How to write a high school student CV for a first part-time job
Keep it to one page: contact details, a two-line profile, your school and exam year, then activities, volunteering and odd jobs with one concrete detail each, and an availability line that fits the hours the law allows at your age.1
Written 13 October 2026. CitedCV. How we write our guides
Check your CV for ATS problems, no account needed
Drop a PDF, DOCX or text file, or paste the text. You get a score, the problems a parser trips on, and your CV as a parser files it.
Runs in your browser. The file and its text never leave this device.
Settle your hours before you write anything
A teenager's CV has one line that an adult's never needs: when you can work. Shift managers plan rotas around it, and under 18 the answer is set partly by law, not only by your timetable. Work it out first, because it decides which jobs are worth applying for at all.
- Your legal limits: term-time and holiday hours, and the earliest and latest times of day, for your age and country (table further down).
- Your real timetable: school hours, homework clubs, training, and travel time to the workplace.
- One adult who has agreed to vouch for you, such as a teacher, coach or volunteer supervisor. CareerOneStop says family and close friends usually do not serve as references.
Write the availability line from the overlap of the first two. Offering hours the law does not allow is not keenness; it puts the employer in an awkward position and wastes the application.
How a first CV is put together
The UK's National Careers Service lists the sections every CV needs: contact details, an introduction, education, work history and references. It says education can come straight after the introduction if you are early in your career. The US Department of Labor's GetMyFuture site adds a volunteering and activities section, and asks for one page that is truthful, brief and checked by someone else.
- Name, phone, email and town. The National Careers Service says a UK CV should not show your age, date of birth, marital status or nationality.
- Profile: two lines on what you are studying and what kind of work you want.
- Availability: days and hours, term time and holidays separately.
- Education: school, the qualifications you are working towards and the year you sit them.
- Experience: any paid work, formal or informal, then volunteering, most recent first.
- Activities: teams, clubs, school roles, with the year.
- Skills: languages, specific tools, any certificate such as first aid.
- References: 'available on request' is enough; the National Careers Service says not to put someone else's contact details on your CV.
What counts when you have never had a job
For a first job, the National Careers Service says you can focus on skills from projects, work experience or volunteering, and on hobbies that show a skill. Its own example is captaining a sports team, which shows leadership and organisation. GetMyFuture names sports, clubs and languages spoken as activities that show responsibility and commitment.
Odd jobs are jobs
Babysitting for neighbours, walking dogs, helping at a family shop or tutoring a younger pupil all go under Experience if someone relied on you and you can say for how long. Give each one a title you would use out loud ("Babysitter, two families"), the months, and one fact that shows reliability: how often, for how many children, with what responsibility.
The two-line profile
Say what you are now and what you are offering, nothing more. "Year 11 student looking for weekend work in a café; used to early starts from a Saturday paper round" tells a manager more than a paragraph about being hard-working and a team player.
Example: a one-page CV for a 16-year-old applying to a café
Illustrative example. Leah Morgan is invented; the lines show the form, not facts to copy. Write only what you could explain to the manager in person.
- Leah Morgan · Sheffield · 07700 900123 · leah.morgan@example.com
- Profile: Year 11 student looking for weekend café work. Used to early starts and to answering customers from a Saturday paper round.
- Availability, term time: Saturdays 9:00 to 17:00 with a one-hour break, Sundays 10:00 to 12:00. School holidays: weekdays up to 8 hours a day, 35 hours a week at most, outside a two-week break each summer.
- Education: secondary school in Sheffield, GCSEs in nine subjects including English, Maths and Food Preparation and Nutrition, exams June 2027.
- Paper round, local newsagent, September 2025 to present: delivers about 60 papers every Saturday between 7:00 and 8:30; one missed round in a year, cover arranged in advance.
- Volunteer, school open-evening café, November 2025: served drinks and took payments for about 150 visitors with two other students.
- Netball team captain, 2025 to 2026: keeps the fixtures list and match-day lifts for 12 players.
- Skills: Food Safety and Hygiene Level 1 online course (March 2026); conversational Spanish.
- References: form tutor and newsagent owner have agreed; details on request.
Why each line is there
| Line | What it answers for the manager |
|---|---|
| Availability split by term and holiday | Can I put you on the rota, and is it legal? The hours match the GOV.UK limits for 15 and 16-year-olds. |
| Paper round with times | Will you turn up? A weekly duty kept for a year is the closest thing to a work record a 16-year-old has. |
| Open-evening café | Have you served people and handled money before? |
| Team captain | Can you organise and be trusted by others, the skill the National Careers Service uses as its example? |
| Food hygiene course | Have you already learned something the job needs? |
| Referees who agreed | Who can confirm all this, without giving out their numbers before you are asked. |
Legal hours for under-18s, read on 13 October 2026
Your availability line must sit inside these limits. The UK and US rows are context; the Turkish rules are set out in more detail because they come from one national law and one regulation, with no state or council variations.
| Rule | UK (England, GOV.UK) | US (federal, Department of Labor) | Türkiye (İş Kanunu art. 71 and the youth-worker regulation) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Youngest age for part-time work | 14; some councils allow 13 | 14 for non-farm jobs | 14, for light work only, after compulsory primary education |
| Term-time limit | 12 hours a week; at most 2 hours on school days and Sundays | 3 hours on a school day, 18 hours in a school week | 2 hours a day and 10 hours a week, outside school hours, for children attending school |
| Holiday limit | 14: 25 hours a week; 15 to 16: 35 hours a week | 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week | 7 hours a day and 35 a week; up to 8 and 40 from age 15 |
| Time of day | Not before 7am or after 7pm | Not before 7am or after 7pm (9pm from 1 June to Labor Day) | No work in the night period, which starts by 20:00 and ends no earlier than 06:00 |
| Other conditions | A council permit where bylaws require it; a two-week break each summer holiday | Where a state law is stricter, the state law applies | Written contract signed with a parent or guardian; proof of being a student; no work on national or public holidays |
Which jobs a Turkish teenager can take
The Turkish regulation lists the work allowed by age. At 14, only the ten light jobs in its Annex 1, such as selling in a bakery, patisserie, greengrocer or alcohol-free restaurant, office help, labelling and hand packing, and help at sports facilities and libraries. From 15, Annex 2 adds work such as sales, labelling and packing in shops and service-sector jobs other than bars and cooking. Whatever the age, under-18s may not do cash carrying and collection, piece-rate work or work in the night period.
Write availability inside those limits
Put term time and holidays on separate lines, give clock times, and leave out anything the rules exclude. A Turkish student offering bayram shifts, or a 15-year-old in England offering 7pm closes, is telling the employer they have not checked.
Rules change and vary locally. Check the linked official pages, and in the UK your council, before you list your hours.
Where this page stops
- University students: campus jobs and internships are a different CV; see the internship resume guide, and the UK student part-time guide if you are on a Student visa.
- Apprenticeships and vocational school placements: in Türkiye these are set by the Ministry of National Education, not by the regulation summarised here.
- Work in film, theatre or advertising: the UK needs a performance licence for under-14s, and Türkiye a written contract and a permit for each activity.
- US state rules: many states set lower limits than the federal ones; your state labour department has them.
- This is a CV guide, not legal advice. If an employer asks you to work outside the limits above, ask a teacher or parent to check with the authority.
After the CV
- Hand it in or email it with three or four lines saying which job, which hours, and why that place. The cover letter guide has the format if the employer asks for one.
- Many chains use an online form instead; copy your availability and experience lines into it exactly as on the CV so the two match.
- Before sending, run the file through the free checker on this site. It needs no account and flags missing contact details, unreadable dates and layouts a parser may misread.
- CitedCV can turn the facts you type in (school, odd jobs, activities) into a one-page CV in English or Turkish, and leaves out the date of birth when you choose the UK or US style.
Questions people ask
How do I make a CV at 16 with no work experience?
Put your school and exam year near the top, then volunteering, clubs, sports roles and any informal paid work such as babysitting, each with one concrete detail. Add an availability line and keep it to one page.
What should a 15 year old put on a CV?
Contact details, a two-line profile, school and qualifications in progress, any odd jobs or volunteering, activities with a role, a few specific skills and an availability line that respects the legal hours for your age.
How many hours can a 15 year old work in the UK?
Twelve hours a week in term time, GOV.UK says, with at most 2 hours on school days and Sundays and 8 on Saturdays. In school holidays the cap is 35 hours a week.
Can a 14 year old get a job?
Yes, in light part-time work in the UK, the US and Türkiye, within strict hour limits. Some UK councils allow 13; in Türkiye only the light jobs listed in the regulation are open to 14-year-olds.
Should I put my age or date of birth on my first CV?
Not on a UK CV; the National Careers Service says to leave out age and date of birth. The employer will still ask your age separately, because the hour limits depend on it.
Do I need references on a high school CV?
Not their contact details. Write 'references available on request' and line up a teacher, coach or volunteer supervisor who has agreed. Family and close friends usually do not count, CareerOneStop says.
Should I list predicted grades on a student CV?
Only if they help and you can stand behind them. Naming the qualifications and the year you sit them is enough for most part-time jobs; add grades once you have results.
Can a 16 year old work evenings?
Only up to a point. In England children of compulsory school age cannot work after 7pm; in the US the 7pm limit applies to 14 and 15-year-olds; in Türkiye under-18s may not work in the night period.
Sources
- GOV.UK: Child employmentwww.gov.uk/child-employment
- GOV.UK: Restrictions on child employmentwww.gov.uk/child-employment/restrictions-on-child-employment
- US Department of Labor, YouthRules: Non-agricultural jobs, ages 14 and 15www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/youthrules/young-workers/non-ag-14-15
- US Department of Labor, YouthRules: Young workerswww.dol.gov/agencies/whd/youthrules/young-workers
- National Careers Service: How to write a CVnationalcareers.service.gov.uk/careers-advice/cv-sections
- CareerOneStop GetMyFuture (US Department of Labor): Resumeswww.careeronestop.org/GetMyFuture/Employment/resumes.aspx
- İş Kanunu No. 4857 (mevzuat.gov.tr), articles 69 and 71www.mevzuat.gov.tr/MevzuatMetin/1.5.4857.pdf
- Çocuk ve Genç İşçilerin Çalıştırılma Usul ve Esasları Hakkında Yönetmelik (mevzuat.gov.tr)www.mevzuat.gov.tr/File/GeneratePdf?mevzuatNo=5457&mevzuatTur=KurumVeKurulusYonetmeligi&mevzuatTertip=5