Phase 1 · Resume Workshop
Build Your First Real Resume
This guide is written for a first resume — you probably don't have years of jobs to list, and that's normal. School, activities, and volunteer work count as real experience when you frame them right.
A 40-year-old professional's resume and yours should not look the same — and that's fine. Their resume leads with a decade of job titles. Yours leads with what you can prove: school activities, sports, volunteering, and any paid or informal work you've done.
- Header — name, phone, professional email, city/state, LinkedIn URL. No home address, no photo.
- Objective (optional, 1 line) — only include if it says something specific: "Seeking a Field Experience placement in Health Sciences to build hands-on patient care skills." Skip it if it's generic filler.
- Education — Batavia High School, expected graduation year, GPA if it's a strength, relevant coursework if directly useful to the placement.
- Experience / Activities — this is the section that carries your resume. Include any paid jobs, but also sports (team leadership, commitment), clubs (roles held, projects run), volunteer work, and babysitting/lawn care/family business work if it's real and ongoing.
- Skills — a short list, specific not vague: "Proficient in Google Workspace and Canva," not "hard worker."
- References — "Available upon request," with the actual list kept on a separate sheet (see the References section below).
Different placements call for different emphasis. A student applying to a manufacturing placement should foreground safety-mindedness and reliability; a student applying to a creative placement should foreground a portfolio or specific projects. Same structure, different weight.
Employers don't read "I was on the team" and picture what you actually did. Ownership language does the work a job title can't.
| You'd say | Put on your resume | |
|---|---|---|
| I was on the basketball team | → | Committed 15+ hours weekly to team practice and conditioning while maintaining a 3.4 GPA |
| I babysat my cousins | → | Managed childcare responsibilities for two children, including meal prep and homework supervision |
| I helped out at the school store | → | Handled point-of-sale transactions and inventory tracking for the student-run school store |
| I was in student council | → | Organized and led two school-wide fundraising events as a Student Council representative |
| I mow lawns for people | → | Operate a self-run lawn care service for 8 recurring residential clients, handling scheduling and payment |
| I did a group project | → | Coordinated a 4-person team to deliver a research project under a fixed deadline |
| I volunteer sometimes | → | Volunteer monthly at the Batavia Public Library, assisting with children's reading programs |
| I'm the youth group leader's helper | → | Assist in planning and leading weekly activities for a youth group of 20+ participants |
Every bullet point should start with an action verb — not "responsible for," not "in charge of." Pick the verb that actually matches what you did.
- A teacher, coach, or club advisor who's supervised you directly — not just given you a grade
- A previous employer or volunteer coordinator
- Never a parent, sibling, or family friend with no professional relationship to you
"Hi Mr./Ms. [Name] — I'm applying for a Field Experience placement in [cluster], and I wanted to ask if you'd be comfortable being a reference for me. If so, would it help if I sent you a quick summary of what I'm applying for and what I'd love for you to speak to?"
- What you're applying for and why
- 1-2 specific things you'd love for them to mention, if true (reliability, a project, growth you showed)
- A heads-up on timing — don't ask the day before it's due
- A thank-you afterward, regardless of outcome
Before you swap with a partner, get a free first pass from an AI tool. It won't replace human feedback, but it catches weak phrasing fast so your peer review time goes further.
Fix what it flags first. Then swap with a partner — a real person will catch things AI won't, like whether it actually sounds like you.
Don't stare at a blank page. Copy this skeleton, then replace every bracket with your real information.