Think because you lack experience it's time to panic? Think again! If you are a teenager looking for your very first job, here are some ways to add experience and create your first resume!

1- Emphasize your education As a current student (or even just out of high school), you want to emphasize your education. Place your education information at the very top of your resume. If you have a strong GPA, be sure to include this and list any academic awards, honors, or other achievements.

2- Include informal work Experiences such as volunteer, and extracurricular activitiers. Since your work experience is somewhat limited, focus on emphasizing any other forms of work, including volunteer experience or any extracurricular activities you participated in, including clubs, sports, and other organizations. If you happened to do some tutoring, babysitting, gardening, or dog walking, for example, include those as well. Even if these are jobs that don’t require a large skill set, the fact you performed them on a somewhat regular basis shows you have a strong work ethic!

3- Emphasize leadership experience Employers are always looking for job applicants with leadership experience and qualities. If you were a captain of your sports team or the vice president of your student council, be sure to list these positions! You should feel proud of them and show them off in the right ways on your resume.

4- List your skills Consider including a skills section on your resume to include any skills you have that are related to the job you are applying for. For example, you might list your computer, language, or other applicable skills here. Are you a great writer and published pieces for the school newspaper or do you blog regularly and have a ton of loyal followers? Be sure to share that information. Whatever connects your skills to the job should be on your resume...more on that now!

5- Connect your resume to the job Review some job postings you are interested in before creating your resume! Highlight any key qualifications or requirements of the job and determine how YOU are a good match and what you can bring to them. Then be sure to include any experiences and skills in your resume that highlight how you are an ideal fit for that specific job. Think of it this way; I am a good fit for this job because...

6- EDIT your resume! Make sure to proofread your resume before submitting it to an employer (this is a VERY important)! Spellcheck is your best friend! Your format needs to remain consistent and easy to follow, and spelling or grammatical errors are a big no, no. ALWAYS ask a friend, family member, school guidance counselor, or teacher to read through your resume to catch any mistakes before you submit it to a potential employer! They are VERY easy to overlook and sadly you can't take them back once you have submitted your resume.

Lastly, check out this [sample resume] (http://www.mass.edu/gearup/documents/WritingaResume.pdf) and some action words you can add to your resume to make it stand out to employers.

Best of luck with your first resume, you’ll do great!!

As always we are here if you need us on the [community] (https://www.jobcase.com/community) or comment right in this post with your concerns and questions!