Resumes
Resumes are NOT just for job hunting! Your high school resume will be used for college applications, scholarships AND to find work. Keep track of everything you do in high school. For example, if you volunteer for concessions, serve on a committee, lead a club, join a sport, or perform in a play. All of these things will create your resume.
A resume is a formal document that provides an overview of your qualifications, including your relevant work or volunteer experience, skills, education, activities, and notable accomplishments. Usually paired with a cover letter, a resume helps you demonstrate your abilities and convince employers you’re qualified and hirable (ResumeGenius.com).
Cover letters
Cover letters typically introduce you and your resume to employers. They can also be used for scholarship applications or anything else you might apply for such as an internship. A cover letter allows you to add information that may not lend itself to a bullet point on your resume. Because it is in paragraph format you can elaborate on your qualifications and add sentences about why the position interests you and how you learned about it; these are common elements in the first paragraph.
Should I use a resume template or a document?
Using resume templates such as LinkedIn, Indeed, Canva or NextSteps Idaho can help you get started. Templates help because they prompt you for the basic resume fields and do some formatting for you. One of the best things about using a resume template is that you don't misplace your information as you might with a file if it happens to get deleted. NextSteps Idaho is made for high school students. The other template sites may have age restrictions to create accounts.
Word documents are nice because they are more versatile than a templates. Sometimes templates can be restrictive in the fields offered or their formatting.
Email
You will want to list your professional, personal email rather than your school email. Do not use a silly or inappropriate email name on your resume. School email is primarily used by students and teachers communicating with one another, and for logging into our school computer system. Emails from outside senders may not make it to their student recipients because of our filters.
Social media
Check your social media accounts before you submit your application materials. Most employers look you up on social media to see what kind of person you are in your free time. Hopefully, you've refrained from posting immature or negative things but if not, take the time to delete those posts and work on building your professional identity online.
Resume & Cover Letter Writing
Below are a few resources that have great samples and general information about the how-tos of resumes and cover letters.
Cover Letters & Resume Writing through NextSteps Idaho
Cover Letters & Resume Writing at University of Idaho Career Services
Interview Skills
Tips in the Interview Skills section will help you think about how to compose your thoughts not only for an interview but when writing your application materials as well.