Including a High School Internship on a Job Resume?

I completed an internship during high school and I'm starting to build my resume. Is it okay to include that experience, and if so, how should I frame it to make it beneficial for future job applications?

You should include your high school internship on your resume. It's relevant work experience that can show potential employers the skills you've developed and roles you've taken on in the past.

When writing about your internship, what you'll want to do is focus on the responsibilities you had and the impact you made. Use action verbs and quantify your accomplishments where possible. Instead of saying, "Assisted with reports," for example, you could say, "Developed and analyzed weekly reports to track key metrics, contributing to a 10% increase in efficiency."

Along those lines, don't hold back on highlighting any and all relevant skills you demonstrated or acquired during the internship. These could include collaboration, problem-solving, project management, or even specific technical skills like graphic design or coding.

However, as your career progresses and you start accumulating more experience, you might need to reassess what stays on your resume. After a while, your high school experiences will become less relevant, but for now, an internship during high school can be a significant advantage in showing your engagement and experience to potential employers.

Remember that your resume should also be tailored to each job you're applying for, meaning you may need to emphasize different parts of your internship experience depending on the role. For instance, you might highlight teamwork for a collaborative role or independent research skills for a role with more autonomy.

As a final note, keep your descriptions concise and readable, avoiding long sentences or deep jargon. Your resume should be easy to understand within a few seconds of scanning.