Student Resume Examples (And How To Create One)
Updated July 7, 2023
Students with less professional experience than others may question the best way to format their resumes. No matter what level of experience you have, there are many ways to make your resume appeal to employers.
In this article, we will discuss why student resume examples are important and provide examples of resumes for high school, college and graduate students.
Why are student resume examples important?
Referring to student resume examples while creating your own resume is important because it provides a helpful, detailed format to follow. By looking at examples, you'll be able to see the most important parts of a resume and understand what is most relevant to include.
What to include in a student resume
When creating a student resume, it is important to personalize your information so it appeals to a specific job listing. This doesn't mean that every job you apply to requires a complete rewrite. It just means that you will need to reorganize information in a way that appeals to the hiring manager of a specific position. Here are some of the most common elements of a student resume:
Related: The New Graduate's Guide To Job Search
Contact information
Always begin a student resume with your name, address, phone and email address so that employers can easily contact you. If you don't wish to include your entire physical address, you may list the city and state. Consider creating a new email address that sounds professional if you don't already have one.
Example: Mary Gonzalez | 123 Berry Lane Chicago, IL 12345 | (555) 555-5555 | mgonzalez@domain.com
Qualifications summary
Another important component of a resume is the qualifications summary, also known as the career objective, which is a one or two-sentence statement that describes your career goals. It also summarizes how your talents and skills relate to the desired job position.
Example: "I am a driven individual looking for leadership opportunities that allow me to teach and inspire the community. I'm excited to share the skills I learned through a recent developmental workshop experience with others."
Key skills
The skills you include in your resume should be a combination of hard (technical) and soft (interpersonal) skills learned throughout your life. Examples of hard skills you may include in a high school or college resume are as follows:
Microsoft suite
Data analysis
Research
Public speaking
Graphic design
Bookkeeping
Writing/Editing
Sales
Management experience
Fundraising
Coding
Soft skills are just as valuable as technical skills, as they help students work better independently and in a collaborative work environment. Here are some examples:
Communication skills (oral and written)
Detail-oriented
Problem-solving
Organizational
Customer service
Diplomacy
Flexibility
Responsibility
Leadership
Persistent
When listing skills, include a balance of hard and soft skills, listed under a "Skills" section.
Experiences
Most students have some form of work or volunteer experience that is worth mentioning on a resume. Think about experiences during the summer mowing lawns, pet sitting, tending children or volunteering at a shelter. Consider adding extracurricular activities like involvement in sports and school clubs that highlight any leadership roles or other areas of strength.
Example:
Autism Speaks Walk
Student Volunteer, 2018-Present
Assist with participants' needs, including packet delivery and registration
Take photos and video for local Autism Speaks social media channels
Hand out awareness flyers door-to-door
Education
When creating a student resume, it's important to list any education in detail. Include information about your high school and if applicable, college experience. List the name of the institution, academic achievements and other types of participation that demonstrate your skill set. If you've recently completed challenging coursework or earned a grade point average above a 3.5, include this in your description.
Example:
Pacifica High School
Graduation Date: May 2018
GPA: 3.9
Relevant coursework: Debate, Yearbook, Creative Writing, Advanced Photography
Clubs: Key Club, Flying Falcons newspaper, Foreign Cuisine Club
Awards and achievements
Consider the times when you've accomplished something at school that made you feel successful. You may include some of these achievements on your resume to show employers your level of commitment and dedication. Here are some possible examples:
Helped fundraise $500 for the local animal shelter as part of a class project
Received the $300 "Distinguished Student" award in 2017 for greatness in academics
Elected vice president of Future Health Professionals of America in 2018
Activities or hobbies
In addition to the education section, you may also include an activities or hobbies section that describes your involvement in clubs, athletics and other interests. You may include the following:
Swim team, three years
Volunteer at local retirement homes
Writing lab assistant
Related: High School Resume Tips and Example
Example student resumes
Knowing how best to organize and write your resume depends on your student status, level of experience and career goals. While high school students may have less experience than college students, it is important for students to include their most impressive accomplishments.
Below is an example of a high school resume:
- Cared for three children during the summer break, preparing activities and meals daily
- Drove children to extracurricular activities and doctor's appointments
- Assisted parents with creating a structured family plan
- Taught junior lifeguards proper swim safety and rescue techniques
- Monitored pool swimmers to ensure adherence to facility policies
- Assisted pool director with swim class assignments
- Public speaking
- Problem-solving
- Typing (75 wpm)
- Microsoft Office Suite
- Customer service
- Key Club President
- Member of Scarlet Debate Team
- Academic Honor Roll, 2017-present
Below is an example of a college student resume:
- Wrote 14 family-centric articles about crafts, cooking and health
- Proofread and edited freelancers' work, with guidance from the editor
- Interviewed dozens of sources to create original content
- Taught junior lifeguards proper swim safety and rescue techniques
- Monitored pool swimmers to ensure adherence to facility policies
- Assisted pool director with swim class assignments
- Writing and editing
- Communication
- Public speaking
- Adobe Creative Suite
- Microsfot Office Suite
- Interviewing
- Active member, Kappa Beta sorority
- Passionate runner and yogi
- Women's Club Scholarship, 2017
- Dean's List 2016–2019
- Outstanding English Major award
- Third Runner-up, Glenwood Hills Marathon
Related: How To Write a College Student Resume
Below is an example of a graduate student resume:
- Collaborate with other writers to create original, newsworthy articles
- Research interesting topics related to local news
- Interview city and government officials to get information on breaking news
- Update website with photo and video assets
- Generated content for online community calendar
- Called local businesses to verify seasonal information
- Met with editorial team to learn about time-sensitive issues
- Oral and written communication
- Public speaking
- Microsoft Office Suite
- Interviewing
- Collaborative
- Organized
- Detail-oriented
- Dean's List, September 2016-May 2018. Received special communication regarding my placement on the Dean's List due to a high GPA
- Published writer in the Pasadena Star-News, April 2018. Submitted opinion piece titled 'Hazy Outlook' regarding L.A.'s smog level and what students can do to resude their carbon footprint.
Frequently asked questions
Do classes count as experience?
Yes, they do. Everything you've done in your life, personally or professionally, can count as experience as long as you frame it appropriately. You may not be able to include your high school or college classes under the Work Experience section, but you can certainly expand the Education section to include bullet points about your coursework and academic achievements that are relevant to the job you want.
Can I submit the same resume to every employer?
As a student, you're likely to have less relevant professional experience than older, more seasoned candidates, so the idea of submitting the same resume to every employer may seem like the only choice. However, doing so may reduce your chances of landing the job you want.
That doesn't mean it's necessary to overhaul your resume every time you apply for a job. Ideally, you'd just make minor changes by incorporating keywords from the job listing so that you can beat the applicant-tracking system, a type of software that many employers use to automatically screen the application documents they receive. If you submit identical resumes for every job, you aren't optimizing your application for getting past the screening stage.
What can I do to get my student resume noticed among the more experienced candidates?
Aside from keyword optimization, here are a couple of measures you can take to improve your chances of getting your student resume noticed. First, choose the right format. Broadly speaking, there are three resume formats to choose from. The chronological resume emphasizes work experience, the functional format emphasizes skills and the combination format combines the two. If you have sufficient relevant experience, go with the chronological format or combination format. Otherwise, consider writing a functional resume to highlight the value you could potentially provide to the employer.
Second, follow up on your application. Employers might receive hundreds to thousands of applications for a single job, so yours might get lost in the mix or the employer is taking their time sorting through everything. Perhaps a week or so after you submit your documents, send a follow-up email to gently remind them that you're in the running for the job. In your email, you could even include a brief self-description that highlights your suitability for the job.
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