Should I list a high school co-op job on my resume?

I've completed a co-op program in high school and it was super relevant to the field I want to study in college. Should I include it on my resume, and if so, how can I present it effectively to stand out?

High school co-op programs certainly belong on your resume, especially if they are in the field you hope to study in college. These types of experiences can show admissions officers that you have real-world skills and a commitment to your intended field of study.

When presenting your co-op experience on your resume, there are some steps you can take to maximize its impact:

1. Heading: Create a heading that indicates the section as "Work Experience" or "Co-op Experience". This should be placed somewhere that aligns with its relevance and importance to your application - perhaps after 'Education' and 'Extracurricular Activities'.

2. Position and Company: List the position you held and the name of the company or organization where you completed your co-op. This should be in bold or a larger font to draw attention.

3. Dates and Location: Underneath the position and company, include the full dates of your co-op (month and year) and the location (city, state). These details provide context and show your commitment.

4. Description: Use bullets to give a concise description of your duties, responsibilities, and achievements during your co-op. Focus not only on what you did but the skills you learned and the impact you made. Be as specific as possible, using numbers or details to emphasize your points where relevant. For instance, if you did a co-op in an engineering firm and worked on a specific project, you could write something like "Collaborated with a team of 4 engineers to design and prototype a water filtration system, resulting in a 30% increase in filtration efficiency."

5. Skills Highlighted: To make it stand out even more, you can also include a "Skills Highlighted" subsection where you succinctly list down the top skills you acquired from your experience. These can be both hard skills (like specific software or tools you learned to use) and soft skills (like teamwork, leadership, or problem-solving).

Through these steps, your co-op job can provide a strong and compelling component of your overall resume. It's all about showing how the experience has prepared you for higher education and your future career path. Good luck!