Do teens need a resume?

Many teen jobs take an online application with no resume. A one-page resume still helps: you can attach it, hand it to a manager, and copy from it when the form asks the same questions.

Should a teenager put their age on a resume?

No. Your school year and expected graduation date already tell the employer roughly how old you are. The application form will ask for your age if the employer needs it.

What if I have no experience at all?

School, clubs, sports, volunteering and projects fill the page. See the high school resume with no work experience page for a full example with no job at all.

Can a 14-year-old get a job?

Under federal law, yes, in jobs such as cashier, some restaurant work and tutoring, within limited hours. Your state can be stricter, so check its rules too.

Resume for teenagers: examples and a template

A teen resume is not a smaller adult resume. It has no long job history, so it leads with school and fills the rest with what you do every week. If you want the full walkthrough of each section, start with how to make a resume for your first job. This page is the examples and the template.

Teen resume example: what each part is doing

Maya's resume above is a typical teenager resume. Here is why each section is there:

Section	What Maya wrote	Why it works
Summary	Junior looking for after-school and weekend work	Says what she wants and when she can work
Education	School, expected graduation, GPA, three classes	Her strongest section, so it comes first
Experience	Babysitting for three families	Paid, regular, trusted with kids: that is a job
Volunteering	Summer reading at the library	Shows she turns up on a schedule
Projects	Robotics club treasurer	Handling money, with a real number ($1,200 raised)
Skills and certificates	Childcare, cash handling, first aid and CPR	Each one is backed by something above

Teen resume template

Copy this, replace everything in brackets, and delete any section you have nothing for.

[First and last name] [City, ST] | [Phone] | [Email] SUMMARY [Grade] student looking for a part-time job [after school / on weekends / this summer]. [Two strengths, such as: reliable and good with customers]. EDUCATION [School name], [City, ST] High school diploma expected [Month Year] | GPA [x.x] Courses: [two or three classes that fit the job] EXPERIENCE [Title, such as Babysitter or Volunteer], [Who for or where] [Month Year] to present - [Verb + what you do + how often] - [Verb + something you are trusted with] ACTIVITIES [Club, team or project], [your role] - [Verb + what you did + a number if you know it] SKILLS [Skill], [Skill], [Skill], [Skill] AVAILABILITY [Days and hours you can work]

Lines to copy for what teens actually do

Pick the ones that are true for you and change the numbers to yours.

Babysitter: Look after three children, ages 3 to 9, on weekend evenings, including dinner and bedtime. Pet sitter: Feed, walk and give medicine to pets for four neighbors while they travel. Yard work: Mow and edge six lawns a week from May to September. Volunteer: Serve meals at the community kitchen two Saturdays a month. Sports: Practice five days a week with the varsity soccer team and keep up a 3.4 GPA. Club: Plan meetings and keep attendance for the 25-member art club. Tutor: Help two middle schoolers with math homework once a week. School office aide: Answer the front desk phone and deliver messages during one class period a day. Fundraiser: Sold tickets and handled cash for the band's spring concert.

Skills for a teenager resume

Choose four to six, and make sure each one shows up somewhere else on the page.

With customers: customer service, answering phones, speaking a second language.
With money: cash handling, counting change, keeping a budget.
With people: childcare, tutoring, teamwork on a sports team.
With computers: Google Docs and Sheets, typing, social media for a club.
Certificates: first aid and CPR, food handler card, lifeguard.

Resume for a 14 or 15 year old

At 14 and 15, federal law limits both the jobs you can do and your hours, so your resume should aim at jobs you are allowed to take and list hours that fit the rules.

Under the federal rules (U.S. Department of Labor, read October 2, 2026), 14 and 15 year olds can work in most store jobs (cashier, stocking shelves), some kitchen work (washing dishes, reheating food, cleaning equipment), tutoring, car washing, and yard work without power equipment. At 15, if you meet the requirements, you can also work as a lifeguard at a pool. You cannot do baking, operate power-driven machines (office machines aside), or work in freezers, meat coolers or manufacturing. For where to apply, see jobs for 15 year olds.

The hour limits:

	Federal limit at 14 and 15
School day	3 hours
School week	18 hours
Non-school day	8 hours
Non-school week	40 hours
Time of day	7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (to 9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day)

So an availability line like this one fits the rules during the school year:

Availability: weekdays 3:30 to 6:30 p.m., Saturdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Under 14, the federal list is short: babysitting on a casual basis, delivering newspapers, acting or performing, and working in a business owned by your parents. A resume at 13 is usually for babysitting or a family business, and the template above works for that too.

Resume for a 16 or 17 year old

At 16 and 17, federal law sets no limit on your hours. It still bans jobs declared hazardous, such as roofing, operating a forklift, or driving as part of the job (17 year olds can do limited driving). So at this age:

List your real availability, including longer weekend and summer shifts. Jobs for 16 year olds has the places that hire at this age.
Put any job you have had first, above activities. A 17-year-old in their senior year may have one: a summer job or a part-time store job.
Add certificates that open better-paid jobs, like lifeguard or food handler.

Your state has its own rules too, and employers must follow both, so where state law is stricter on hours or jobs, the stricter rule is the one that counts. Check your state's rules before you list your availability.

What to leave off a teen resume

Your age or birthday, and a photo.
Your full street address (city and state are enough).
Grades below a 3.0 (just leave the GPA out).
"References available upon request". Have two names ready instead: a teacher, a coach, or a family you babysit for.

Resume for teenagers: an example, a template and lines to copy

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