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16 High School Student Resume Examples + Complete Guide

High School Student Resume

• High School Student Resumes by Experience
• High School Student Resumes by Role

High school is one of the best times of your life, but it can also be one of the most difficult when looking for your first or second job. You’ve got to fill out applications, prep for interviews, and write your resume.

Using ChatGPT for resumes  is a cool idea, but can still feel daunting and overwhelming. We’ve all been there, and what you really need is a free AI resume builder and solid student cover letters to get you on your way.

We’ve analyzed countless high school resumes to discover  what would get students job interviews in 2024 . While you may want to start with a simple  resume outline , keep reading to find 16 high school resume samples (plus writing tips) that are jam-packed with essential techniques and tricks.

or download as PDF

Why this resume works

• If you choose to use a template, make sure you adjust the  resume’s formatting  so that your text is big enough to read with one-inch margins on the side.
• However, you should write your bullet points like you would for a job. Highlight any responsibilities and accomplishments relevant to the job you’re applying for now.
• For example, if you’re looking for a job in sales, emphasize your ability to work in groups and create a good customer experience.

High School Student No Experience Resume

• If you don’t have work history, include projects and volunteer work instead. Treat them like a job and write bullet points according to your responsibilities.
• Make sure you start every bullet point with active verbs, and always double-check for typos. You’ve got this!
• Include your unique skills, your desired position, and the company you hope to work for to make your objective stand out from the rest!

First Job High School Student Resume

• To remedy that problem, add a  skills section on your resume  to give hiring managers an important overview of your strengths.
• To really highlight your abilities, incorporate the same skills in your work experience, too. Demonstrate how you used your skills to better your workplace, and you can’t go wrong!
• Adding stylistic elements like color and different fonts can help you show a bit of your personality (and make your resume more fun to read). 

Experienced High School Student Resume

• Remember, your resume is a highlight reel, so you need to include what’s most important (like your achievements and relevant metrics). 
• You can adjust your layout, font sizes, and margins, but keep it easy to read. 
• Use a bit of color and some fun fonts, provided it still looks professional. You’ve got this!

High School Senior Resume

• This statement must align with the potential employer’s needs, proving you understand the job requirements and have gone the extra mile to address doubts about your capabilities. As for experiences that might have prepared you for the job, workshops and volunteering programs you’ve participated in are prominent candidates.

Out of High School Resume

• Leisure activities range from soccer, hiking, drawing and sketching, robotics, and photography to journalism. But how do they fit in the picture? Well, a penchant for drawing and sketching could reflect creativity and an eye for detail, while journalism stints could hint at strong communication and critical thinking.

High School Graduate Resume

• Right from the first line of the career objective, you can see the candidate’s passion and willingness to work in this field. Notice how Serai’s love for photography is clearly backed by a previous project for a school newspaper.
• These details will be perfect when Serai’s ready for the AI cover letter generator to bring her application to perfection.

High School Student Scholarship Resume

• Your high school student scholarship resume should vividly show your positive contributions to noble causes, such as offering ADLs to seniors, and emphasize your impact on society.

High School Student College Application Resume

• Ensure your high school student college application resume shows your practical and classwork achievements that emphasize your grand vision to make a positive contribution to society.

High School Student for College Resume

• Before hitting “submit,” always  check your resume  for typos and other minor errors. It’s amazing what you can miss during your first few reviews.
• A good GPA can demonstrate, at least in part, your willingness to work hard. We’d recommend including your GPA only if it’s above 3.5, but anything above a 3 is a good average.

High School Student for Customer Service Resume

• Including projects, volunteer work, or club memberships is a great way to add value to your resume.
• Your resume should focus on your abilities and other activities you’ve engaged in that will show your value.
• Read the responsibilities and qualifications to look for key skills and tasks. Then, incorporate some of those skills and responsibilities into your high school student customer service resume.

High School Student Internship Resume

• For example, if the job description lists responsibilities like writing and analyzing data, include “written communication” and “data analysis” in your skills section.
• One easy way to customize your resume is by focusing your  resume skills  on things that apply to the internship. 
• Make sure you keep your resume professional and to the point. You don’t want to include anything too personal about your beliefs, religion, politics, or personal information.
• For example, you can list “volunteering at local church,” but avoid saying “fasting every weekend.” It doesn’t show off relevant skills and is a bit too forward for a resume.

High School Student Office Worker Resume

• Good projects include anything that demonstrates your leadership abilities or desire for knowledge. Senior projects, personal blogs, or even being on a sports team are all good examples to include!
• Add work experience directly under your contact information and name, then add any relevant projects if you’re low on space. 
• While there are plenty of  resume writing tips , your resume should be as unique as you. Don’t get so caught up in what you think you “should” do that your resume is bland and cookie-cutter. 

High School Student Sales Resume

• Numbers demonstrate your value, and they’re useful tools for the Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) software that hiring managers use to sort through job applicants.
• Trust us, and incorporate metrics into at least 80% of your bullet points!
• For example, you know that different  resume templates  can change your resume’s appearance, but different templates can also stretch or streamline your content. 
• Mess with multiple templates to see what your content will look like—you may find a template that allows for more room, or one that allows you to highlight your skills better.

High School Student Athlete  Resume

• Think of a time you proved you were the MVP on your team—Did you lead your team to a championship? Perhaps you made the game-winning shot in a crucial, nail-biting game?

High School Student Music Resume

• When you include hobbies like songwriting or your interest in classical music in your high school student music resume , it conveys to your recruiter that you’re super dedicated and passionate about your craft.
• You can also include hobbies that are different, too. For example, if you enjoy experimenting with new recipes from around the world, that can show you’re ready to give new genres a whirl or that you understand that music—while art—is still supposed to be fun and adventuresome.

Related resume guides

• Entry Level

Anatomy of a High School Résumé

What is a résumé.

A résumé is a document that summarizes your knowledge, skills, abilities, experiences, and accomplishments. Think of a résumé as an introduction, helping people get to know you. A high school résumé outlines your interests and goals so people know what you enjoy and where you see yourself going.

Do I need a résumé in high school?

Yes! High school is a good time to begin putting your résumé together. Whether you’re thinking about getting a job, going to college , or doing volunteer work, you may be asked to provide a résumé. A common use for a résumé is to screen applicants for potential jobs . Employers can look through a résumé to quickly determine if someone’s skills, experience, and interests match what they’re looking for. In addition to employers, colleges often invite applicants to include a résumé. Therefore, having a résumé that’s detailed, properly formatted, and up to date is important.

Where do I begin?

Résumés have many acceptable résumé templates and formats─including both paper and digital versions. When choosing the format you want to use, think about what the standard is for the job or organization you’re applying to. Many places have preferred formats.  Follow any guidelines provided to improve your chances for success. Look for résumé examples online to see how other people have crafted their résumés, and apply what you like to your résumé. However, keep in mind that format is less important than content. Focus most on what you’re sharing, not on document design.

How do I write my résumé?

Typically, a high school résumé consists of these sections:

• Header: Include your name and contact information.
• Education: List schools you’ve attended, including graduation dates (if you’ve graduated). Include special courses or areas of interest, particularly if they’re related to the job, school, or opportunity you’re applying for. Include academic honors and awards.
• Skills and Experience: List and skills you learned or demonstrated in paid employment or unpaid volunteer work. Put everything in reverse order, adding start and end dates. List relevant extracurricular activities, as well as club or organization leadership roles.  Show the reader your accomplishments, not just responsibilities. Presenting data such as the number of people you served, projects you completed, or awards received can help tell your story.
• Special Skills: List skills that could be a benefit to the school or employer. This could be languages you speak, computer programs you know how to use, or personality traits (e.g., good with kids, comfortable talking on the phone, enjoy public speaking).

Résumé Writing Tips

If you’re new to résumé writing, it can feel overwhelming. Take your time and be patient. Here are some tips to get started writing your résumé in high school:

• Write your résumé in reverse chronological order. Put your most recent experience and schooling at the top. Then work your way backward.
• Make sure that everything you’ve included is relevant and worded concisely. Limit the résumé to one page.
• Don’t worry about making your résumé flashy. It’s better to keep everything simple, clear, and easy to read than to use unique fonts, images, or layouts. 
• Remember to be accurate. Never exaggerate or bend the truth.  
• Make sure to proofread your résumé more than once, looking for typos, misspellings, and incorrect grammar and punctuation. Then have someone else look over it. Mistakes can make the reader feel you’re not as thorough, careful, or detail oriented as they’d like you to be. 
• Add new experiences and skills to your résumé as you gain them. As time passes, delete the oldest and least relevant experiences. It’s okay to revise your résumé as your interests and goals change.  

Related Articles

5 High School Resume Examples for Your 2024 Job Search

High school is a time of exploration and defining your path—much like crafting your first resume. As a high school student, your resume is your personal brand, a snapshot that showcases your achievements, interests, and aspirations. Dive into our guide for standout high school resume examples that will help you make your mark and impress potential employers or admissions officers in 2024.

Resume Examples

Resume guidance.

• High Level Resume Tips
• Must-Have Information
• Why Resume Headlines & Titles are Important
• Writing an Exceptional Resume Summary
• How to Impress with Your Work Experience
• Top Skills & Keywords
• Go Above & Beyond with a Cover Letter
• Resume FAQs
• Related Resumes

Common Responsibilities Listed on High School Resumes:

• Develop and implement lesson plans that meet state and school curriculum standards
• Teach subjects according to the educational needs, abilities, and achievement levels of students
• Grade student assignments and exams, providing feedback to promote learning and improvement
• Maintain accurate and complete records of students' progress and development
• Prepare students for standardized tests and college entrance exams
• Manage classroom behavior and discipline to ensure a safe and conducive learning environment
• Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs and interests
• Communicate with parents or guardians about students' progress and potential issues
• Participate in faculty meetings, educational conferences, and teacher training workshops
• Supervise students outside of the classroom—for example, during lunchtime or detention
• Collaborate with other teachers, staff, and administrators to develop and coordinate educational programs
• Guide and mentor students with their academic and personal development

You can use the examples above as a starting point to help you brainstorm tasks, accomplishments for your work experience section.

High School Resume Example:

• Revamped the science curriculum to incorporate STEM-focused projects, resulting in a 40% increase in students' standardized test scores and a 25% rise in college STEM program enrollments.
• Integrated smart classroom technologies which enhanced interactive learning, leading to a 30% improvement in student engagement as measured by class participation and feedback surveys.
• Developed and led a teacher mentorship program that improved novice teacher retention by 50% and increased the overall teaching quality as evidenced by student academic performance metrics.
• Orchestrated the launch of a school-wide digital literacy initiative, increasing students' proficiency with technology by 45% and enabling the successful adoption of a 1:1 device-to-student ratio.
• Collaborated with local businesses to create a career exploration program that provided internships for 60% of the senior class, enhancing college and career readiness.
• Implemented a comprehensive assessment strategy that reduced grading time by 20% while providing more detailed feedback, contributing to a 15% improvement in student revision and resubmission rates.
• Curriculum Development
• STEM Education Integration
• Classroom Technology Implementation
• Teacher Mentorship and Training
• Student Engagement Strategies
• Digital Literacy Advocacy
• Partnership Development with Local Businesses
• Career and College Readiness Programs
• Assessment and Feedback Optimization
• Project-Based Learning Facilitation
• Behavior Management System Design
• Culturally Responsive Teaching
• Professional Development Leadership
• Data Analysis and Academic Performance Evaluation
• Strategic Planning and Initiative Management

High School Graduate Resume Example:

• Streamlined data entry processes for a local non-profit, enhancing data accuracy by 15% and reducing time spent on data input by 20% through the creation of a custom spreadsheet template.
• Coordinated a community event that attracted over 300 attendees, managing logistics and volunteers, which resulted in a 50% increase in funds raised compared to the previous year.
• Developed and delivered a presentation on community engagement strategies that was adopted by the school's leadership team, leading to a 25% increase in student participation in extracurricular activities.
• Revamped the filing system at a small business office, increasing document retrieval efficiency by 30% and reducing misfiled documents by 90% within the first three months.
• Handled customer service inquiries with a 95% satisfaction rate, resolving issues promptly and improving the company's reputation for excellent customer support.
• Assisted in managing the company's social media accounts, growing the follower count by 40% and enhancing online engagement by creating content that resonated with the target audience.
• Data Entry and Spreadsheet Management
• Event Planning and Coordination
• Community Outreach and Engagement
• Presentation Development and Delivery
• Organizational Systems Improvement
• Customer Service Excellence
• Social Media Management and Content Creation
• Bookkeeping and Financial Processing
• Volunteer Management and Retention
• Digital Tools Proficiency for Team Collaboration
• Time Management and Efficiency Optimization
• Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking
• Leadership and Team Building
• Effective Communication
• Project Management

High School Senior Resume Example:

• Orchestrated a community service project that engaged over 50 student volunteers, resulting in 200+ hours of service and a 15% increase in local park revitalization efforts.
• Secured a competitive internship with a local law firm, contributing to case research that aided in a 10% increase in successful case resolutions over a 3-month period.
• Developed and led a student-run tutoring program that improved participating students' average test scores by 20% across core subjects within one semester.
• Initiated and managed a fundraising campaign for the school's athletic department, raising over $5,000, which funded new equipment and uniforms, increasing team morale and performance by 25%.
• Successfully balanced a part-time job at a retail store with academic responsibilities, achieving a promotion to shift supervisor within 6 months due to exemplary leadership and customer service skills.
• Implemented a peer-mentoring initiative within the National Honor Society, increasing membership retention by 30% and fostering an environment of academic excellence and collaboration.
• Community Engagement
• Research and Analysis
• Program Development
• Fundraising
• Time Management
• Customer Service
• Peer Mentoring
• Academic Tutoring
• Problem-Solving
• Artistic Curation
• Event Planning
• Workshop Facilitation
• Team Building
• Public Speaking
• Collaboration
• Strategic Planning
• Data Interpretation
• Adaptability

High School Student First Job Resume Example:

• Enhanced customer satisfaction by consistently greeting and assisting an average of 50 customers per day, leading to a 10% increase in positive customer feedback within three months.
• Streamlined the checkout process by efficiently operating cash registers and handling financial transactions, contributing to a 15% reduction in average customer wait time.
• Maintained a 98% accuracy rate in financial transactions over a six-month period, demonstrating strong attention to detail and reliability in handling cash and card payments.
• Proactively restocked shelves and managed inventory, resulting in a 5% decrease in out-of-stock incidents and contributing to a smoother shopping experience for customers.
• Implemented a new organization system for the work area, which improved overall store cleanliness and efficiency, leading to a 20% increase in store audit scores.
• Assisted with the launch of a promotional sales campaign that boosted store traffic by 30% and increased sales by 25% during the event period.
• Cash Handling
• Transaction Accuracy
• Inventory Management
• Organizational Skills
• Sales Promotion
• Communication Skills
• Problem Solving
• Attention to Detail
• Professionalism
• Product Knowledge

High School Student with No Experience Resume Example:

• Streamlined the administrative process by organizing over 1,000 student records and documents, resulting in a 30% improvement in retrieval time for the school staff.
• Coordinated and executed setup for 15+ school events, contributing to a 20% increase in student participation and community engagement.
• Implemented a peer tutoring schedule that matched 40 students with tutors, enhancing academic support and contributing to a 10% rise in average test scores.
• Assisted in the school library by cataloging over 500 books and resources, improving the book retrieval system efficiency by 25%.
• Supported the IT team in resolving 100+ student and staff computer issues, increasing the overall technology uptime by 15%.
• Contributed to the school's newsletter with 10+ articles and photographs, leading to a 35% increase in readership among the student body.
• Peer Tutoring and Academic Support
• Library Cataloging and Resource Management
• Technical Support and IT Troubleshooting
• Written Communication and Journalism
• Photography
• Volunteerism and Community Service
• Teamwork and Collaboration
• Data Entry and Record Keeping

High Level Resume Tips for High Schools:

Must-have information for a high school resume:.

• Contact Information
• Resume Headline
• Resume Summary or Objective
• Work Experience & Achievements
• Skills & Competencies
• Certifications/Training

Let's start with resume headlines.

Why Resume Headlines & Titles are Important for High Schools:

High school resume headline examples:, strong headlines.

• These headlines are compelling because they immediately convey the candidates' specialized roles within a high school setting and highlight measurable achievements. They reflect a blend of experience, dedication, and innovation that directly aligns with the core objectives of high school education—academic excellence, student guidance, and inspirational teaching. Such headlines are likely to resonate with hiring managers who are looking for professionals with a proven track record of contributing positively to the educational environment.

Weak Headlines

• The provided headlines are generic and lack the distinct details that make a resume stand out. They do not quantify experience or achievements, nor do they specify any unique skills or programs the candidates have implemented or contributed to. Additionally, they fail to mention any accolades or recognitions that could differentiate the candidates from others in the field.

Writing an Exceptional High School Resume Summary:

High school resume summary examples:, strong summaries.

• These summaries are strong because they concisely articulate the professionals' specialized experience, their achievements, and the positive outcomes they have driven in their roles. They provide quantifiable results such as improved test scores, increased college acceptance rates, and scholarship awards, which are key metrics of success in high school education. Additionally, they reflect the candidates' commitment to student development and educational excellence, qualities that are highly valued by employers in the education sector.

Weak Summaries

1. High School educator with years of experience in teaching various subjects, looking to continue fostering a positive learning environment and contributing to student success at a new school. 2. High School professional skilled in classroom management and curriculum development, seeking to utilize my teaching abilities and knowledge to impact students' academic growth. 3. Dedicated High School teacher with a passion for student engagement and educational technology, aiming to bring my expertise to a school that values innovation in teaching methods.

• The provided resume summaries are weak because they are generic and lack specificity. They do not mention any measurable achievements, such as improvements in student test scores or successful program implementations. Additionally, they fail to highlight any unique skills or experiences that set the candidate apart from others in the field, which is crucial for making a strong impression on hiring managers.

Resume Objective Examples for High Schools:

Strong objectives.

• These resume objectives are strong for high school students because they highlight the candidates' academic achievements, leadership qualities, and eagerness to apply their skills in a real-world setting. They also demonstrate a balance between personal development and a desire to contribute to the success of a potential employer, which are key traits hiring managers look for in less-experienced candidates.

Weak Objectives

• These objectives lack specificity and fail to highlight the candidate's unique strengths or interests. They are too broad and do not target any particular industry or job type, which makes it difficult for employers to see the value the student can bring to their organization. Additionally, they do not mention any skills, achievements, or extracurricular activities that might make the candidate stand out from other applicants.

Generate Your Resume Summary with AI

Speed up your resume creation process with the ai resume builder . generate tailored resume summaries in seconds., how to impress with your high school work experience:, best practices for your work experience section:.

• Highlight any part-time jobs, internships, or volunteer work: Even if the experience isn't in a professional setting, emphasize responsibilities and skills learned that are transferable to the workplace, such as customer service, time management, and teamwork.
• Focus on leadership roles and responsibilities: Whether in sports teams, school clubs, or group projects, describe any leadership experience, what you learned, and how you contributed to the group's success.
• Include achievements in academic projects or extracurricular activities: Detail any significant projects or activities where you demonstrated skills relevant to the job you're applying for, such as problem-solving, creativity, or initiative.
• Emphasize soft skills developed: Communication, adaptability, and problem-solving are highly valued by employers. Provide examples of how you've developed and used these skills in various settings.
• Describe any entrepreneurial endeavors: If you've started a small business, a blog, or an online store, discuss what you did, how you managed it, and any successes you had.
• Include certifications or additional training: Mention any relevant courses, workshops, or certifications you've completed that demonstrate your commitment to learning and growth.
• Quantify your impact when possible: Use numbers to illustrate your impact, such as funds raised during a charity event, the number of participants in a club you led, or the growth of a social media page you managed.
• Use action verbs to start bullet points: Words like "organized," "led," "developed," "coordinated," and "managed" can make your experiences sound more dynamic and impactful.
• Proofread for clarity and accuracy: Ensure there are no spelling or grammatical errors, and that all information is accurate and up-to-date.

Example Work Experiences for High Schools:

Strong experiences.

• Developed and implemented a comprehensive student success program that increased graduation rates by 15% over three years by providing targeted academic support, career counseling, and mentorship opportunities.
• Orchestrated a school-wide initiative to integrate technology in the classroom, resulting in a 40% increase in student engagement and a 25% improvement in standardized test scores within two academic years.
• Managed the school's annual budget of $5 million, achieving a 10% cost reduction through strategic negotiations with vendors and the optimization of resource allocation, while maintaining high educational standards.
• Revitalized the school's extracurricular program, leading to a 60% increase in student participation and the establishment of 5 new student-led organizations that fostered leadership and community service.
• Collaborated with local businesses and educational partners to secure $500,000 in grants and donations for STEM programs, enhancing the school's curriculum and providing students with hands-on learning experiences.
• Championed a teacher professional development plan that improved instructional practices, evidenced by a 20% increase in teacher retention and a notable rise in student satisfaction and performance.
• Launched a district-wide anti-bullying campaign, reducing reported incidents by 30% and creating a safer, more inclusive school environment as measured by annual student and parent surveys.
• Directed the successful accreditation process for the high school, ensuring compliance with all regional and national standards and securing the institution's academic reputation for the next 10 years.
• Forged partnerships with cultural and academic institutions, enriching the curriculum with diverse programs that led to a 35% increase in student cultural awareness and global perspective.
• These work experiences are impactful because they demonstrate the ability to create positive change within the educational environment, showcase the successful management of resources, and highlight the development of programs that directly benefit student growth. Each example includes quantifiable results, reflecting the professional's effectiveness in addressing key areas such as student engagement, academic performance, and operational efficiency.

Weak Experiences

• Assisted in developing and implementing lesson plans for a variety of subjects, ensuring they align with educational standards.
• Managed classroom behavior by applying standard disciplinary measures, maintaining a controlled and focused learning environment.
• Participated in faculty meetings and contributed to discussions about school policies and student engagement strategies.
• Coordinated with other teachers to organize school events such as science fairs and art exhibitions, overseeing logistics and student participation.
• Monitored student progress through regular assessments and provided feedback to help them improve academically.
• Engaged with parents during parent-teacher conferences to discuss student performance and address any concerns.
• Implemented technology in the classroom by using educational software to enhance student learning experiences.
• Contributed to the school's extracurricular programs by supervising a student club and organizing activities.
• Attended professional development workshops to stay updated on teaching methods and curriculum changes.
• The examples provided are weak because they are vague and do not convey the full scope or impact of the high school professional's responsibilities. They lack measurable achievements, detailed contributions to student success, or the educational environment, and do not highlight the individual's initiative or innovation in their role. To strengthen these bullet points, the high school professional should include specific examples of how they enhanced student learning, improved school programs, or contributed to the school's overall performance, using precise metrics and action verbs to demonstrate their effectiveness and value to the institution.

Top Skills & Keywords for High School Resumes:

Top hard & soft skills for high schools, hard skills.

• Classroom Management
• Lesson Planning
• Educational Technology Integration
• Student Assessment and Evaluation
• Special Education
• Subject Matter Expertise (e.g., Mathematics, Science, English)
• Behavioral Management Techniques
• Instructional Design
• Fluency in Multiple Languages (for language teachers)
• Standardized Test Preparation
• Data-Driven Instruction

Soft Skills

• Classroom Management and Student Engagement
• Communication and Interpersonal Skills
• Patience and Empathy
• Adaptability and Flexibility in Teaching Methods
• Conflict Resolution and Mediation
• Organization and Time Management
• Cultural Competency and Inclusivity
• Mentoring and Coaching
• Teamwork and Collaboration with Faculty
• Creative Problem-Solving
• Active Listening and Responsiveness to Student Needs
• Leadership and Role Modeling

Go Above & Beyond with a High School Cover Letter

High school cover letter example: (based on resume), resume faqs for high schools:, how long should i make my high school resume.

An ideal high school resume should typically be one page in length. This is because high school students generally have less professional experience compared to adults who have been in the workforce for years. A one-page resume encourages students to focus on their most relevant experiences and accomplishments without overwhelming the reader with too much information. Here are a few reasons why a one-page resume is suitable for high school students: 1. Conciseness: High school students are at an early stage in their careers, so they usually have fewer experiences and achievements to list compared to more seasoned professionals. A one-page resume helps them to be concise and to the point. 2. Relevance: It encourages students to only include experiences and skills that are relevant to the position or opportunity they are applying for, such as part-time jobs, volunteer work, extracurricular activities, and academic achievements.

What is the best way to format a High School resume?

The best way to format a high school resume is to keep it clear, concise, and organized, with a focus on showcasing the student's achievements, skills, and potential. Here's a breakdown of an ideal high school resume format: 1. Header: At the top, include the student's name, address, phone number, and email address. Make sure the email address is professional. 2. Objective or Summary (optional): A brief statement that outlines the student's goals and interests. This can be helpful for students with specific objectives, but it's not mandatory. 3. Education: Since the student is still in high school, this section should come first. Include the name of the high school, expected graduation date, and GPA (if it's strong). Mention any honors or AP courses if applicable. 4. Experience: This section can include part-time jobs, internships,or any other volunteer work you've done up to this point.

Which High School skills are most important to highlight in a resume?

When high school students are preparing their resumes, it's important to highlight skills that demonstrate their readiness for the workforce or further education. Here are some key skills that high school students should consider featuring on their resumes, along with explanations for each: 1. Academic Competence: Highlighting strong performance in relevant subjects can show potential employers or colleges that a student is prepared for the intellectual demands of a job or higher education. 2. Communication Skills: Both written and verbal communication skills are critical in almost every field. High school students should showcase experiences that demonstrate their ability to express ideas clearly and effectively, such as participation in debate clubs or writing for the school newspaper. 3. Teamwork and Collaboration: Employers and colleges look for individuals who can work well with others. Participation in team sports, group projects, or clubs can illustrate a student's ability to collaborate. 4. Leadership: Experience in leadership roles, such as being a team captain, student council member, or club president, can be very appealing to those reviewing the resume. It shows initiative and the ability to manage and inspire others.

How should you write a resume if you have no experience as a High School?

When high school students are writing a resume and they have no formal work experience, they can focus on their academic achievements, extracurricular activities, volunteer work, and any skills they have developed that are relevant to the job or opportunity they are seeking. Here's a guide on how to write a resume under these circumstances: 1. Contact Information: At the top of the resume, include your full name, address, phone number, and email address. Make sure your email address is professional. 2. Objective or Summary Statement: Write a brief statement that outlines your career goals and what you aim to achieve with the resume. This should be tailored to the specific job or opportunity you are applying for. 3. Education: Since you're still in high school, your education is one of your main assets. List your high school name, expected graduation date, and GPA if it's strong. You can also include relevant coursework, honors, or awards.

Compare Your High School Resume to a Job Description:

• Identify opportunities to further tailor your resume to the High School job
• Improve your keyword usage to align your experience and skills with the position
• Uncover and address potential gaps in your resume that may be important to the hiring manager

Related Resumes for High Schools:

High school resume example, high school graduate resume example, high school student first job resume example, high school student with no experience resume example, high school senior resume example, more resume guidance:.

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How to Write a High School Student Resume

Get Writing Tips and Examples for Jobs or College Applications

Take Inventory

Start your resume, proofread your resume carefully.

• Student Resume Example

High school students may need a resume to apply for a job or as part of a college application. Even if you haven't held a paid position before, there's still plenty of information to include on your resume. High schoolers can highlight educational achievements, after-school activities, and volunteer work. 

Here are some tips for writing your high school resume.

Start by thinking through what information you want to include on your resume. Take some time to write a list of any awards, accomplishments, and extracurricular activities you engage in.

Just write down rough notes, for now. Later, you'll sort this information into sections and add dates and details. 

Do you want to get a specific job, or are you looking to highlight your work for a college application? Once you have a sense of the information you wish to include in your resume, review the various  parts of a resume , resume skills for high schoolers, and  tips for writing your first resume as a high school student . 

Before writing your resume, it can be helpful to review samples such as these student resume templates. Don't copy the samples' content; instead, use them for inspiration for how to phrase things and proper formatting. 

Begin your resume with your name, address, phone number, and email address.

It’s best not to use a “cutesy” email address like tubaguy@email.com or mightyelfmage@email.com.

Set up a professional email account that you can use for job and college applications, comprised of your name only (i.e., janey_jordan@email.com).

Emphasize Teamwork and Leadership

Good teamwork skills are necessary for most entry-level jobs, and so it’s wise to provide examples of how you’ve participated in school, church, club, or scouting roles requiring  teamwork . It’s even better to describe any leadership roles you’ve held, since this demonstrates to your employer that you can hold responsibility, take personal initiative, and organize and support others.

The chances are high that you haven’t had a lot of paid work experience since you're a high school student. While you should describe any actual “real” jobs you’ve held, it’s also a good idea to describe volunteer experience, accompanied by dates, your responsibilities, and your contributions in these roles.

Volunteer experience is important for high school students because it provides experience and shows that you're trying to find out what you might be interested in.

At the end of your resume, include a statement of selected interests. Employers (and universities, if you are using your resume for a college application) like candidates who are well-rounded and involved in their communities.

They’ll get a better idea of your personality if you mention a few sports that you play or interests like theater, music, or environmentalism. Be careful, however, not to mention interests that are too political or might distract you from your job (such as excessive video-gaming).

Write a Cover Letter

Once you’ve finished your resume, you should craft a cover letter to introduce yourself to a hiring manager. Review these student cover letters for help in getting started.

Resumes that are full of spelling and grammatical errors create red flags in an employer’s mind because they hint that your work performance might be sloppy as well. Take the time to edit and correct your resume and cover letter, following  these proofreading steps . If you feel unsure about your proofreading skills, ask a friend, parent, sibling, or teacher to help you.

Read each sentence aloud to yourself. This slows you down and makes you concentrate on the words, which will bring attention to any errors.

High School Student Resume Example

The following is an example of a resume for a high school student. It includes both formal and informal work experience, volunteering and academic achievements. The resume lists work experience first, followed by the student's volunteer experience and achievements and then education. If you have no formal work experience, you should know how to format  your resume to reflect this appropriately. 

Also, note that the resume has a  summary  that focuses on the student's skills that are the best match for the job they are applying for. This way, the employer can see at a glance why the applicant would be a good candidate for the job.

Carly Applicant 6 Oak Street Arlington, VA 54321 (555) 555-5555 carly.applicant@gmail.com

Honor roll high school student with extensive experience working with youth of all ages, who has been praised and awarded for her organizational skills and ability to develop fun, engaging activities for youth of all ages, seeks an entry-level child position with an area child care provider or retail firm.

WORK EXPERIENCE

THE RETAIL STORE, Arlington, VA Sales Associate/Manager , September 2019–Present Maintain and restock inventory; provide customer service; responsible for training incoming associates in operating cash register system due to track record of excellence.

• Named “Employee of the Month” three times.
• Attended a “Sales Associate Training” conference in Washington, D.C.; was selected as one of 10 out of 1,000 sales associates from Virginia to attend the conferences.
• Promoted to manager in 2020; was the youngest associate to reach the position in store history.

KINDERFUN PRESCHOOL; Arlington, VA Child Care Provider , September 2017–August 2019 Provided childcare for a dozen families after school, on weekends, and during school vacations.

• Developed and implemented fun, educational activities for children from ages 1 to 8 years.

VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE

RUN FOR LIFE, Arlington, VA Publicist , November–December 2020 Assisted in marketing the charity run via social media; oversaw clean-up after the race.

• Managed 20 volunteers of all ages in setting up booths, operating the registration, and facilitating the race.

High School Diploma (June 2022; Expected Graduation Date); GPA 3.9 Arlington High School, Arlington, VA

• Honor roll each semester; captain of the debate team; president of the Key (service) Club.
• Elective Classes and Activities: Screen Printing, Culture & Foods, Independent Living, Family Advocacy, Wind Ensemble, Stage Crew

Other Interests:

Member of the Arlington High School Tennis Team • Girl Scout • Piano, 10 years

How to Make Your Resume Stand Out

• Show that you're well-rounded and use any work experience you have, highlighting after-school activities and volunteer work on your resume.
• Emphasize your achievements and mention a strong high school GPA or any academic awards or recognition you have achieved.
• Focus on teamwork and leadership by presenting examples of your team participation and leadership in school and extra-curricular activities. 

21 Ways High School Students Can Improve Their Resumes

📑 the importance of resumes.

What can a solid 😤 resume do for you?

• Helps you land a job or opportunity of your dreams
• Builds your personal/professional brand
• Acts as a signal as to why you're the best person for a job or project

What are the key 🔑 sections to have in a resume?

• Contact information (name, email, phone, address, LinkedIn, personal website)
• Work experience
• Awards, accolades, and certifications/licenses
• Skills and languages

Do you have any good templates 📑 to use?

• Once you reach the bottom of this webpage, you can create as many Fiveable-approved resume templates as you'd like with the click of a button!

Learn more about resumes with this guide on resumes and their importance .

☀️ General Resume Tips

Improve the overall feel of your resume!

You have less than a minute to show why you're the best applicant. Hone into what's important about your background and skillset.

2. Research, research, research.

Your materials should be tailored specifically to the company you're applying for. It'll show that you took time to research, understand problems the company is tackling, and why you're a value-add.

3. Keep your contact info professional.

Avoid email addresses that you may have created when you were 10 or using school emails. Create a personal Gmail account instead.

4. Don't include a headshot.

This is an easy way to prevent being discriminated against in case someone is having a bad day. It happens, especially to those who belong to historically underrepresented communities.

5. Always, always, always have someone review your resume.

If your friend in high school doesn't approve, chances are a hiring manager wouldn't, either. They might catch things that you may never notice.

💼 Work Experience and Community Service Section

Show your ability to solve problems and the impact you've made in previous roles!

1. List previous jobs that are relevant to the role you're applying for.

If you have no relevant experience, frame other responsibilities in a way that shows you're the best person for this role at this specific company. Think about transferrable skills.

2. Back up your work responsibilities with numbers.

While it's good to know what you did at previous jobs, what's more important is the impact that you made through what you were given. "I grew our TikTok following by 800% in 6 months and weekly engagement by 300% week-over-week." is much better than "Managed company TikTok channel." Quantify your achievements.

3. Avoid overcomplicating or using too much jargon.

Any number of people can look at your resume at different levels in the organization. You want to be powerfully concise and make sure anyone can get through your file with ease.

4. Use action verbs, and check for grammar/spelling.  

Make sure that you're able to communicate all of the hard work that you've done in a clear and concise way. Just googling 'resume action verbs' and inserting them in descriptions can help a resume reader understand at a glance what kind of work you're doing.

🏆 Education & Awards Section

How does your education play into your 'story'?

1. Avoid including your GPA.

Your GPA won't matter much outside of high school. Plus, it makes you look pretentious. It's all about experience these days—your score isn't what defines your value in the workplace.

2. Show off awards and accolades.

Flaunt your accomplishments. They are a clear symbol of your hard work and achievements, and they tell a better story than any random number would.

3. If you studied abroad, include it!  

Any experience that takes you beyond your comfort zone should be highlighted. It shows guts and a desire to take on new challenges.

🖼 Layout & Design Tips

Resume design is important, but not in the ways you might think. Check out the tips below, as well as 6 tips for polishing your resume .

1. Hierarchy and order matter.  

Show the most important information first, such as your work experience and relevant skills. Sort your experience in reverse chronological order, i.e your most recent experience should be listed first.

2. Don't use fancy fonts or colors.

The person reading your resume may have trouble reading it and may toss it aside if it's messy. Automatic resume filtering systems will also have trouble analyzing fancy font and colors, which may even result in your resume never being read by a real person. Avoid risking opportunities due to an inaccessible resume!

3. Avoid stuffing your resume.

You don't want to be that person with a million things on their resume in a 6px font size.

4. Stick with layouts that optimize for readability.

Avoid having too many columns or unnecessary sections, especially if you're applying for more traditional roles (e.g law or accounting).

5. Keep your resume to one page. Seriously.

Ain't nobody got time for anything longer than that—especially for a student! Limiting yourself to one page forces you to be concise and only keep the most core things you want to showcase!

💾 Files & Storage Tips

1. Track your job application submissions in a main spreadsheet.

Keep tabs on what jobs you applied to—it'll make it easier for you to follow up on. It'll also help you determine whether you applied to a company already or not. Some other fields include salary/wage, location, company name, company description, hiring manager, hiring manager contact info, application status, reflections & notes, to name a few.

2. PDF resumes only.  

Avoid .docx, .jpg/png/gif, or any other file type that requires a specific app to open it. Fake file types beware: this isn’t a school assignment you’re late on submitting and you need to buy some time with. Chances are any file incompatibility will hamper your chances of landing a gig.

3. Include your first name & last initial in the file title along with the company name & role.

This not only shows some basic organizational abilities, but it'll also make it easier for the person to know exactly who you are before even opening the file. And it'll help if you forget to include your name on your resume for any reason.

4. Create different iterations of your resume for different roles and don't overwrite old ones.

One size does not fit all, nor will one resume work with all companies. Put in the effort to craft winning resumes and you'll see the improvement over time.

👇 Create Your Own Resume

Check out these high school resume templates and college resume template .

Guide Outline

Related content, 11 tips for early action and early decision, summer opportunities to improve your college applications, 5 resources to help you explore potential career paths, how to contact admissions officers, 6 tips for college students to expand your network, how to improve your linkedin profile to help your internship chances.

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How to build a great high school student resume

Getting your high school student resume right can be a game-changer. Whether you're going for your first job or applying to college, a good resume can make all the difference. 

Crafting a great resume might feel like a challenge, but don't worry — you've got this! With the right guidance, handy examples, and helpful templates, we can walk through this together. So, let's start building your resume, a showcase of your skills, abilities, and proudest moments, ready to impress.

In this guide, we'll teach you everything you need to know about writing a resume as a high school student. Keep reading to learn all about:

• Exploring high school student resume examples
• Choosing the best format for a high school student resume
• Writing a strong resume summary as a high school student
• Selecting top skills for a high school student resume
• Describing effectively past work experience and impact
• Powering up your resume with effective action words
• Properly listing education on a resume
• Selecting relevant extra sections for your high school student resume
• Avoiding common mistakes on a high school student resume
• Pairing your resume with a relevant cover letter
• Accessing top resources for job-seeking high school students

High school student resume example

Why does this high school resume sample work?

• The all-rounder advantage: A key highlight of this high school resume sample is how it showcases the candidate's ability to handle a diverse range of tasks. It neatly captures their administrative skills, organizational abilities, process improvement initiatives, teamwork, and even presentation know-how. By listing these varied responsibilities, the candidate demonstrates their adaptability and proficiency in handling multiple roles, making them a highly versatile asset for any employer.

What could we improve?

• Making a clear impact: While the resume showcases diverse abilities, its work experience section could use more specific details. Phrases such as "improved administrative procedures" and "prepared professional presentations" are a bit generic. Spicing them up with specifics could add a punch. For example, how many procedures were improved? How much efficiency was achieved? How many presentations were prepared? By including these details, you'd add weight to your responsibilities and make the impact of your work clear.

Part-time job resume sample

What makes this part-time job resume sample effective?

Acing clarity and initiative: The strength of this part-time job resume is its clarity and demonstration of initiative. In just a few concise sentences, the candidate presents themselves as a driven, communicative high school student ready to thrive in a sales role. The crown jewel is their account of creating a new Business Society at school and expanding its membership from scratch to 150 — displaying terrific initiative and leadership, both of which are highly attractive in a candidate.

What could be improved?

• The unnecessary self-reference in the profile: The main improvement area for this part-time job resume lies in the self-reference within the professional summary. While it's common to write resumes in the third person, direct mentioning of your name ('Charlie') is usually avoided as it can come across as repetitive and unsophisticated. As resumes are personal documents, it's understood that the achievements and skills listed are yours. Removing such self-references can provide a cleaner, more professional presentation.

First job resume sample

What makes this first job resume sample stand out?

• Well-structured and comprehensive: One of this part-time resume's compelling features is its clever organization. Despite limited professional experience, it effectively starts with the most crucial part — education — setting a solid foundation. It further showcases a full range of both hard and soft skills, painting a complete picture of the candidate's abilities. The addition of volunteering activities is the icing on the cake, adding depth by highlighting initiative and a broader set of experiences.

What could be done better?

• Outdated phrasing: Despite the well-arranged structure, one area that could use a touch-up is the use of the phrase 'was responsible for.' This term has outlived its usefulness in modern-day resumes, coming across as outdated and vague. A more impactful rephrase of "Was responsible for multiple society functions and supervised more than 20 other students." could be: "Oversaw multiple society functions, leading and coordinating the tasks of over 20 students." 

1. Choose the best format for your high school student resume

In general, the standard resume format is the reverse-chronological resume . This resume focuses on work experience, listing your most recent job first and working chronologically backward from there.

However, unless you have many years of experience working in professional positions, then you will likely not have enough work experience as a high school student for this format. As a result, you may want to consider one of the following alternative formats:

• The Functional Resume: Functional resumes remove the focus from work experience and instead place it on education, skills, and unpaid experience (volunteer work, internships, etc.). This is often the best format for current students, as it allows you to prioritize academic experience and extracurriculars.
• The Hybrid Resume: Hybrid resumes spread the focus of a resume out more evenly between all sections. This type of resume is well-suited for students who have held part-time jobs and have some work experience to showcase alongside their academic experience.

Choose your preferred template and make your resume shine.

Try our AI Resume Writer and have your resume ready in minutes!

2. craft an eye-catching high school student resume summary.

A resume summary is a brief introductory statement at the beginning of your resume that helps to show your best attributes to the person reading it.

When writing your summary, it's important to include compelling details such as academic accomplishments or key work experience. This will catch the attention of employers and encourage them to read further into your resume and remember you later on.

To help demonstrate how to write an effective resume summary, here is an example of a weak one followed by a correction and explanation.

Bad example of a high school student resume summary

Soon-to-be high school graduate seeking employment as an office assistant. Served as the school’s morning announcer and office assistant for several years. Flexible schedule, with after-school club activities on Tuesdays.

Why does it fall short?  In this example, the student includes great examples of their professional goals and how their in-school experience ties into these goals. However, they should strive to provide more specific and quantifiable details, such as how many years they worked as an office assistant or what clubs they are a part of.

Good example of a high school student resume summary

Hard-working High School Senior with 2+ years of experience volunteering as the high school office assistant, providing morning announcements and assisting with student check-ins. Co-president of the Student Debate Club, responsible for planning weekly Tuesday meetings.

Why is this example better?  In this example, the applicant is far more specific with their experience as an office assistant. Rather than stating they are a “soon-to-be graduate,” the applicant instead says the exact year in school they are (High School Senior). Overall, this example has a lot more detail and specificity that makes it a more compelling summary.

3. Select top skills to put on your high school student resume

When listing skills on your resume, it is important to include a variety of different types of skills to choose from. Most abilities can be divided into two main categories:

• Hard Skills: Hard skills refer to learned abilities, like being able to play a sport or learning a new concept in school. These skills are gained through education and training, showcasing your talents and technical ability.
• Soft Skills: Soft skills are your people skills. These abilities deal with communication and comprehension, often governing how well you work with other people and understand the world around you. Soft skills can be both inherent and learned.

Including both of these types of skills on your resume is essential, as it will show the person reading the document that you know the importance of both. Plus, it will help you to showcase your diverse skillset!

With this in mind, here are 10 examples of both hard and soft skills that are great to include on a high school student’s resume:

The best high school student hard skills for your CV

• Mathematics
• Athletic ability
• Graphic design
• Microsoft Office 365 (Word, Excel, etc.)
• Computer skills (typing, making presentations, etc.)
• Public speaking
• Active listening
• Bookkeeping
• Data analysis

Effective soft skills for your high school student resume

• Communication
• Collaboration
• Critical thinking
• Time management
• Responsibility
• Adaptability
• Willingness to learn
• Self confidence

Find out your resume score!

4. Effectively describe your past work experience as a high school student

As a high school student, you likely do not have very much work experience just yet.

If you have worked in part-time positions, then these should be included within your work experience section. However, if you have never worked a job, you may need to consider extracurriculars you can describe and sub in for formal jobs in a section simply titled “Experience” or “Hands-On Experience.” This can include academic positions you have held, such as being a team captain or club president.

No matter what experience you choose to describe on your resume, consider which details will make these examples more compelling. The more specific you can be the better!

Bad example of a work experience section

Barron Collier High, Naples, FL Varsity Soccer Captain  August 2020 to Present 

• Led soccer practices.
• Got approval for new uniforms.
• Encouraged teammates.

Why is it ineffective? This example lacks depth and specificity, making it less impactful compared to a well-detailed description. It simply lists duties without assigning much meaning to them or demonstrating their value. It doesn't fully capitalize on the chance to highlight essential skills or achievements related to the role.

Good example of a work experience entry from a high school student’s resume

Barron Collier High, Naples, FL Varsity Soccer Captain August 2020 to Present

• Led team of 20+ students in daily practice drills, physical conditioning, and scrimmages.
• Designed new uniforms for the team and successfully presented these designs to the Head Coach for approval.
• Provided teammates with encouragement and motivating speeches, helping several to create more balanced schedules with time for their school work set aside. 

Why does it work? This example is detailed and purposefully tailored to reflect specific tasks, accomplishments, and the candidate's contributions to the team. By demonstrating leadership skills, initiative, and impact, it effectively presents a more compelling picture of the candidate's experiences and potential.

5. Power up your high school resume with action words 

Using action words in your high school student resume can make a big difference. They're dynamic 'doing' words that breeze energy and accomplishment into your application. 

These words can: 

• Reflect your pro-activity and initiative
• Illustrate your ability to make things happen
• Make your resume more engaging and easy-to-read

Here are some power-packed action words for your high school student resume

• Coordinated
• Volunteered
• Participated
• Contributed

Integrating these action words throughout your resume can help you paint a vivid picture of your strengths and achievements, giving you an extra edge in your job or college applications.

6. Properly list education on your high school student resume

When you write a resume as a high school student, you will likely still be in the process of completing your education and earning your high school diploma.

It is always necessary to indicate on your resume that your education is ongoing. Additionally, you should list your expected date of graduation, as well as the specific name of the school to give credibility to your educational credentials .

If you have any notable academic achievements — such as membership in an honor society or extracurriculars — these can make good extra details to add to your education section as well.

Here's an example of a well-crafted education section on a high school student’s resume

East Rowan High School, Salisbury, NC High School Diploma

• Expected Graduation: May 2023

Academic Achievements:

• Student Body President, 2021 to Present
• Principal’s Honor Roll, 2020 to Present

7. Select relevant extra sections for your high school student resume

Beyond your academic achievements and extracurricular activities, the extra sections you include in your resume can add depth and dimension to your profile, making you stand out from the crowd.

Choose extra sections that reflect your passions, talents, and experiences . For instance, if you're a budding artist, showcase your artistic endeavors with a " Creative projects " section, where you can list any art competitions, exhibitions, or personal projects you've worked on.

Another excellent addition could be a " Leadership and Volunteer Experience " section, where you can highlight any community service, mentoring roles, or leadership positions you've held. These extra sections paint a vivid picture of who you are beyond the classroom, making your resume an inspiring tapestry of your accomplishments and aspirations.

Here's an example of how to list an extra section on your high school student resume

Creative Projects

Art Competition - First Place Winner, City Art Fest (Date)

• Participated in the annual City Art Fest and won first place for my acrylic painting titled "Vibrant Visions."

School Mural Project, School Name (Date)

• Collaborated with a team of students to design and paint a mural representing diversity and unity on campus.

Personal Art Portfolio, Ongoing

• Curated a personal art portfolio showcasing various drawings, paintings, and digital art pieces.

Still looking for a job? These 100+ resources will tell you everything you need to get hired fast.

8. Avoid common mistakes in a high school student resume

Creating a flawless resume may seem daunting, especially as a high school student at the start of your professional journey. Fear not, let's go through some typical mistakes and how you can avoid them:

• Irrelevant information:  Include only information relevant to the role you're applying for. That trophy you won in third grade? Probably not essential here. 
• Too wordy:  Keep it concise. Resist the urge to write an essay about each experience. Aim to be clear, concise, and specific.
• Forgetting numbers:  Wherever possible, quantify your achievements. Numbers provide a tangible measure of your success and make your contributions easily understood.
• Skipping proofreading:  Ensure your resume is free from typos and grammatical errors. These can give an impression of carelessness. 
• Inconsistent formatting:  Consistent formatting helps your resume look professional and easy to read. Stick with one font style, size, and layout.

Remember, your resume is your personal marketing tool. Making it as polished and compelling as possible starts by avoiding these common pitfalls.

9. Pair your resume with a relevant cover letter

Including a cover letter with your high school student resume can be a wise move. It provides an extra opportunity to showcase your personality , explain achievements , and highlight why you're a strong fit for the job or college you're applying for.

Your resume and cover letter serve different purposes . Your resume is like a factual summary of your skills, accomplishments, and experiences. It's typically a quick, at-a-glance document for employers to assess your qualifications.

On the other hand, your cover letter is your chance to tell a compelling story about who you are. It's where you can dive deeper into specific accomplishments or experiences and explain why you're interested in the opportunity. A well-written cover letter can complement your resume and give recruiters more context about you as a candidate.

So, when should you include a cover letter? When it's specifically requested , or when you feel that the resume doesn't capture the whole picture of your potential. It's one more tool in your job application toolkit, and if used well, it can help you stand out and make a strong impression.

Let your cover letter write itself — with AI!

10. find top job search resources for high school students .

When you're in high school and looking for your first job, it can feel like a bit of a minefield. Navigating the job market isn't easy, but thankfully there are plenty of resources out there designed specifically to help high school students like you: 

• Your school's career center: Most high schools have a career center that provides various resources from resume help to job listings specially catered for students.
• Websites & apps: Websites and apps such as Snagajob , Indeed , and LinkedIn offer part-time, internship, or entry level job listings suitable for high school students. Make sure to set filters suitable for your experience level while searching.
• Job fairs: Attend job fairs conducted in your local community or school district. These provide a platform to meet potential employers face-to-face. 
• Networking: You can network with people through your connections at school or community activities. Volunteering can also be a great way to meet people and build connections.
• Internship programs: Check out internship programs in your local area or fields of interest. Websites like Internmatch or Chegg Internships can provide leads.
• Career-focused social media: Platforms such as LinkedIn provide an excellent space for professional networking and job search. And what's more, you can turn your LinkedIn profile into a polished resume within a few seconds.

Remember, the job search can be a bit of an adventure, so keep an open mind and keep learning along the way. Don't be disheartened by rejections. Treat them as learning experiences and continue refining your search. Happy job hunting!

Can I include non-work related activities on my high school student resume?

Absolutely! Non-work related activities, particularly those involving leadership roles or skills directly related to the job you're applying for, can demonstrate your values, commitment, and versatility. Highlight team sports, club participation, volunteer work, or even notable class projects.

How should I handle the lack of work experience?

It's completely normal for high school students to have limited work experience. Focus on transferable skills you've gathered from school, extracurricular activities, or volunteering. Think of instances where you've demonstrated teamwork, problem-solving, or leadership, as these are highly desired by employers.

What format should a high school student resume follow?

There's no one-size-fits-all answer, but typically starting with a strong introduction about yourself, followed by education, experience/extra-curricular activities, and skills sections work well for high school students. Remember to keep it concise, clear, and relevant.

How important is the design of my resume?

While function should definitely take precedence over the form, a clean, professional, and easy-to-read resume can make a great first impression. Steer clear of overly complicated designs and stick with standard fonts, bullet points, and white space to improve readability. 

Should I tailor my resume for each job application?

Absolutely. Customizing your resume for each job application shows the employer that you're genuinely interested in the role. Highlight the relevant skills and experiences that match the job description - it takes a little extra effort, but it can make all the difference.

Martin Poduška

Martin is a resume expert and career advice writer at Kickresume. In his five years at Kickresume, he has written hundreds of in-depth, painstakingly researched resume advice articles and, as chief editor, he has also edited and revised every single article on this website. Tens of thousands of job seekers read Martin’s resume advice every month. He holds a degree in English from the University of St Andrews and a degree in Comparative Literature from the University of Amsterdam .

Hungry for more?

How to write a professional resume summary [+examples], how to put your education on a resume [+examples], how to describe your work experience on a resume [+examples], let your resume do the work..

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10+ Free High School Resume Templates for 2024

Writing your high school resume is already hard as it is - you shouldn’t have to spend hours working on your resume layout and format.

Want to fast-track your resume-creation process?

Use one of these 10+ free high school resume templates!

All you have to do is pick a template that resonates with you and fill in the contents. Zero formatting hassle is required!

10+ Free High School Resume Templates [Pick & Download]

#1. simple resume template.

This timeless layout works for everyone - highschoolers and seasoned professionals alike. 

The understated design and clean look put equal emphasis on all parts of your resume.

#2. Professional Resume Template

The Professional template puts more emphasis on your work experience and skills. Don’t have much work experience? You can always replace it with some other relevant section like extracurricular activities or volunteering experience.

#3. College Resume Template

Created with recent graduates in mind, this template is also suitably structured for any applicant with little to no work experience. 

#4. Creative Resume Template

If you’re looking for a job in the creative industry or want to try something a bit bolder, the Creative template is right for you. It’s guaranteed to stand out in any resume pile with its light on dark header and circle style skill graphs. 

#5. Modern Resume Template

The Modern template is a step up from the more basic designs. It has an organized look featuring brackets and squares.

#6. Functional Resume Template

The Functional Resume template puts more emphasis on your educational background, making it a perfect fit for highschoolers or just about anyone with no work experience.

#7. One Color Resume Template

This template is quite simple and to-the-point. The sections are clearly separated, and the resume objective is located top and center. Bonus points: you can even personalize this high school resume template by customizing the color scheme.

#8. Two-Column Resume Template

The template has a rather unique two-column resume structure . It is easy to skim and pleasant to look at. 

It also has a very compact look, making it perfect for job-seekers with no work experience.

#9. Vertical Header Resume Template

What’s interesting about this template is the vertical layout in the header section. It looks refreshing and straight-up cool. However, it’s a hit or miss kind of situation. The recruiter will either be intrigued by it, or be bothered by having to turn the page to the side. Use at your own risk.

#10. Infographic Resume Template

Infographic resume templates in general use graphs and charts to illustrate the information. This template in particular uses bubbles to portray skills and level of competence, as well as icons to illustrate interests. This makes the resume quick to skim through and the information easy to understand. 

How Long Should a High School Resume Be?

The resume length discussion has been going on for ages and typically, the answer tends to vary depending on industry and years of experience. 

When it comes to a high school resume, however, there’s no room for discussion: your resume should be one-page max. 

It’s justifiable to have a two-page resume in case you have, say 10+ years of experience in the industry (which you don’t).

If your draft resume ends up being longer, revise your content with a critical eye and cut out anything that’s not relevant for the job you’re applying for.

Remember: the recruiter wants to know what your top skills and experiences are, not your entire life story!

What Should I Include In My High School Resume?

In your high school resume, include the following sections:

• Contact Information - This consists of personal and contact information like first and last name, phone number, e-mail address, or links to other profiles. Make sure everything is written correctly so the recruiter can reach you back.
• Resume Objective - This is a 3-4 sentence statement that describes your career goals and aspirations as well as mentions your skills and achievements. It’s used to grab the recruiter’s attention and ensure that they read the rest of your resume.
• Education - You can already guess what this one’s about, right? You should list down your education institution (high school) as well as any academic-related certifications or achievements.
• Extracurricular Activities - This is your resume’s selling point. The equivalent of work experience, if you will. Your extracurriculars are usually participation in high school clubs or various events and they show the recruiter you’re a competent and engaged individual.
• Projects & Gigs - In this section, you’d mention any independent projects you’ve worked on outside of academics. For example, a side-gig or your own blog - anything that shows you’re a self-starter.
• Work Experience (optional) - If you have any, you can list your work experiences. An internship or volunteer work also qualifies for this section.
• Languages - An extra language or two will definitely give you an edge over the other candidates. So, if you’re good at languages, make sure to list a dedicated section for that!
• Hobbies & Interests - Choose a few things that will give the recruiter some insight into your personality. Bonus points if these hobbies and interests are related to the industry where you’re applying - they’ll show you’re passionate and genuinely interested in the job.

And that’s about it!

How to Create a High School Resume With No Work Experience?

You’ve probably heard of the famous trope:

“You need work experience to get a job, but a job to get work experience.”

Fortunately, it’s not actually true.

If you’re applying for an entry-level position in any field, no one’s actually expecting you to have work experience.

Instead, you can focus on the experiences you do have to stand out from the rest of the applicants. Some things you can include in your resume are:

• Extracurricular activities
• Projects & gigs
• Hobbies & interests
• Internships

Key Takeaways

And that’s about it on high school resume templates!

If you want to know more about what to write and how to write it, check out our in-depth guide to writing a high school resume .

Before you go your way, let’s go over the main points of this article one more time:

• Always use a high school resume template instead of working on your resume from scratch - trust us, it’s going to save you a lot of time.
• Stick to the one-page resume limit. The recruiter wants to know about your work experience, not about your entire life story.
• Instead of work experience, focus on alternative sections like extracurricular activities, projects, volunteering experience, and so on.

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How to build a high school resume

It’s never too early to start working toward your dreams! Extracurricular activities help with problem solving, interpersonal awareness, and other skills needed in college and beyond. Having a strong resume is a huge help when it comes to finding your path.

How can high schoolers build up their profiles?

There are many ways that high schoolers can build up their profiles — extracurriculars being an extremely important one. Make sure that you do the following to develop a profile that impresses admissions officers.

Follow your interests:

Choosing to pursue what you love will give you the motivation to invest time and build your skills. Think about how you'd most like to spend your time, then look for productive ways to test out those interests.

Take advantage of the opportunities at hand:

Not all students can work in their dream internship. Search online and explore your local community for achievable ways to engage with what you love.

Show initiative:

Look for ways to improve your community. There is always important work that others are too busy or discouraged to pursue. Find a needed improvement, then make it.

Keep up the good work:

The best way to improve your profile is to perform well in your current position. Thriving wherever you are is a great way to be noticed and often leads to greater responsibilities down the line.

What do strong high school profiles look like?

Shows strong character.

Do you follow through when you make a promise? Can you raise support for an important cause? Do you find creative solutions to problems? A strong profile makes others trust your ability to make the world a better place.

Illustrates how you made an Impact

Particularly when it comes to college admissions, the people reviewing your profile want to know how your work impacted those around you. Students who make changes at the regional, state, national, and international level will have more competitive college applications.

Demonstrates growth

Employers and admissions officers want clear evidence that you build on your past experience. For most, that means narrowing your focus to a few activities and engaging more deeply with them.

How to present trends in your resume

As you write your resume, trends in your accomplishments will emerge. For one student, a love of teaching may become apparent through their tutoring positions. For someone else, an entrepreneurial spirit will appear in the projects they have started from nothing. Highlight these trends as you find them by using key words that all relate to your most important professional trend or characteristic.

Understand how your profile stacks up

We’ve built a one-of-a kind chancing engine that allows you to understand your real chances at hundreds of schools.

We use hundreds of thousands of data points from real student profiles, so we can show you how you compare to other students.

You’ll get personalized recommendations of how to improve your profile so you can reach your college and career goals! Plus, it’s completely free.

Get started now >

Get free guidance right now

Sign up for CollegeVine and get personalized recommendations to ehnace your profile and get ready for college admissions.

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Dive Into Expert Guides to Enhance your Resume

How to Write a High School Student Resume

Writing a  high school student resume  when you have limited or no working experience is challenging. You have to sell yourself to a potential employer, and make yourself stand out from the crowd, but  how do you write a resume with no experience?

The good thing is that you probably have more things to add to your  first resume  than you imagine. All experience counts, whether it’s delivering newspapers, babysitting, or mowing lawns.

How do you do this, then?

Tips for writing a high school resume

The trick to writing a resume when you’re just out of high school is to  focus on your strengths . Though you may have limited paid experience, your qualifications, volunteer work, and extracurricular activities can make your  student resume  shine.

We know that  writing your first high school resume  can seem like a daunting task. However, if you take it step-by-step it is very simple. Here are some tips on how to do it.

Where to start with my high school resume

A good way to start is to look at some  entry – level resume examples  to give you an idea of what you should include on your high school resume. It is also highly beneficial to use a  resume writing guide  throughout the process.

What skills can high school students add to their resume?

If you are like many students, you probably feel you’re yet to accrue enough relevant experience to write a convincing resume. Nothing further from the truth. You probably have more  relevant knowledge  than you think.

Take into account your life experience, work experience, academic achievements,  volunteer work , skills, and personality strengths, and  write it all down . This list will come in useful when filling in those sections on your resume.

The  education section  is likely to be a key feature of your high school student resume, so rack your brain for  extracurricular activities . Include  honors and awards  and If you have been a member of a club, association, or sports team, mention it.

Do not be modest. Make it clear If you were captain of a team as it demonstrates  leadership skills . Likewise, if you have helped to run or organize something it shows you are responsible and have  organizational skills .

Focusing on your education and achievements at school will help you to write an attractive  high school student resume with no work experience .

Use a professional template

A resume is more than just a document describing your education and experience. It is a sales presentation. However, in this case, the product being sold is yourself. This means that how you present the information is just as important as the content itself.

Your resume must be  engaging and eye-catching  to maximize your chances of being noticed by employers. Nevertheless, don’t go overboard. Avoid too much color , extravagant designs, or excessively complicated formatting. Keep your resume simple, minimal, and professional.

To ensure the design you use is both  suitable and aesthetically pleasing , it makes sense to use a resume template that has been  professionally designed .

Keep your resume concise and direct

Studies have shown that recruiters only spend an  average of 7 seconds  looking at each resume. This means that overwhelming them with information and large blocks of text will be counterproductive to your success.

When writing your resume:

• Keep it brief and to the point
• Avoid including any extra information that doesn’t directly help your application
• Use bullet points where possible
• Keep the length of the document to one-page max

Scan each job description and identify the requirements

Read through the job description for each job position you are interested in and highlight the core skills and competencies.  Identify the keywords , normally there is a list of requirements and it is important to show you meet all of them.

The  skills section  of your resume needs to incorporate the appropriate  soft skills  (personality traits) which you must be able to demonstrate, such as leadership skills, reliability, and communication skills. As well as the necessary  hard skills  (technical or learnable skills) such as computer skills, foreign languages , and accountancy.

Identifying the key competencies will make it easy to know what  information you should add to your high school resume . This will include both soft and hard skills.

Add your education to your resume

In a high school resume, your  education is more important  than for an older or more experienced candidate. Unless you have a significant amount of work experience already, your high school education should come first.

When writing this section, it’s necessary to also add  all relevant details  in the correct order. Here’s the information you must include to correctly present your education :

• Name of degree
• Name of high school
• Years attended
• Courses that are relevant to the job

Include any work experience you may have

As mentioned previously, as a high school student, it’s very normal that you have little to no work experience to show. This is completely fine, and you can  fill this space with additional sections  we will elaborate upon later.

However, if you have already undertaken some positions or small roles , even if for a very short time, it’s always recommended to include them. Due to the fact that you’re still in high school, they will still represent an  enterprising attitude  to employers even if they aren’t strictly related.

When including your work history, make sure to list your  duties, responsibilities, and any achievements  you had using concise bullet points. Also, add your title during your time there, the company name, and the start/end dates of the experience.

Make sure you provide accurate contact information on your resume

Employers look at an incredibly large number of resumes each day. This means that the easier you make their life, the  better your chances  at landing an interview.

Having inaccurate or hard-to-find contact information can put them off from contacting you, and it may end up with your resume getting discarded. Therefore, it’s important you include your  full name, phone number, e-mail address , and any relevant social media links in a clearly visible position on your resume.

Double-check that all the information is correct, and give as many  contact details  as possible to enable the company to contact you via their preferred method of communication. Make sure to also use a professional email address to avoid giving a bad impression.

Write a compelling resume summary statement

A resume summary is a statement of  3-4 sentences  that outlines your skills, accomplishments, and career objectives. It should sum up why you’re applying for the position and how you are qualified for the role.

It’s important to also  adapt the statement to the job  you are applying to, mentioning capabilities and achievements that qualify you for the specific tasks you will be performing.

Below you can find  2 examples  of well-formulated resume summary statements:

• “Honor roll high school student with experience working with children and the elderly. Looking to help a community service organization to bring a positive change to their community.”
• “Dedicated and passionate high school student looking to bring a hard-working attitude to a sales assistant position. Confident individual with excellent communication and people skills.”

Tailor your resume to fit each job

Job candidates who do not tailor their resumes for each position are putting themselves at a disadvantage. A quick and easy way of  adapting your resume for each role is using a resume builder.

Once you have a list of your strengths and skills, and you have identified the key requirements of a job, it is simple to tailor your resume using a  high school resume template .

Think about what the employer is looking for and  highlight your achievements  which clearly demonstrate that you are the right person for the job.

Create additional resume sections

Although space is precious on a resume, additional sections can go a long way to  differentiate you from other candidates . As mentioned above, considering that as a high school student you may not have much work experience, adding more information can be an excellent way to show your potential.

Below are some of the  most successful optional sections  you can add to your resume:

• Hobbies and interests  are a great way to show who you are as a person. They make you seem like a well-rounded applicant who is motivated and passionate. Pastimes with skills that are transferable to the job you’re applying to are especially valuable to include. For example, being part of a sports team may indicate that you have strong teamwork abilities , communication skills, and a competitive mindset.
• Awards  can help sell yourself to employers. Regardless of the achievement, any successes you may have picked up during your high school career can help you stand out from the crowd.
• Volunteering experiences  are always a good addition to any resume. These show that you are a proactive individual who cares about other people or your community. People like to work with individuals who are generous and helpful, so make sure to list any volunteering projects or experiences you’ve undertaken.

What not to do on a high school student resume

There are certain pitfalls you need to avoid when  writing a high school resume . Make sure you avoid the following  common mistakes :

• Do not lie.  Many high school students make this mistake as they feel that they do not have enough experience. It can be very tempting to do so but it is risky.  You can easily get caught . Even if you get away with it and end up getting the job, it could become obvious that you do not have the skills,  qualifications , or experience you claimed to have.
• Do not use fillers . When writing a  high school student resume with no work experience,  the space on the page can seem infinite. There are a number of  things not to include on your resume . Everything you write on your resume should help to sell you in some way. Padding out your resume will not only be a waste of necessary space but it will also distract the employer from the good parts. Using a  high school student resume template  will help you to fill your resume with your strong points, no fillers are needed.
• Proofread your resume multiple times . Making typos and other silly mistakes does not give a positive first impression and it looks amateurish. Proofread your resume numerous times and then  give it to at least one other person to look at . Sometimes it can be hard to spot your own mistakes. Make sure your resume looks like a  professional resume , not a  resume for teens .
• Do not include a photo.  Within the United States, photos are not generally used for almost any type of job application. Unless you’re applying to a role which asks for a professional headshot, there’s no reason for your resume to have a picture of you. In fact, including a photo may lead employers to  automatically dismiss your resume  to avoid the risk of accidentally discriminating. This is because there are laws in the US to ensure companies  do not discriminate against candidates  based on their race, gender, or age.
• Do not use an objective statement.  As mentioned above, a summary statement is a great addition to your resume to show both your value and motivation for the role. However, objective statements tend to be generic and they  do not help recruiters  to understand your qualifications or actual goals. An example of such a sentence is: “Motivated high school student looking for first work experience”. This vague statement  provides no real information  and does not help the candidate to market themselves.

High School Resume Example

Now that you know the fundamentals on how to craft the best possible high school resume, it’s helpful to examine a  real example  before starting your own.

The following resume was created using the ResumeCoach  resume builder . Thanks to this service, you can pick the template that strikes your fancy from a comprehensive library of options, including this one. You can also customize the template based on your particular needs and specifications.

Using this kind of tool, you will input your information through a  simple step-by-step process  and find expert guidance along the way. In just a few minutes, you will end up with an optimized resume. Take a look at how your end-result might turn out!

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High school athletes will be paid for their name, image and likeness. what are your thoughts.

Justin Barney , Sports editor

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – High school athletes will now make a profit off their name, image and likeness (NIL) after the Florida High School Athletic Association approved the change on Tuesday.

After plenty of back and forth about NIL, the board voted unanimously to permit high school athletes in Florida to make money off their name, image and likeness. It was seen as a foregone conclusion as 35 other state associations had adopted NIL at the high school level.

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The vote comes after eight months of exploratory conversations and committees and workshops to craft a new bylaw to evolve with the times. Florida becomes the 36th state to green-light NIL at the high school level.

What are your thoughts about student-athletes getting paid?

Copyright 2023 by WJXT News4JAX - All rights reserved.

About the Author

Justin barney.

Justin Barney joined News4Jax in February 2019, but he’s been covering sports on the First Coast for more than 20 years.

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The junior year crunch: take your planning to the next level.

Your junior year of high school is crucial for laying the groundwork for life after graduation. This FREE guide from the experts at ACT answers all the essential questions that will help you chart a successful course to your future… wherever you’re headed!

Download to learn how to:

• Set your priorities for junior year
• Choose extracurriculars that showcase your skills
• Develop a two-year plan to prepare for the next step
• Discover a career that fits your interests
• Cover college expensesIdentify your strengths using the ACT
• Build relationships and grow your network
• Work with your counselor to make sure you're college ready Making big decisions about your future is a big deal. 

This guide can help you manage the workload (and the stress) to put you on the path to success. Download it now!

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How to write an entry-level resume.

Senior Associate, JPMorgan Chase

As a recent college graduate, you’ll likely have to craft an entry-level resume before you start applying for jobs . If you’re stressing over how to go about it, particularly because you don’t have much work experience to include at this stage in life, know there are ways to craft a resume to set yourself up to stand out to recruiters and hiring managers.

Just as a quick refresher, entry-level jobs usually refer to roles geared toward people entering the workforce for the first time – like recent college graduates. These roles are often designed for people who don’t have a lot of work experience.

Continue reading as we break down what to include on a resume if you’re an entry-level candidate, how long your resume should be, and more.

What do I include on a resume for entry-level jobs (and in what order)?

While there isn’t one resume template guaranteed to get every recent college graduate a job, there are some elements to consider including.

You may want to consider a specific order as you build your resume as an entry-level candidate that’s slightly different from what you’d do if you were further along in your career, too.

Your contact information

Make sure you have your contact information listed on your resume and that it’s easily accessible to anyone viewing it. If employers or recruiters want to contact you or refer you to another hiring manager, it’ll be important that they know a way to contact you and don’t have to dig around for that information. Many experts suggest that you put your contact information at the top of your resume.  

Your education and relevant coursework you’ve completed

“Early in your career, when you get out of school, your education needs to go on top,” Stacie Haller, Chief Career Officer at Resume Builder, told CNBC. “That flags you as entry-level.”

If you’re a recent college graduate, employers don’t expect you to have several full-time roles on your resume. They often want to see information about your education, your major, and any relevant coursework you have under your belt that may relate to the job you’re applying for. Depending on your college grade point average (GPA), you may want to include that information in this section as well.

Consider putting this section at the very top of your resume, underneath your contact information.

Professional experience

If you have internships, part-time, or even full-time roles under your belt, you'll want to build a section on your resume listing this experience. You may want to list each professional experience , with your title, the months or years you worked in each role, and key accomplishments for each.

Writing this section may feel tricky if you’re an entry-level candidate. You may not have work experience that feels relevant to the roles you want to apply for. Because of that, as you think through your work experience, consider thinking about the transferable skills you’ve gained with the work experience you do have. For instance, highlighting that you gained leadership, project management, or technical expertise may be as impactful to share with hiring managers as the tasks you were responsible for. Chances are you have more transferable skills than you think you do, too.

Relevant skills

You may consider including a relevant skills section on your beginner resume that includes a combination of technical and soft skills. From spreadsheet prowess to AP-style writing expertise, every industry prioritizes different skills, and you may have some of them without having gained them from work experience.

What top skills do recruiters and employers want to see on a beginner resume?

According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), problem-solving is the number one skill employers seek on a candidate’s first job resume. In fact, according to the NACE’s Job Outlook 2024 report , 88.7% of employers said they value problem-solving skills, while less than half value skills and traits such as strategic planning, an outgoing personality, creativity, and fluency in a foreign language.

Other top skills employers look for from recent college graduates include:

• Ability to work in a team (78.9%)
• Written communication skills (72.7%)
• Strong work ethic (71.6%)
• Flexibility or adaptability (70.1%)
• Verbal communication skills (67.5%)

If you’re applying for roles where a portfolio or personal projects may help showcase your skills, you may choose to include a portfolio link on your resume or figure out how to showcase a personal project.

Let’s say you’re applying for an entry-level social media content position. In this situation, if you’ve built up your own social media following, you may decide to highlight this on your resume, as well as the skills you’ve gained as you’ve done this.

Extracurricular activities and volunteer experience

In addition to listing your professional experience and skills, you may want to include an extracurricular activities and volunteer experience section . This section is where you can include that you participated in collegiate clubs, sports teams, theater, a volunteering role, or other activities you did during your time as a student (along with those outside of school).

Languages you speak

Some roles look for candidates who know another language besides English. If you speak another language other than English, you may want to consider including that information on your resume, as some hiring managers may find value in that.

What’s the best resume format for a beginner?

While there isn’t a “best” resume format that all successful job applicants or recruiters expect, several experts advise against one that includes your picture.

“You don’t want the reader to be distracted by your photo,” according to Amanda Augustine, a counselor at TopResume told CNBC .

Beyond that, stick to a clear and concise format that you think matches the experience and skills that you have to share. Keep the design simple and professional and avoid any distracting fonts or colors.

You may want to search online for a resume template to use as your base. There are many options to consider, and finding a template may be helpful as you go about crafting a resume.

How long should an entry-level resume be?

For entry-level job candidates, a resume should ideally be one page long. This length encourages conciseness and will allow you to focus on including only your most relevant experience. Keeping it to one page makes it easier for hiring managers to assess your qualifications quickly without having to sift through too much information as well.

As you progress in your career and gain more experience, you can then consider extending your resume beyond just one page.

Final thoughts

At the end of the day, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to writing a winning entry-level job resume. As you craft your resume, you may consider tailoring it to specific jobs you want to apply for. That may mean slightly changing language and what you’re choosing to highlight on your resume as you apply for jobs. 

Longtime coaches, successful athletes dot the Chambersburg Hall of Fame Class of 2024

Chambersburg will induct its first class into its Athletics Hall of Fame this fall, according to a news release.

The first class of inductees includes 11 individuals and one team: the 1977 girls' cross country team that won the PIAA 3A championship, which was the first state title for a Chambersburg team.

"We are extremely excited to introduce the first class of the Chambersburg Athletics Hall of Fame," said Corey Dayley, chairman of the Hall of Fame committee in a news release. "I want to thank everyone on the committee for their time and efforts, as well as the community for their nominations and support.

"This is a long and overdue endeavor that has been a pleasure to lead."

Bob Thomas' legacy: The inevitable finally happened, after 51 memorable years

See who made the list: A look at Franklin County's pro baseball players through the ages

More on Marshay Ryan: Meet 10 women who blazed a trail in sports in Franklin County

The 2024 class of individual inductees are:

• Tom Brookens, athlete (baseball)
• Marcia Brown, coach (numerous girls sports)
• Barry Carter Sr., athlete (football, basketball, baseball, track & field)
• Tim Cook, athlete and coach (cross country, track & field)
• Ron Etter, athlete (football)
• David Myers, athlete (football, basketball, baseball)
• Marshay Ryan, athlete (track & field)
• Lowell "Doc" Schlichter, legacy (coach and athletic director)
• Mitch Stahl, athlete (volleyball)
• Bob Thomas, coach (baseball)
• Stephanie (Van Brakle) Prothro, athlete (softball)

The induction ceremony will be held Friday, Sept. 20 during halftime of Chambersburg's football game.

Shippensburg Hall of Fame ready to resume inductions

Shippensburg will resume inductions this fall. The Class of 2024 will be decided in the spring, and the group will be inducted during the football game on Friday, Sept. 27.

The last class was inducted in 2019, and the COVID pandemic put future nominations on hold until now.

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Master of Make-Believe

By Evan Osnos

Anyone who visited Zach and Mallory Horwitz in 2019 would have said that they had made it in Hollywood. They lived in a six-million-dollar home on Bolton Road, within walking distance of Beverly Hills; there was a screening room, a thousand-bottle wine cellar, and a cabana laced with flowering vines by the pool. The Horwitzes had hired a celebrity decorator and installed a baby grand piano and framed photographs of Brigitte Bardot and Jack Nicholson. On social media, Zach posted pictures of himself courtside at Lakers games; Mallory shared images of their toddler playing in the California sun. For Mallory’s thirtieth birthday, Zach paid the R. & B. artist Miguel to perform for friends at the Nice Guy, a voguish restaurant in West Hollywood.

The couple, college sweethearts from Indiana University, had arrived in California seven years earlier, in search of a new life. They had started the cross-country drive with their dog, Lucy, on New Year’s Eve. In L.A., Mallory trained to be a hair stylist, like her mother and grandmother back home in Santa Claus, Indiana. Zach, who had secretly wanted to act ever since he saw his first Broadway play as a child, landed a few tiny parts: he played Demon 3 in one film, an unnamed basketball player in another. He was not quite movie-star handsome, but he had gleaming teeth, an aquiline nose, imposing biceps, and turquoise eyes. For a stage name, he chose Zach Avery.

Although Zach was not an overnight success, bigger roles came soon enough. In 2017, he flew to Serbia for a film directed by Ralph Fiennes, then he was off to Virginia to shoot a movie with the Hollywood veteran Bruce Dern, in which he played opposite Olivia Munn. Before long, he starred in a thriller featuring Brian Cox, who played the patriarch Logan Roy on “Succession.” In an interview after the production, Zach praised Cox for “taking me under his wing,” and marvelled, with self-flattering deference, “When you’re sitting across the table from him, doing scenes, you almost have to pinch yourself and say, ‘How is this real?’ ”

Like many young stars, Zach dabbled in tech investments and started companies to produce and distribute films; he named his enterprises 1inMM, after his favorite saying, “When odds are one in a million, be that one.” Eventually, he encouraged Mallory to stop working at the salon. They had forty million dollars in the bank, he told her. Why go to work? All the while, Zach kept in touch with the friends who’d been with him during his rise. He took them to parties by private plane and always paid their way; he even made some of them rich, by dealing them into his businesses. In 2018, during a dinner in Montreal with three old friends from Indiana, one of them proposed a toast to Zach: “You’ve changed my life, my wife’s life, my children’s lives.”

But even in Hollywood, where professional envy is as ubiquitous as dental veneers, people around Zach were unusually puzzled by the divide between his success and his talent. “He is the worst actor I’ve ever worked with,” a former colleague told me. Sharing a scene with Zach, he said, was like interacting with a banana. The director Michele Civetta, who worked with Zach, told me that he was forced to invent ways to help him unlock emotion; otherwise, it was like “dealing with a dead horse.” Audiences reached a similar conclusion. After Zach appeared with Cox, in “Last Moment of Clarity,” one reviewer wrote that he delivered “such a dull, unappealing performance that the movie has a void at the center.” A viewer of another of his films declared, “Zach Avery’s acting was like a cancer to this movie. Every time he was on screen it died a little more. Good god, how did he make it past the auditions?”

Still, many people who encountered Zach thought that he seemed like just another lucky beneficiary of the capricious entertainment business. Gina Dickerson, a real-estate agent who met with him and Mallory, said, “In L.A. more than anywhere else, nobody really ever knows where the money is coming from.” Her colleague Tracy Tutor told me, “In Hollywood, the more you fake it, the more people actually buy it. You have the right car? You’re wearing the right suit? You know the right people? No one does the diligence.”

If anything, Zach struck people as too blandly genial to be anything other than what he appeared. Civetta, the director, noticed that he seemed determined to project wholesome simplicity—“milk and apple pie, his wife, his kids.” Tutor, the real-estate agent, who often appears with her clients on a reality show called “Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles,” considered casting Zach but concluded that he was too undistinguished to put on TV: “I said to the show, ‘This is the most boring, vanilla person.’ ”

As a teen-ager on the outskirts of Fort Wayne, where subdivisions give way to farmland, Zach Horwitz was an athlete, not a theatre kid. The Carroll High School yearbook featured a picture of him shirtless in the gym, under the headline “Best Bodies.” He was popular, but prone to telling fanciful stories that seemed engineered to draw attention. According to a classmate named Steve Clark, Horwitz once told peers that he had met the baseball star Derek Jeter at a mall in Florida, and that Jeter had invited him to dinner. The story seemed ludicrous, but Horwitz was beyond reproach. “He was handsome, and he was a football player, which is to say he was high-school royalty,” Clark said.

Horwitz’s parents, Susan and Howard, had divorced when he was young. For a time, he lived with his mother and sister in Tampa. During a visit to New York City when he was in grade school, he thrilled to a performance of “Annie Get Your Gun.” He asked his mother about the actors, and she explained that they were professionals, paid to entertain the crowd. Back home, he took to memorizing lines from movies like “Forrest Gump” and “Jerry Maguire,” and he talked of quitting school to become an actor, but his mother insisted that he get an education. By his sophomore year of high school, they had moved to Indiana; his mother had married Robert Kozlowski, a prosperous manufacturing executive. The family lived comfortably, with a vacation house on a lake.

In 2005, Horwitz started college in Bloomington, majoring in psychology. One day at the gym, he met Jake Wunderlin, who, like him, was a brawny former athlete from Fort Wayne. Unlike Horwitz, though, Wunderlin did not come from money. He was a scholarship kid—a tall, reserved honors student in finance who worked at the campus food court to help pay expenses. They grew close, and Wunderlin joined him on visits to his mother and stepfather, who had a big house near Zionsville, the richest town in Indiana. Horwitz gained a reputation for spending freely on friends, covering late-night drinks and pizza. “He was the one that would pay for everything,” Wunderlin told me recently. “He loved it. He never was mad about it, like, ‘Are you going to pitch in?’ ” Joe deAlteris, a business student who had been friends with Wunderlin since kindergarten, grew close with Horwitz, too. “I knew him as the guy who had a ton of family money,” he told me. “It felt like every semester he came back with a new car.”

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Horwitz also had a knack for identifying a need in another person, a point of emotional access. DeAlteris was outgoing, a wide receiver on the Indiana team and a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, but in 2009 his stepfather died, and he was overwhelmed with grief. It was not a subject that he discussed easily with the college-gym crowd, but Horwitz lost his own stepfather around the same time, and the two bonded. At social occasions, Horwitz liked to pose questions that generated moments of self-revelation. He once asked a circle of friends, “How much money is enough? How much would it take in your life to do whatever you want?”

Mallory met Zach at a tailgate party in 2008, just before her twentieth birthday, and was taken with his attentive manner. “Everyone loved him,” she recalled. “If there was a homeless person on the street, he’d say, ‘Let’s give some money.’ I felt like I had an extremely deep, rare connection with this person.” After graduating, she followed Zach to Chicago. She walked him to classes at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology; when he told her that he was dropping out, after less than a year, she strove to be supportive. He harbored fantasies of getting into the Chicago improv scene, but kept them to himself. Instead, he talked enthusiastically about a job as a salesman, providing accounting software to small businesses.

Wunderlin was working in the Indianapolis office of the wealth-management division at J. P. Morgan, and Horwitz called periodically to compare notes. Among friends, he let it be known that he had inherited money—as much as ten million dollars, some said—and Wunderlin got used to hearing him talk about the “crazy returns” that his mother’s financial team had achieved. In fact, the family’s money was contested. Horwitz’s stepbrother Steven had filed suit against several relatives, alleging that they had shortchanged him on his inheritance. He accused Horwitz’s mother, Susan, of fraud and manipulation, suggesting that she may have forged his father’s signature on a will while he was sick, in order to secure most of an estate that totalled more than eleven million dollars. Lawyers for Susan called the allegations “false and distorted” and fought the case; in 2011, they reached a confidential settlement.

As the case was nearing resolution, Horwitz called Wunderlin and told him about an enticing opportunity: he had attended a small-business convention, where he’d pitched a chain of fast-casual healthy restaurants—in effect, juice bars with supplements. He said that he’d caught the attention of venture capitalists backed by Howard Schultz, the founder and C.E.O. of Starbucks, who had a sideline as an investor in food startups. (Not long before, a V.C. firm that Schultz co-founded had put almost thirty million dollars into Pinkberry frozen yogurt.) Schultz himself had expressed interest, Horwitz told him. “He said, ‘I have a meeting with Howard,’ ” Wunderlin recalled.

Days later, Horwitz reported back that the meeting had gone well; if he could get a restaurant built, Schultz would consider an investment. Horwitz invited his friend to join the venture, saying, “I need to build a team.” Wunderlin wasn’t about to leave J. P. Morgan for a juice bar, but then Horwitz put him in contact with Schultz directly. In March, 2011, Wunderlin got a long e-mail from Schultz’s account, reflecting on the lessons of building Starbucks and declaring, “I have faith in you. Your team has faith in you.” It ended on a note of inspiration: “Be the person that you have always dreamed of becoming, Jake, and all the rest will fall into place.” Elated, Wunderlin showed the e-mail to his parents, quit his job, and moved to Chicago.

The restaurant, called FÜL, opened that summer. Mallory, who got her own galvanizing e-mail from Schultz, had signed on, and Horwitz recruited other friends. In the next six weeks, he shared exciting news: undercover test shoppers had visited and approved the restaurant; Schultz was preparing a thirty-million-dollar offer. Better yet, they had received a rival offer from a private-equity firm in Florida.

Though the business consisted of a single storefront, Horwitz gave out grandiose titles, naming himself the C.E.O. and Wunderlin the C.F.O., with a starting salary of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. He leased an office capacious enough for each of them to have a suite. While Mallory ran the restaurant and Wunderlin plotted its growth, Horwitz spent most days in his office, with the door closed. One afternoon, he invited Wunderlin to join him at the bank, but had him wait in the lobby while he signed documents to prepare for a deal.

Then, all of a sudden, it was gone. The private-equity offer had collapsed, Horwitz said, for complex reasons involving his inheritance, his private investments, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Worse, he added, when FÜL looked unavailable, Schultz had moved on to another health-food chain. Wunderlin was devastated. Without new investments, the restaurant would be finished by the end of the year. “We were left to fend for ourselves,” he said. He began looking for other work.

The only good news, Horwitz said, was that Schultz had offered him a job at Maveron, his venture-capital firm. Mallory later recalled that he showed her a contract for a position at the firm’s “Entrepreneur Outreach Program,” based in Los Angeles. It would be perfect, he told her: he would visit campuses and small-business conventions, cultivating young strivers. He did not mention that the move would also allow him to pursue his dream of being a star.

Acting is a discouraging business, but Hollywood aspirants have sustained themselves for decades with tales of predecessors who outhustled the competition. Dick Van Dyke danced to stardom in “Bye Bye Birdie” despite having never before taken a class. Eddie Redmayne got cast in “Les Misérables” by claiming that he was a seasoned equestrian, even though he hadn’t been on a horse since childhood. Making it through an audition often requires bluffing not just the casting director but also yourself. It’s a mentality that Ryan Gosling once called “self-mythologizing”—the ability to face a “hundred other people that are better-looking and more talented and somehow think that you should get the job.”

When Horwitz got to Los Angeles, he set about bluffing two audiences: his old friends at home and his potential new friends in Hollywood. Soon after arriving, he wrote on Twitter, “I normally wouldn’t name drop BUT I asked H. Schultz this AM what his goal is for me in my role, he simply says, ‘Just be good. Don’t stink.’ ” Before long, though, he started telling Mallory that he was bored with his job and talking about shifting his attention to acting. “I’m, like, ‘O.K., if this is going to make you happy, do what you want to do—as a hobby,’ ” she recalled. He tried acting classes and auditions. Then, when he struggled to get parts, he changed tack. Ever since Warren Beatty produced “Bonnie and Clyde,” it has been common for accomplished actors to develop movies and then star in them. Horwitz wondered, Why can’t I produce, too? He befriended two brothers, Julio and Diego Hallivis, who were looking to establish themselves in the film industry. Diego, who wore his hair in a tall black pompadour, was a fledgling director. Julio, wiry and intense, ran the business side. Horwitz recruited them for 1inMM Productions to make low-budget independent films—essentially B movies in which he might star. He leased office space in Culver City and three black Mercedes coupes for them to drive to meetings. When Horwitz wasn’t around, Julio spoke scathingly about him. An associate recalled that he often said, “He’s such a terrible actor. But he’s the money guy. He has family money, and he knows rich people.”

Horwitz had arrived in L.A. at a time of unusual opportunity. Five years before, Netflix had started streaming films and television shows, and, as Amazon worked to keep up, the two companies competed for talent and content. By 2019, Netflix would be spending more than twelve billion dollars a year on programming. Disney launched Disney+, and WarnerMedia created HBO Max. All told, there were more than two hundred and fifty online video services in America, feeding a seemingly inexhaustible demand. Money was coursing through the industry, the Times reported: “Florists, caterers, set decorators, chauffeurs, hair stylists, headhunters—it’s gravy train time.”

In March, 2013, Horwitz announced a partnership to buy the rights to cheap movies and distribute them to the Latin American divisions of Netflix, HBO, and other platforms. His new partner, Gustavo Montaudon, was well suited to the endeavor: he had spent decades at Twentieth Century Fox, distributing content across Latin America. The deal was covered in the trade press, helping to secure a transformation of Horwitz’s image. The struggling actor with a failed juice bar was identified, in Variety , as “the entrepreneur behind fitness-driven lifestyle brand FÜL.” (Some of his marketing materials went further, describing FÜL as a “multi-million dollar, multi-pronged fitness brand” with “seven locations” and “apparel sold in Target, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Sports Authority.”)

One of the first people Horwitz approached with his venture was Jake Wunderlin. By the spring of 2014, Wunderlin was in Chicago, working as a trader. He had just received a bonus of thirty-five thousand dollars, and he was engaged to be married. He and Horwitz remained friends, but they rarely talked business anymore, until Horwitz started dropping hints that Schultz was backing his work in the movie business. “Zach said, ‘I can let you in on a deal,’ ” Wunderlin told me. It was small by his usual standards, Horwitz said, but, if Wunderlin could put up thirty-seven thousand dollars, he could make nine thousand dollars in ninety days. The contract showed that Horwitz was selling Sony the rights to a Mexican rom-com called “Deseo,” described in the official summary as “A succession of erotic encounters weaved into a daisy chain of delightful sensuality.”

Wunderlin had recovered from the failure of the juice bar, but he was still wary: “I said, ‘I can’t lose this money. This is everything that I’ve ever saved.’ ” Horwitz persuaded him by pledging his own assets in case anything went wrong. The deal went through as promised; Wunderlin got his money, which he put toward a down payment on a house. He was hooked.

That fall, he flew to Los Angeles to be a groomsman at Zach and Mallory’s wedding, at the Four Seasons. Wunderlin was awed by his friend’s new life: “He was doing three-hundred-thousand-dollar deals.”

Back in Chicago, Wunderlin sat on a roof deck one night with some of their other college friends, including deAlteris, who was working in private equity. He asked if they wanted to pool their money on a larger film deal. “None of us had the gift of inheritance or anything like that,” he told me. “All of us were focussed on what’s next in banking or private wealth or sales and trading. We were all trying to figure out how to be successful.” They agreed to buy into a series of deals, and got lucrative returns, often twenty per cent or higher. Soon, they started taking out loans to fund more of Horwitz’s investments, and thought of quitting their jobs to do it full time. DeAlteris said, “We’re getting paid on time. Real cash. Without fail.”

Before long, they were encouraging their parents to put money in. DeAlteris’s mother, a widow and a retired physician’s assistant, invested forty thousand dollars. Wunderlin’s parents put up half their retirement savings. Within two years, the college friends had profited on twenty-seven of Horwitz’s movie deals. To handle the business, four of them formed a company—called JJMT Capital, for the initials of their first names—and started bringing in money from outsiders, including wealthy investors on Chicago’s North Shore. “People were banging down our door—‘I hear you guys have this great opportunity. Do you have any room for me?’ ” deAlteris said.

When Horwitz visited Chicago, he resumed his old conspicuous generosity. At a pizza parlor, he tipped the server two thousand dollars. “She came back out in tears,” Wunderlin recalled. At night clubs, Horwitz might pick up a forty-thousand-dollar check and leave another thirty thousand for a tip. As the party swirled around him, he would lean back in silence, with a blissfully satisfied look.

His friends felt a tinge of satisfaction, too; they were proud of the money that they made for their parents and friends. None of them knew much about the entertainment business, but they thought they knew due diligence. “I would pepper him with questions, and he would come back with answers to everything,” deAlteris said. They showed the contracts to industry experts, and Horwitz arranged for a member of their team to speak by phone with his main contact at HBO. Horwitz was always available to answer questions, but he told investors never to contact the streaming platforms directly, because he had signed nondisclosure agreements. “I’ve got basically three relationships—HBO, Netflix, and Sony,” he’d say. “If you guys go around me, you’re going to blow up my business.”

In fact, there was no business. Horwitz was not buying or selling movie rights. He had got his hands on a few distribution contracts, then copy-and-pasted them in Microsoft Word to make hundreds of fakes, forging signatures of executives that he found on LinkedIn. As new investors bought in, he paid off earlier investors with the proceeds—a Ponzi scheme. (Montaudon, his partner, has not been charged with any wrongdoing.) He sent out fake bank statements and ginned up bogus e-mails and text messages from HBO and Netflix, often using apps to send fake messages to himself at predetermined times. He arranged for a female accomplice, who has never been identified, to impersonate the contact at HBO. This kind of deception requires relentless discipline; Bernie Madoff insisted that every screw he might see on his yacht have its head turned in the same direction. Horwitz, too, had a fastidious streak. He held to a rigid schedule, growing upset if he couldn’t fit in a workout before noon, and he calmed himself by insuring that everything around him was in the proper place. He never went more than two weeks between haircuts.

His fraud rested on perceptions of Hollywood as a money factory—an idea that reached back to the nineteen-thirties, when Louis Mayer, the co-founder of M-G-M, was the highest-paid executive in the country. (Nineteen of the next twenty-five highest-paid execs also ran Hollywood studios.) The reality is that hits are unpredictable and the business is clannish and opaque—“a closed world,” as one longtime industry executive told me recently, “with its own language, own rules, own economics and caste system.” The finances are obscured by “Hollywood accounting,” invented by studios to shield revenues from inspection by stars, writers, and others who want a cut. (The screenwriter for “Men in Black” has said that the film earned more than half a billion dollars, but that the studio refuses to declare it profitable.) And yet, for all that volatility, movies have a charismatic appeal for the distant investor—the proverbial dentist from Omaha, lured by the unspoken prospect that he will somehow end up clinking glasses with Tom Hanks. “People try to buy their way in,” the executive said, “and what happens is they lose a lot of money and still get kicked to the curb.”

It’s tempting to wonder why Horwitz’s friends in Chicago thought they had found a vast source of revenue that people in Hollywood had somehow overlooked. But they didn’t think they had beaten the insiders; they thought their friend had become an insider. DeAlteris said, “It’s an old boys’ club, and it seemed like we just so happened to be old boys with somebody who knew some of the old boys.”

As their partnership flourished, their personal lives became more entwined; they attended one another’s weddings and took joint vacations. In 2016, Horwitz flew Wunderlin by chartered jet to Miami for a mutual friend’s bachelor party that stretched for a week. Late one night, the two set off from shore on paddleboards, pausing in the water to reflect on their good fortune. Wunderlin recalls that Horwitz said, “I have more money than I know what to do with. It’s like Monopoly money.”

By funnelling cash into his production company, Horwitz had provided himself with a string of minor roles, including that of a murderous psychopath in a short film made in homage to the Joker, and that of a victim of a home invasion in a movie called “Trespassers.” But, after five years in Hollywood, he seemed to be confined to B movies, until he devised a way to get closer to real stardom.

In June, 2017, Horwitz co-founded a company called Rogue Black, with Andrew Levitas, a filmmaker and a sculptor who had directed Amy Adams, Jennifer Hudson, and other prominent actors. (Levitas, who is not alleged to have been aware of Horwitz’s scheme, declined to comment.) In the next four years, according to court documents, Horwitz poured about twenty million dollars into Rogue Black, and Levitas arranged investments in eight movies, including “The White Crow,” directed by Ralph Fiennes, and “Last Moment of Clarity,” with Brian Cox. Horwitz received parts in four of them.

Some were so small that he was barely visible onscreen, but still he could claim proximity to famous actors. In 2018, he hired a publicist, Nedda Soltani, who had represented cast members of “Breaking Bad” and the “Real Housewives” franchise. He gave her pictures of himself on the red carpet at the Golden Globes. (He had never attended the awards ceremony, but a photo outside an after-party made it appear that he had. Soltani told me, “No one talks about that, but you could get a hotel room and wear your tux and just sort of be in the mix.”) When she asked for a biography, he conjured a story of humble Midwestern roots: an injury had kept him out of the N.F.L., so he supported himself as a door-to-door salesman before making his way to Hollywood. (In truth, Horwitz had played intramural football in college.) Soltani’s boyfriend was from Indiana, so Horwitz felt instantly relatable. “There was something about his eyes. He smelled good, his haircut was nice, he had a nice watch. He made you believe,” she said. “We built this little bio on him, and that became my pitch: Johnny Football turns to acting, rags to riches.”

The outlets that Soltani persuaded to feature her client were mostly obscure online venues—the kind, she said, that people solicit articles in “just to post them on their Instagram stories and say, ‘Look at me.’ ” But investors researching Horwitz could now find unquestioning recitations of his story. In an interview on AfterBuzz TV, a YouTube channel focussed on “Hollywood’s rising talent,” the host mentioned his “burgeoning career in football, which was derailed,” and asked about his association with Fiennes. Horwitz warmly recalled showing up for filming in Belgrade. “Walk on set, he’s in the back of this auditorium, and he says, ‘Zach!’ ” He described Fiennes’s avuncular instructions: “I loved what you did there. Bring exactly the same thing, but, if you turn just a little bit to the right, the light is going to hit you in a way that’s going to look amazing.” (Fiennes’s publicist said that she was unable to reach her client for comment.)

Hollywood has long had an ambivalent relationship with facts. The screenwriter William Goldman once described overhearing a producer tout so many bogus figures while working the phone that he finally had to cover the mouthpiece and ask, “Which lie did I tell?” In time, Horwitz had deceived so many friends and investors that he had to discourage them from talking to one another; he was always “building moats,” as one put it. He told an associate that he had sold FÜL for eleven million dollars but warned him not to mention it to Mallory, claiming that she had a small-town discomfort with people knowing their business.

Yet Horwitz never stopped stoking belief. Late one night at a club, he showed an investor named Craig Cole a string of text messages, telling him that Ted Sarandos, the C.E.O. of Netflix, was seeking long-term rights to the full library of films that he distributed. When the fake Sarandos asked what would secure the deal, Horwitz replied, “The zeros.” Moments later, a text came back with an offer in the hundreds of millions. Horwitz slumped to the floor, in a pantomime of triumph and gratitude. In “Bad Actor,” a forthcoming documentary about the case, Cole recalls that Horwitz started crying: “He says, ‘Craig, we made it! We did it!’ ” Cole wept, too; when he got home that night, he told his girlfriend that they were set for life.

Like other accomplished swindlers, Horwitz excelled by knowing his audience. In Chicago, he was a wealthy heir who flew private jets to movie shoots. In L.A., he was a plucky football talent selling door-to-door. (A surprising number of people he dealt with in California mentioned how good he smelled.) His difficulty showing emotion, a detriment onscreen, turned out to be useful in pitch meetings. Edgar Allan Poe, in an essay on swindling, noted the power of nonchalance—the kind of take-it-or-leave-it indifference that conveys credibility—and Horwitz often succeeded by convincing investors that he didn’t much care whether they bought in. “Remember Zach does not need any money from us,” one wrote to another in 2017.

That June, Horwitz met investors at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. Over dinner, he sat beside Jim Russell, a Las Vegas steel executive, and, according to court documents, said that he had made some twenty million dollars the previous year. Russell was concerned when Horwitz insisted that his business records were too confidential to share, and later sent an e-mail to one of his partners describing the evasion as a “Red Flag!!” But the partner dismissed the concern, writing, “This is the goose that lays the golden egg.” Russell relented, and his group put in another five million.

By 2019, Horwitz even seemed to be improving his acting. In May, he showed up in Norfolk, Virginia, to shoot a movie called “The Gateway.” It was understood that his financial support guaranteed him a place onscreen. “This is truly not uncommon,” Civetta, the director, told me. “I’ve heard countless stories from friends who’ve made films. It’s, like, ‘Oh, yeah, if you want half a million dollars, this wealthy industrialist’s daughter has to have a secondary role.’ ”

Horwitz was assigned the role of a volatile ex-con named Mike, but in rehearsals he got timid and self-conscious; his voice went high and his mannerisms grew labored. So Civetta contacted a nearby jail and arranged for Horwitz to spend the night, talking to inmates and being searched and fingerprinted. When he returned, he showed a new ability to “change tonalities,” Civetta said. “He could go places relatively quickly in terms of diabolical rage.” When the movie came out, Variety observed, “Probably the best turn is by Avery,” who “makes potentially cardboard villain Mike into a frighteningly credible sociopath.”

As the end of 2019 approached, Horwitz had raised three hundred and fifty-eight million dollars in the past year. He was running what scholars of confidence games call an “affinity fraud,” built around trust and personal connections. He found wealthy investors—in Napa Valley, Orange County, Las Vegas, and Chicago—who then spread the word on the tennis court and the charity circuit. But every network has limits, and the arithmetic of a Ponzi scheme is unforgiving. When you run out of new investors, the mechanism begins to collapse. After Thanksgiving, Horwitz fell behind on his payments for the first time.

To fend off concerns, Horwitz blamed the delay on the big media platforms and promised a speedy resolution. On January 4th, though, Wunderlin and deAlteris arrived at his house on Bolton Road to figure out what was happening. For three days, Horwitz walked them through documents; he had thousands of pages of fake contracts and e-mails and bank statements, which he presented calmly. “Cool as a cucumber,” deAlteris recalled. The possibility of fraud never occurred to him, deAlteris said: “I thought it was wild disorganization that he had so much money coming into his bank account.” The friends went back to Chicago feeling relieved.

But Horwitz fell further behind, and he gave more excuses. Covid -19 was disrupting business; HBO was reorganizing its operation; Netflix was auditing its distribution deals. He needed time with his family, he said—Mallory had recently given birth to their second child. All the while, he kept up his patter. In October, he texted an investor, “just heard from HBO,” and then passed along a fake e-mail from executives asking for a “week grace period.” He commiserated: “always something w them.”

Near the end of 2020, Horwitz bought one last bit of time by saying that money was piling up at Freeway Entertainment, an account-management firm, and would soon be distributed. But the delays were becoming untenable for his friends in Chicago. People who had given them money to invest were threatening to sue. One was Marty Kaplan, a financier who, along with partners and family members, had ten million dollars at risk. According to Kaplan’s lawyer, deAlteris had reassured him by citing his friendship with Horwitz, adding, “I wouldn’t be able to pay rent if something went wrong.”

In all, Horwitz owed the Chicago group a hundred and sixty-five million dollars. He had got his lawyer at the prominent firm K&L Gates to send a letter warning them that the details of the deals were “strictly confidential,” but on February 23rd Wunderlin and deAlteris decided to call Freeway to check the account balance. Wunderlin made the call from his home in Chicago; he patched in deAlteris, at his kitchen table across town. Horwitz had given them a copy of his contract with Freeway, as well as statements showing a growing balance. DeAlteris flipped through the paperwork to find the account number, then read it aloud. The representative paused and asked to hear the name again. The firm had no record of a Zach Horwitz, he said. DeAlteris grew impatient: “I’m looking at the fucking bank statement! You clearly misheard me.”

By the time they hung up, they could see an impending catastrophe. “All the dominoes fell after that one,” deAlteris said. Wunderlin, who had been pacing during the call, dropped to his knees. He had been the first of the friends to put money into Horwitz’s scheme, followed by his family and then by outsiders who contributed a harrowing sum. When I asked him about it more than two years later, he fell silent and struggled not to cry. “I still can’t really talk about it without doing this,” he said.

That afternoon, their lawyer contacted the F.B.I. to report a suspected fraud. Other investors were reaching similar conclusions. On March 15th, F.B.I. agents came to deAlteris’s house to record a call with Horwitz. Wunderlin was there, too. On the phone, Horwitz ran through his usual reassurances, until Wunderlin cut in: “Here’s the problem with that. That’s not fucking true. We spoke to Freeway. There’s no money in that account. Where in the fuck is our money?”

There was a long pause—long enough that they had to ask Horwitz if he was still on the line. Finally, he said, “I think the lawyers should do the talking.” Wunderlin couldn’t restrain himself: “You’re not going to tell me where any of the money is? What did you do with it?” He talked about his mother’s savings, his father’s savings, but Horwitz stayed silent. Wunderlin sensed that he might have realized he was being recorded. “It was like talking to the wall,” he said.

In L.A., Horwitz’s friends noticed that he seemed paranoid, worrying that he was being monitored through their phones. When they asked what was going on, he evaded the question, saying that he didn’t want to expose them to trouble.

According to court documents, Horwitz had been using Adderall and Xanax and drinking heavily, sometimes staying up most of the night. Mallory was worried about his behavior, but she believed that he had just been having trouble recouping money that HBO and Netflix owed him. They had begun to talk about a simpler life—maybe somewhere quieter, like Nashville or Austin. By spring, they had put their house on the market and found a buyer. The offer was set to be officially accepted on April 6th.

That morning, before dawn, Mallory was asleep beside Zach and their three-year-old when she awoke to banging on the front door. From down the hall, she could hear their baby crying, and she ran to soothe him. Looking through the window, she saw F.B.I. agents, guns drawn, and heard them shouting Zach’s name. Mallory rushed downstairs with the baby in her arms and opened the door. Agents streamed in. Zach, now on the stairs, asked if he could put on a shirt. The agents refused, and walked him out onto Bolton Road. John Verrastro, the agent in charge, was startled by Horwitz’s behavior. He had come to expect defendants in white-collar cases to express something during their arrests—bewilderment, outrage, despair—but Horwitz showed none of that. “He didn’t seem surprised,” Verrastro said.

Mallory quickly filed for divorce. According to her filings, their joint accounts had been frozen by the authorities; the only money in her name was a checking account with a balance of $100.75. Horwitz was charged with thirteen counts of fraud, in the service of what prosecutors called an “intricate illusion”—the largest Ponzi scheme in Hollywood history. He had raised more than six hundred and ninety million dollars by deceiving hundreds of investors, beginning with his closest friends. A woeful actor onscreen turned out to have been an astonishingly convincing performer in life.

The extent of the lie was almost too great for Mallory to grasp. Her husband never had any deals with HBO or Netflix. He had never even met Howard Schultz. When Zach left for late-night meetings, there were no meetings. The only thing real was his slender imprint on the screen. In her filings, she wrote, “I loved him. I idolized him. Zach is a masterful manipulator and liar and brainwashed and gaslit me into believing he was this perfect man, something he made everyone around him feel. Only a sociopath can live the sort of deceptive life Zach lived for nearly ten years.” Mallory’s father bought her and the children one-way tickets to Indiana. On May 1st, she flew home.

Horwitz got out on bail: a million dollars, posted by his mother. For a week or two, the case made headlines worldwide, but he stayed out of sight, telling his kids that he was working as a dog-walker. Among people who knew him, the reaction that I encountered most often was disbelief that he was bright enough to manage such a scheme. “I don’t know how the fuck he was capable of it,” one of his closest friends told me. Another associate said, “If you had asked me if this man even had Photoshop downloaded to his computer, I would’ve told you, ‘Absolutely not.’ ” More than a few surmised that his Latin American distribution network must have been a front for a drug cartel.

The government didn’t agree. The S.E.C. named him as the sole defendant, noting that he alone had controlled the bank accounts at 1inMM. When I told Verrastro, the F.B.I. agent, that many people were perplexed nobody else was charged, he said he couldn’t go into detail about that decision. But he hastened to add, “The one thing that’s clear in this case is there was no one above him. He is the main guy.”

As with many frauds, the prosecution triggered a series of lawsuits, as investors fought over the remaining assets and accused one another, as well as various banks and law firms, of failing to spot the crime. Alexander Loftus, a lawyer representing some of the investors, filed suits against Horwitz’s friends in Chicago. “When you’re acting like a broker, it’s your job to see if this is good or not before you sell it,” he told me. Ultimately, Loftus said, the friends in Chicago agreed to give up more than nine million dollars—though they maintain that they acted in good faith. “My family members who trusted me, they’re not savvy,” deAlteris said. “I thought that I was being fairly objective with how I approached it. My family members weren’t. One chip became two chips, which became all their chips.” Their lawyer, Brian Michael, told me, “It’s inconceivable that they would’ve questioned a fraud that was rooted in a friendship long before Zach went to Hollywood, that they allowed their own families to participate in.”

In the end, there was surprisingly little money to recoup. A receiver, appointed by the court to hunt for assets, reported that an “unknown” sum might be “hidden.” But lawyers involved in the case told me that Horwitz expended most of the money keeping the scheme going. The rest he used to pay for jets and yachts and the pursuit of stardom: prosecutors listed $605,000 to Mercedes-Benz and Audi, $174,000 to party planners, $54,600 for a “luxury watch subscription” service. Six months after his arrest, confronted by extensive evidence of his deceptions, Horwitz pleaded guilty.

On the afternoon of February 14, 2022, I attended the sentencing in a federal courtroom in L.A. Horwitz arrived early, in a tailored blue suit and brown wingtips. His mother and other relatives filled the rows behind the defense table. Prosecutors declared, in a written argument to the judge, “It is difficult to conceive a white-collar crime more egregious.” They noted that Horwitz had begun his scheme by “betraying the trust of his own friends, people who lowered their guard because they could not possibly imagine that someone they had known for years would unflinchingly swindle them and their families out of their life savings.”

Victims had been invited to submit descriptions of the impact on their lives. One investor, identified as a sixty-four-year-old who lost $1.4 million, described coming out of retirement to pay for food and shelter: “I cry every day and have stopped seeing friends or family because of the shame of this financial loss and have a now severe distrust of other human beings. If it was not for my spiritual beliefs, I would have committed suicide.” Another wrote, “I am the mother of a 46-year-old special needs daughter. . . . I will never be able to earn what has been taken from me and my daughter but the emotional damage . . . is even greater.”

Some victims chose to speak in person. Robert Henny, a lanky screenwriter with two young children, stepped to the microphone. “I don’t live an extravagant life style,” he said. “My career could hit bumps and we’d be O.K. Even after my wife’s cancer diagnosis, we were O.K. For fifteen years, we lived frugally.” They had lost $1.8 million in the scheme. “For the first time, we are not O.K. I don’t know if we ever will be,” he said.

When it was Horwitz’s turn to speak, he stood before the judge, his shoulders hunched and hands clasped. “I became the exact opposite person from who I wanted to be,” he said. He wept and paused to collect himself. “I am destroyed and haunted every day and night by the harm that I have caused others.” He asked the judge for a lenient sentence, one that would allow him to “return to my young boys when they are still boys.”

The judge, Mark C. Scarsi, was unmoved. He applied the maximum sentence that prosecutors had requested: twenty years in prison. (Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the disgraced biotech startup Theranos, was sentenced to eleven years; Sam Bankman-Fried, the billionaire founder of FTX, is serving twenty-five.) As the sentence was announced, Horwitz stared into the distance and then up at the ceiling.

After the courtroom emptied out, Henny stopped at the bathroom. As he was preparing to leave, the door opened and Horwitz walked in. “We look at each other,” Henny recalled. “And he goes, ‘Hey, I just want to tell you, I’m so sorry.’ ” Henny, who is six feet four, towered over him. “You took everything from us,” he said.

One of Horwitz’s relatives poked his head in the door and said, “Hey, are we all good here?”

Horwitz reassured him, “Yeah, we’re O.K.,” and the door closed again.

Henny could have asked him why he did it, or how he lived with himself. But, as a writer, he was interested in only one thing: “How did you think you were going to get out of this? What was your endgame?”

Horwitz paused, and then said, “I didn’t have one.”

Until the end, Horwitz seemed to have believed that one of his identities was going to save him—actor, producer, investor. Something had to work. Fake it till you make it.

One morning last November, I took a cab out to the Federal Correctional Institute at Terminal Island. It sits on a peninsula at the far end of an industrial strip, south of Los Angeles, jutting into the waters of the harbor. The facility is surrounded by barbed wire and gun towers, but tauntingly close to the city. Walking inside, I could hear seagulls and the distant rumble of cranes on the docks.

I had exchanged letters and e-mails with Horwitz since his sentencing, in which he agreed to keep the “lines of communication open” but wouldn’t say “anything specific.” He seemed more interested in projecting a narrative of rehabilitation. He described a shift in his mind-set and said, “I am healthier for it every single day.” He imagined teaching a class to fellow-inmates, called “Emotional Intelligence Through Acting,” that would give them a “safe space to express vulnerability.”

I had stopped by the prison hoping to get Horwitz to speak more frankly about his crimes. In the visiting room, he wore a khaki shirt tucked into khaki pants, his hair cropped. He was relaxed and unfailingly polite. But, for all his talk of expressing vulnerability, he was still unwilling to answer questions on the record. In an e-mail later, he told me that publicity doesn’t help, because “all the wounds keep getting ripped open and additional salt being poured on top.”

I was wary of whatever he might tell me, in any case. He had always been conscious of his ability to persuade. At family Thanksgivings, when relatives went around the table saying what made them grateful, he treated it as a “performance,” he wrote later, prepping an answer and “artificially manufacturing it in order to get the sought after result.”

In prison, Horwitz had access to a computer for fifteen minutes at a time. He used it to start a blog, which he called Be That 1, a new variation on his favorite slogan about beating the odds. He offered occasional glimpses of his thinking during the scam—how he’d been “obsessed with belief in a superior life that existed just beyond my grasp”; how he had “put on the smile” despite “living an absolute hell,” with the knowledge that his life was “all bullsh*t ”; how he had portrayed “utmost confidence to everyone” to mask “deep, unresolved internal insecurities.” He recalled the feeling of living a “fabricated life that I had forced myself to believe was reality.” To sustain the delusion, he developed self-protective habits—“avoiding phone calls . . . avoid opening mail . . . avoid checking e-mails”—even though “on some level it was simply denial of what was inevitably coming.”

He also indulged in the language of self-help. Prison, he wrote, was a “journey” of “mending the wounds” and finding “genuine emotion.” People he had tricked were infuriated by the blog; it seemed glib or, perhaps, strategic—a way of assembling material for a relaunch of his life after prison. “I think he wants to be the next version of that guy from ‘Wolf of Wall Street,’ ” Mallory told me. “He loved that movie and watched it over and over again.”

Even from prison, Horwitz couldn’t seem to control his instinct for imposture and assimilation. Reading his blog, the producers of the documentary “Bad Actor” came upon lines that sounded out of place; they turned out to be copied from “Never Finished,” a self-help book by David Goggins, a former Navy SEAL . Goggins wrote that “humility is the antidote to self-pity. It keeps you rooted in reality and your emotions in check.” Horwitz had published that passage in his own voice, changing only “you” and “your” to “me” and “my.”

In Horwitz’s fantasies, you hear echoes of the long tradition of American artifice: of Napoleon Hill, who wrote in “Think and Grow Rich” that “whatever the mind of men can conceive and believe, it can achieve,” and of the clergyman Norman Vincent Peale, who declared, “As you act and persevere in acting, so you tend to become”—a principle impressed on a young real-estate scion named Donald Trump when his family attended Peale’s sermons. At times, this tendency still seems strong enough to overwhelm the systems that we’ve developed to punish it. Even after Elizabeth Holmes was convicted, she voiced a belief that lies are just a stop on the way to truth. Asked what she thought would’ve happened if she had not courted so much attention, she told an interviewer, “We would’ve seen through our vision.”

In my conversations with people who knew Horwitz, many wondered why he risked so much. If it was all for money and fame, why not get out before it became so destructive? I concluded that he was seeking something harder to attain. He spent years performing the parts of a life he desired—the chosen protégé, the coveted talent, the loyal friend. He needed applause, from the server at a pizza restaurant and from his friends toasting him at dinner.

In the end, Horwitz got fame only where most people would want it least: from the true-crime audience. After his arrest, a commenter on Reddit wrote, “This is 100% going to be a movie.” Another agreed: “I’d watch the shit out of this.” Before long, Horwitz’s scheme was the focus of podcasts with names like “Scamfluencers,” “Crime and Wine,” and “Oh My Fraud.” His story was re-created for episodes of “The Con,” on ABC, and “American Greed,” on CNBC.

But most of the people who had worked with him were eager to forget him. When I wrote to a Hollywood veteran, asking about the experience, the response was “Your e-mail is something that I have dreaded in the back of my head for a long time.” The traces of his Hollywood life have been scattered or effaced. The house on Bolton Road was sold and the contents auctioned off. A poster with the slogan that inspired the name of his scheme went for forty-five dollars. And, despite all that Horwitz risked to make it on the big screen, his acting is hard to find. In “The White Crow,” his appearance was edited down to half a second. When “The Gateway” came out, in 2021, he was nowhere on the posters, and Olivia Munn never mentioned him on the press tour. When Brian Cox published a memoir, the movie he made with Zach Avery did not even make the index.

Looking back through his hours of effortful acting, there is one scene that stands out. It’s in “Trespassers,” the home-invasion movie, when his character admits to his wife that he has cheated on her. On set, the director, frustrated with his attempts to get Horwitz to perform, finally told him to ignore the script and let himself go: “Just strip it away. Throw away the line. Just tell her.” After a pause, Horwitz gave himself over to a few seconds of unconcealed feeling. “I fucked up,” he said. “I’m a piece of shit!” He sounded present and broken and strangely relieved. For a moment, you could almost forget that Horwitz was acting. ♦

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