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Your resume can be a ticket to success or a free pass to failure. It is your chance to showcase your skill, experience, and qualifications and to set yourself apart from other applicants. The ideal resume will contain vital easy to read information that is relevant to the job you are going for. Teen job hunters are more often than not guilty of bombarding their potential employers with irrelevant information. Remember employers don’t have time to read pages and pages of text. It is your job to make it easy for them to access the information they need.

For the teen job seeker a resume is not only an opportunity to inform potential employers. It is a chance to highlight your professionalism and intelligence. A well-prepared resume will help you secure an interview where you will have further opportunity to impress your employer. The way you present the information is as important as the actual content. Whether you are applying for a summer job, part time work or a seasonal job presentation is important.

Present Professionalism:

· Keep it Simple – Be clear and concise, make sure it is easy to read and to understand.
· Structure – Use short sentences, bullet points and high impact words. You only have a small amount of words with which to capture your potentials interest. Make them count.
· Presentation – Use standard fonts (Times New Roman or Arial) and line spacing, keep it traditional. Print on white paper only and make sure you use a quality printer.
· Order – You should list all relevant material in yearly order beginning with the most recent.

Your resume should give potential employers information about you, your qualifications and experience. It will also tell them why you are suited to the position you are going for. For the teen job seeker you can make up for a lack of experience or qualifications with other activities that highlight your attributes. These activities could be volunteer work, sports achievements and educational courses. Remember to keep it simple and only add these sorts of activities in order to present relevant skills.

What your Resume says about you.

· Introductions – Most of this will be done in an accompanying cover letter. You just need to start with a brief section covering your name, age, sex and contact details.
· Strengths – This section will contain a few brief bullet points, what you feel are your relevant strengths. Keep it simple and use high impact words.
· Qualifications - If you have any you should list them in order. Include year of completion, institute and name of qualification. If you are in high school studying for a diploma then put that in the qualifications section.
· Experience – This should contain any relevant work experience. Summer jobs, seasonal work, part time jobs, volunteer work. Include a line or two stating what you did for the company and what the role was that you filled.
· References – Add references, professional ones are best but if you don’t have them character references are fine. A character reference can be from a teacher, coach or someone in the community of significance. You can give these as attached written references or you can simply give the name and contact details of your referee. Make sure you ask them first and let them know they may be contacted.
· Achievements – If you have achieved any awards or have any special commendations you could add these to your resume. Add only significant awards that highlight your attributes.

Your resume should be concise and informative, only 1 or 2 pages max plus a cover letter. Use this an opportunity to put your best foot forward. Create a positive image from start to finish. One that distinguishes you from other teen job applicants and showcases your professionalism, attention to detail and commitment. Your resume says so much more about you than just what is written. Take the time to get it right, pay attention to the little things that make a good resume.

Reading between the lines:

· Check – Make sure you check your resume for spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and sentence structure. These kinds of common mistakes can diminish the effect of your content. Check it over several times and then get someone with a fresh perspective to check it as well.
· Lies – Do not lie on your resume, it puts unnecessary pressure on you. Present yourself in a positive way and definitely talk up your attributes. But do not set yourself up to be caught out or to be put in a situation where you don’t know what your doing.
· Accuracy – Any qualifications, work experience, references or awards should be double checked for accuracy. This is in terms names, dates and institutes.

If you put the work into crafting a professional and effective resume then you will see results. For the teen job seeker learning these skills now will help you in your future job hunting. Remember every job and position you go for will differ. Adapt your resume to meet the needs of each individual application. The sample resume provided should give you a clear understanding of what is required. It is a resume geared towards a junior part time marketing position.

Also Check Out Our Example Resume