TeenResumeGuide
A resume is an easy and organized way to present yourself to
an employer. It tells the employer how to contact you, what prior jobs you
have had, what special skills you have, volunteer and work experiences
you’ve had and about your education. Basically, a resume provides
insight into who you are and what type of employee you might be.
Another reason to have a resume is that when you are filling out
applications for jobs, often you will need to have the full title of your
former jobs, dates of employments, and names of former supervisors. If
you bring a resume when you are searching for a job, it will make it much
easier to fill out an application. Also, a resume is helpful to give to people
when you ask them to write a recommendation so that they can include
accurate details about your experiences.
What you should know before making your resume:
NEVER MAKE ANYTHING UP. If you falsify
prior jobs, employers can call the job you
listed and find out if you worked there.
Don’t worry if it’s short. In fact, it shouldn’t
be more than a page long.
Make sure to proofread. Make sure there are
no spelling or grammatical errors. It should
tell a future employer that you would take the
same care with a job as you did on your
resume.
Have copies in paper, on a flash drive, and
on an email. You never know when an
opportunity comes up.
Update it frequently: add new clubs,
activities and experiences as you are
involved in them – it will be easer to
remember the details then.
Use your own style. Anyone can use a
resume wizard; show that you know how to
use a computer by creating your own format.
Just make sure to use a font that is easy to
read.
Make it easy to read: keep it simple and
follow the format.
Additional Help
Private Industry Council (PIC)
617-423-3755 | bostonpic.org
For Boston Public School students
only. There is a PIC office in ever
y
high school that offers workshops and
one-on-one assistance with finding
j
obs and internships.
Youth workers, Teachers
and Librarians
Youth workers at your local Boys &
Girls Club or Community Cente
r
should be able to help you out, o
r
refer you to someone who can. You
can also ask a librarian at your local
branch or a teacher at your school.
Mayor’s Youthline
617-635-2240 | bostonyouthzone.com/myc
The teen listeners, who answer calls to the
Youthline, can answer questions abou
t
anything in this guide. You can also
access “Job Tips for Teens” on the
Mayor’s Youth Council web site.
JobNet
617-338-0809 | bostonabcd.org/jobnet
JobNet is a one-stop career center with a
wide range of free services tailored to the
needs of job seekers. They have lots o
f
resources on resume writing and
professional career counselors to help you
out.
Mayor’s Youth Council of Boston | Mayor Thomas M. Menino | bostonyouthzone.com/myc
What goes into your resume?
1
Name & Contact Info
2
Education
3
Experience
4
Skills
5
Lan
g
ua
g
es
6
Honors/Awards
7
A
ctivities
8
References
Your resume should play to your strengths!
It is important that you are aware of your strengths. So what are
strengths? Strengths are great skills that you may have in a particular
field. It can be your listening, communication, computer or writing skills.
Emphasizing your strengths will separate you from the rest. If you don’t
know what your strengths are then the job you are applying for won’t
know either and they might pass you up. Agencies are looking for people
that can bring great talent to the organization and you could be that
person. For that reason, it is important that you identify and clarify your
abilities onto your resume.
Format, Format, Format!
Resume format refers to the way the content of the resume is organized.
There are different styles you can use for a resume but it is key that there
is consistency and clarity. It is good to keep your resume in chronological
order and make sure everything is lined up correctly. Your resume should
be easy to read and clear of mistakes. It’s a good idea to have others
look at your resume – they can offer advice and/or suggestions that you
may have not thought about..
You can go with a traditional resume format or try more creative resume
formats. The most important thing to remember is not to get carried away
with resume formatting. The main function of your resume is to show a
potential employer who you are. They want the cold hard facts.
Extensions of your Resume
Just because your resume is the only thing you provide,
it doesn’t mean potential employers aren’t doing they’re
own research. If you have stuff on Facebook or
MySpace that you don’t want a potential boss to see,
either delete it or make sure its private. Some other
social networking sites like Formspring are completely
public and searchable. Be sure that you are in control of
your social media sites. They are your personal spaces,
but also allow opportunities for an employer to gather
information about you.
Extensions of your resume also include how you present
yourself during an interview. Be sure that you arrive a
few minutes early and are neatly dressed.
Do a little bit of research on where you are applying. If
you can get a little bit of information about the
organization you are better off. This can also help you
identify strengths. If you know that a particular position
requires a lot of organization and you are a good
organizer or have done something relevant in the past
you can be sure to highlight that in your resume. Do not
miss an opportunity to market yourself!
Name and Contact Info
This part is pretty straightforward (you know your name, right?)
Make your name big. Really big. It has to be the most
memorable text on the paper.
Experiment with different formatting and different fonts
(but keep it looking sleek). Although you want to make
it memorable, make sure you use your space wisely.
As far as what to write, your first and last name should
do. If you want to include your middle initial or your
entire middle name, that’s fine, but it isn’t necessary.
Also include your address, home phone, cell phone,
and email address. Make sure your voicemail greeting
is appropriate. You should not have a ring back on
your phone. Same goes for your email address
, not [email protected]).
Be sure to use an address where you are able to
check the mail often. The same goes with your e-mail
address. Make sure that you use an account that you
check often or set up an account strictly for your job
hunt.
Education
Highlight what you know and where you learned it.
List your formal education here. Start with your most
recent school and end with your earliest schooling.
You do not have to go back beyond high school.
There is no need to list your elementary or middle
school (unless you are still in middle school).
You want to include the year you graduated or the
expected date of graduation (you can also include the
month).
Experience
A very crucial component of your resume. Spend most of your time perfecting this section.
This section is where you list any activity that helped
you learn a new skill. An activity can be anything from
a summer job to a volunteer project to babysitting for
the neighbors.
You can order experiences:
Chronologically (most to least recent) to emphasize
your progression
Or functionally (most relevant experiences first, or
similar experiences grouped together) to emphasize a
theme or type of experience.
Note the time period you were there. You can use
whatever date format you want, just make sure you
use the same one throughout your entire resume.
Seriously, having inconsistent formats makes your
resume look unclear, unorganized, and (worst of all)
unprofessional.
Finally, for each experience, describe what you were
responsible for or what you did. If you still hold the
position, use present tense verbs; if not, use past
tense verbs. ALSO SEE “INTEGRATE THESE
ACTION WORDS”
Skills
What can you bring to the table?
So you’re a pretty good with Photoshop? Are you a
trained workshop facilitator? Have you taken a few
photography courses? Are you able to use Social
Media to get the word out about your program’s
events? This is where you show those things off.
List any special talents you have that would be useful
to your employer or indicate that you are unique.
Include computer programs you know how to use, and
give an estimate of your knowledge of each program.
Languages
This is where those four years of French class pay off.
Another straightforward section: List any modern
languages you know and tell how well you know them.
Be sure to be honest. If you’ve only taken one year of
Mandarin, you might not want to say you’re fluent.
Some jobs rely heavily on bilingual staff and getting
caught in that lie is not only embarrassing, but could
possibly cost you your job.
Honors/Awards
Recognizing your recognitions.
And yet another straightforward section. All you need
is the name of the award and the date you received it.
No description is necessary, but if you have a lot of
extra space on your resume, a short phrase
describing the award wouldn't hurt.
Activities
Tell us about yourself.
Let your employers know you are active in other
communities, not just work and school. Many
employers like to see a well-rounded individual.
You can use a format similar to what you did with your
“Experience” section with out the tasks part, or you
just list the activity and your role.
References
Having someone to back you up.
When applying for a job, it is likely that the employer
will ask for and contact your references. A reference
is someone who will testify that you are a good person
for a job. Write this at the bottom if someone has
agreed to serve as a reference for you.
Your reference can be a former employer, supervisor,
teacher, coach, youth worker, mentor, etc. Make sure
you have all usual info for your references: full name,
phone number, email address and organization. If you
are not comfortable or ready to offer references, you
can let your employer know that you can offer
references if they require them.
accepted
accommodated
accomplished
accounted for
achieved
acquired
acted
adapted
added
addressed
adjusted
administered
adopted
advertised
advised
advocated
affirmed
aided
alerted
allocated
amended
analyzed
answered
applied
appointed
appraised
approved
arranged
articulated
assembled
assessed
assigned
assisted
attained
audited
authorized
balanced
began
blogged
branded
brought
budgeted
built
calculated
campaigned
cared for
carried out
catalogued
categorized
centralized
chaired
challenged
changed
checked
clarified
classified
cleared
closed
coached
coded
collaborated
collated
collected
combined
comforted
communicated
compared
competed
compiled
composed
computed
condensed
conducted
conferred
connected
conserved
considered
consolidated
constructed
consulted
contacted
contracted
contributed
controlled
converted
conveyed
convinced
cooperated
coordinated
corrected
corresponded
counseled
crafted
created
critiqued
cultivated
customized
debated
decided
defined
delegated
demonstrated
designed
detected
determined
developed
devised
directed
discovered
discussed
dispatched
displayed
distributed
drafted
drew
edited
educated
eliminated
emphasized
employed
enabled
encouraged
enforced
engineered
enhanced
enlisted
ensured
established
estimated
evaluated
examined
executed
expanded
expedited
experimented
explained
explored
expressed
fabricated
facilitated
familiarized
featured
filed
focused
forecasted
formatted
formed
formulated
founded
furnished
furthered
gathered
generated
guided
handled
headed
helped
hired
hosted
identified
illustrated
implemented
improved
incorporated
increased
individualized
influenced
informed
initiated
inspected
installed
instilled
instituted
instructed
insured
integrated
interacted
interpreted
intervened
interviewed
integrated
introduced
invented
investigated
involved
joined
judged
launched
learned
lectured
led
listened
located
logged
maintained
managed
marketed
measured
mediated
merged
minimized
modeled
moderated
modified
monitored
motivated
navigated
negotiated
networked
observed
obtained
offered
operated
optimized
ordered
organized
originated
outlined
outreached
overhauled
oversaw
participated
performed
personalized
persuaded
petitioned
photographed
planned
played
posted
prepared
presented
prevented
prioritized
processed
produced
programmed
projected
promoted
proposed
provided
publicized
published
purchased
qualified
raised
ran
recommended
reconciled
recorded
recruited
reduced
referred
registered
regulated
rehabilitated
reinforced
remodeled
removed
reorganized
repaired
replaced
reported
represented
researched
reserved
resolved
responded
restored
reviewed
revised
revitalized
routed
scheduled
screened
searched
secured
selected
separated
set goals
set up
shadowed
shaped
simplified
simulated
solicited
solved
specialized
specified
spoke
staffed
standardized
stimulated
streamlined
strengthened
studied
submitted
suggested
summarized
supervised
supplied
supported
surveyed
systematized
taught
terminated
tested
trained
transcribed
translated
transmitted
tutored
updated
upgraded
uploaded
used
utilized
validated
verified
volunteered
wrote
Integrate these Action Words
Sample Resumes
