terry's after resume promotes him as much more qualified. Almost all of the Redmond students achieved this much of a difference in their before and after resumes. The resume and cover letter booklet begins with an analysis of three sets of before and after resumes (high school student resumes of course!). Students are then taken through a 6 Step process with step by step worksheets which includes: 1) Listing all of the skills they've gained from their high school course work. Listing all of the skills they've gained from any volunteer or paid work experience. 2) Labeling their skills with skill headings for their resumes (as illustrated in the after resume above). 3) Analyzing want ads to determine the top skills employers want. 4) Selecting the best skill headings they've developed to match the ads. 5) Writing statements that describe each of the skill headings or job titles they've held (students turn to the skill lists and sample resume statements that match their backgrounds and check them off for transfer to their resume worksheets). 6) Completing the objective, education and employment history sections of their resumes. Next they are shown a set of full-length before and after cover letter examples as well as full-length before and after thank you letter examples. By analyzing the before and after resume examples, completing the 6 Steps Worksheets, and learning how to write strong cover letters and thank you letters, high school students are shown how to create resumes and application packages so that they can effectively compete against adults applying for entry level positions. 425-398-7378 aspublishing@provenresumes.com ©Website Contents, Regina Pontow, 1997-2005 Worldwide Rights Reserved Website contents derivative of Proven Resumes & Confidence Builders, 1992-2005 DISCLAIMER Hard copy of the book can be ordered through Ten-Speed Press (www.tenspeed.com) plus shipping charges