SILC HIGH SCHOOL - You are almost finished your educational journey with EICS! Whew! Check this page out to get info on Life after High School, Scholarships, Resume & Interview tips.
Life After High School - Now What?
Figuring out what to do after High School can be tough - do you apply for post secondary or take some time off / work / travel? It's a hard decision so here are some valuable things to consider:
If you’re unsure about your next steps after high school, you’re not alone.
After finishing high school, there are a few options may consider:
taking time off
getting a job
doing another year of high school
travelling
volunteering
going to post-secondary school (ie college or university)
It’s OK to have questions and be unsure about life after high school. There are no right or wrong decisions. If you need help making a decision, check with your school guidance or career counsellor — they can help you weigh your options and make a plan based on the best decision for you.
It’s important to remember that many people change their minds as time goes on and circumstances change — you may switch jobs, change academic programs or even take time off later in life. What you do over the next few years doesn’t have to be what you do forever.
If you’d like to talk about your options, you can always call Kids Help Phone at 1-800-668-6868.
Post-secondary education
Post-secondary education is an option for some people. If you’re considering college or university, it’s important to think about the profession that you’re interested in, where you want to go to school and how you’ll pay for it.
Deciding on what type of post-secondary education is right for you depends on the career path you’d like to take. Generally, college programs are designed to prepare students for specific jobs, while university programs offer broader areas of knowledge. To help you prepare, you can visit the schools you’re considering and speak to people in the programs you’re looking at.
How am I going to pay for post-secondary school?
Although post-secondary school can be an investment in your future, it can also be very expensive. Here are some ways you can fund your post-secondary education:
Loans: there are many different types of loans that you can apply for in order to pay for things like tuition (fees for attending the school), rent and everyday expenses.
Government/student loans: some young people are eligible for student loans, which are funded in combination with the federal and provincial governments. These can cover part of or the entire cost of tuition. Student loans are usually paid back over several years (often with interest) on a monthly basis.
Bank loans: you may also consider a bank loan. You can speak to your bank about your options. It’s important to ask about interest rates and how they’ll affect your monthly repayments after graduation.
Scholarships and bursaries: these are sums of money awarded to students based on academic merit or financial need. Unlike a loan, you don’t have to pay this money back. Students are allocated scholarships and bursaries for things like high school grades, volunteer hours and their current situation (e.g. financial need). You can speak to your school’s guidance counsellor for more information about the options available to you.
Work: working part time can help you earn money for tuition, books, living expenses and more. (You could also take a year off school to work and save.)
Savings: the earlier you start saving for school, the better. You may have savings from your job in high school, an education fund or gifts you’ve received.
What about student life?
Once you’ve made a plan to fund your post-secondary education, you can consider how you’ll budget for:
Housing: if you can’t live at home, you may live in a student residence or in nearby housing. Many post-secondary schools can provide housing support.
School supplies: you’ll need to buy books, stationery and likely a computer in order to be prepared for classes. You may be able to purchase used items or borrow what you need from the school library.
Living expenses: you’ll also have groceries, Internet, a phone and other expenses to consider. (Don’t forget about social events and leisure activities as well!)
Roommates: sharing an apartment or house is a great way to save money. Plus, you’ll have the chance to meet new people (and make new friends).
Scholarships
Alberta_High_School_SCHOLARSHIP_LIST_-September_8,_2020 (1).pdfResume & Interview support
Resume Writing Tips & Tricks
Writing a resume when you're a high school student can seem daunting. How can you demonstrate your aptitude for the job when you don’t have much (or any) formal work experience?
Here's the good news: Even if you're writing your first resume, chances are that you have more work experience than you think. Experiences like babysitting, lawn mowing, and volunteering all help to show valuable work skills that employers want to see. Just because you haven’t had a job like the one you are applying for, doesn’t mean you haven’t acquired the skills necessary to succeed.1
One of the best ways to get started on your resume as a high school student is to look at examples of student resumes and read tips on what to include and how to format your resume.
Source: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/high-school-resume-examples-and-writing-tips-2063554
What to Include in Your Resume
Informal Work Experience and Activities: If you have formal paid work experience, certainly include it. Otherwise, you can include informal work like babysitting, pet sitting, lawn mowing, shoveling snow, or anything else you've done to earn money. Even if you didn't collect a regular paycheck, informal work still displays skills and your reliability as an employee.
Since most high school students haven't held a lot of jobs, it is important to draw upon all aspects of your life that show you have the character, work ethic, skills, and personality to succeed in a job.
Mention your extracurricular activities, volunteer work, academics, and athletic pursuits.
List Leadership Roles: If you held any sort of leadership positions in these roles (such as secretary of a club or team captain), be sure to note this. For each item, include a bulleted list of your responsibilities and accomplishments.
Promote Your Attitude and Performance: Employers will be most interested in your work habits and attitude. They don't expect you to have a lot of experience. If you have perfect or near-perfect attendance and are punctual for school and other commitments, you might include language to that effect when describing an experience.
If supervisors, teachers, or coaches have recognized you for a positive attitude or outstanding service, mention it in your description of the activity.
Mention Your Achievements: Employers look for staff who have a history of making positive contributions. Review each of your experiences and ask yourself if there are achievements in class, clubs, sports, or the workplace that you can include. If so, use verbs like enhanced, reorganized, increased, improved, initiated, upgraded, or expanded to show what you accomplished. Include any challenging advanced academic projects since this shows employers that you are intelligent and a hard worker.
Tips for Writing a High School Resume
Make an Outline: Make a quick list or outline of all possible experiences, paid and unpaid, to include in your resume before you try to find the right language to describe them. Think of this as a brainstorming step and try to jot down as much down as you can. Your outline should include:2
Contact Information
Summary of your qualifications
Work experience
Education
Volunteering
Activities
Include Resume Skills: It's always a good idea to include skills related to the jobs for which you are applying. You probably have many skills that you can include that you acquired in school, sports, youth groups, extra-curricular activities, or volunteering.
Use Action Words: Use active language when describing your experiences, so you are portrayed in a dynamic way. Start the phrases in your descriptions with action words like organized, led, calculated, taught, served, trained, tutored, wrote, researched, inventoried, created, designed, drafted, and edited.
Keep It Short (But Include All Necessary Information). Your resume doesn't need to be any longer than a page. Some sections of the resume—such as contact information and experience—are required. But others, such as an objective or career summary, are optional.3
Tell a Story. Connect your experience and skills with the qualifications for the role. For example, if you’re applying for a cashier position, but haven’t yet held a job with that exact title, emphasize your customer service skills, facility with mathematics, work ethic, and ability to work as a team. Read the job description and match your experience with their requirements.
Proofread Your Draft and Print Copies: Review your draft very carefully before finalizing your document and make sure there are no spelling or grammatical errors. Ask your guidance counselor, parents, or a favorite teacher to critique your resume.
High School Resume Example
This is an example of a resume for a high school student. Download the high school resume template (compatible with Google Docs and Word Online) or see below for more examples.
High School Resume Sample (Text Version)
Steven Student
123 Forest Street, Charleston, WV 25329
Cell: (123) 555-5555 ▪ steven.student@email.com
Qualifications
Highly focused and responsible high school student guaranteed to contribute strongly within a customer service role requiring enthusiasm, charismatic communications skills, and an exemplary work ethic.
Communications: Convey information persuasively both orally and in writing. Facility for building positive relationships with others with humor, helpfulness, and cultural sensitivity.
Teamwork: Able to apply lessons learned as a lettered student athlete to motivate and support all team members in assigned tasks and projects.
Mathematics: A+ math student, with ability to use superb mental math skills to ensure accuracy in order processing, cash handling, and credit transactions.
Technical Proficiencies: Solid command of Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and of social media. Swift learner, easily mastering new software systems.
Education
George Washington High School, Charleston, WV; 3.75 GPA
Honor Roll, National Honor Society, Co-Captain, Boys Swim Team; Debate Team; Math Club; Student Math Mentor
Experience Highlights
Steve’s Lawncare Services, Charleston, WV
Gardener, June 2020 to Present
Provide ongoing lawncare services to 25+ regular clients. Communicate with customers to schedule services and define requirements; mow, weed, and rake lawns and gardens and shovel snow.
Built a lasting clientele through word-of-mouth referrals from satisfied customers.
Habitat for Humanity, Charleston, WV
Volunteer, June 2019 to Present
Team with fellow church youth group members to contribute to Habitat for Humanity projects. Work on construction teams to erect new housing for low-income families.
Conceptualized and coordinated fundraising Christmas bazaar that raised over $5K for organization.
More Resume Examples for Teens
Review more resume examples for teen job seekers:
Job Interview Tips & Tricks
The key to impressing an employer during a job interview is to be prepared and to position your own unique skills to show how you would succeed in the role.
Read below for information on types of student interview questions and advice on how to answer those questions. You can also review job interview questions that employers commonly ask high school students, college students, and graduates seeking part-time, summer, and full-time entry-level jobs. There are also examples of the best answers for each of the interview questions.
source: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/student-job-interview-questions-and-answers-2063815
Types of Student Job Interview Questions
There are several types of interview questions a student or recent graduate might be asked in interviews.
Behavioral Interview Questions
Many interview questions will be behavioral interview questions. These questions require you to provide an example of a time when you did something work-related in the past. For example, an interviewer might ask, “Tell me about a time you had to complete a group project under a tight deadline.” Interviewers ask questions about your past to see what kind of employee you might be in the future.
These kinds of questions require you to think of examples from past experiences. To answer these questions, use the STAR interview response technique. Describe the specific example you are thinking of (it helps to think of examples in advance). Explain the situation and what you did to either solve the problem or achieve success. Then, describe the result.
As a student or recent graduate, you might not have a lot of work experience.
You can draw on your experiences as a student, an intern, or even a volunteer.
If you participated in any extracurricular activities, you can talk about those experiences too.
Sample Questions:
Tell me about a time you made a mistake. How did you handle it?
Have you ever missed a deadline? Why did it happen?
Can you give me an example of how you handled a challenge?
Situational Interview Questions
Situational interview questions ask you to consider a possible future situation at work. An interviewer might ask, “How would you handle working on three tasks that are all due at the same time?” Although these are about future situations, you can still sometimes answer with an example from a past experience.
An example adds credibility to your answer.
When you provide examples, try to use examples that are closely related to the job you’re applying for. Think about past work, volunteer, or school experiences that required skills similar to those needed for this job.
Sample Questions:
What would you do if you were working on two projects with tight deadlines and you were running out of time?
How would you handle a disagreement with a team member?
What’s the biggest issue you’ve had at a past job or internship? How did you handle it?
Questions about You
Interviewers will ask you a lot of questions about you. Some of these will be straightforward questions about your education and work history. Others will be about your character, such as your strengths and weaknesses.
To prepare for these kinds of questions, be sure to review your resume and cover letter thoroughly. Also, look at a list of common interview questions to prepare answers for questions about yourself. Remember to answer honestly, but always put a positive spin on your answers.
Sample Questions:
Tell me about yourself. - Best Answers
What are you looking for in a job? - Best Answers
What are you passionate about? - Best Answers
Questions about the Company
The employer might also ask you questions about the company, and why you think you are a good fit for the position. To answer these questions, be sure to research the company ahead of time.
Get a sense of the company culture—its mission, the work environment, and what the company looks for in employees.
Sample Questions:
Describe your ideal boss. - Best Answers
Do you enjoy working in a fast-paced environment? - Best Answers
What interests you about this job? Best Answers
Examples of the Best Answers
High School Job Interview Questions and Answers: Even though high school students don't have much, if any, work experience, it's still important to be prepared to answer questions about your ability to do the job and your education and school activities.
College Job Interview Questions and Answers: For college students and recent graduates, it's important to relate your education, extracurricular activities, and experience (work and campus) to the job for which you are applying. Here are some sample questions you might be asked during an entry-level job interview and examples of the best way to answer.
Entry-Level Interview Questions and Answers: The interview questions that hiring managers ask entry-level candidates will typically be focused on why you are interested in the job and why the company should hire you. Review these entry-level interview questions and be prepared to respond effectively to the interviewer.
Summer Job Interview Questions: When you interview for a summer job, you'll be asked about your qualifications and your school schedule. Review the questions you will likely be asked during a summer job interview, plus tips on the best way to answer summer job interview questions.
Part-Time Interview Questions: Here are some typical part-time job interview questions and the best answers to interview questions you'll be asked when applying for a part-time job.
More Job Interview Questions and Answers: Review more of the most frequently asked job interview questions, plus examples of answers for each interview question employers ask.
Student Job Interview Tips
Ready to ace the interview? Review these job interview tips for high school and college students and graduates to be sure you are thoroughly prepared for a successful interview.
The more you prepare and practice, the better your chances of getting a job offer.
Want to do a mock interview or have someone review your resume? Reach out to your FWW: katy.parsons@eics.ab.ca