How long should a school leaver resume be?

One page. Two pages only if you have substantial paid work, leadership roles or a portfolio that genuinely supports the application. Recruiters spend less than 10 seconds on a first scan; two pages of thin content reads as padding.

Do I include my ATAR or Year 12 results?

Yes if they are strong and relevant, no if they are average and the job does not require them. A 95+ ATAR is worth including for graduate trainee roles, banking and consulting cadetships. For retail, hospitality or trades, your reliability and availability matter more than any number from school.

Should I include a photo?

No. Photos are standard on European CVs but Australian recruiters expect text-only resumes. A photo on an Australian application can introduce unconscious bias and is sometimes used to filter applications out at the screening stage.

Do I need a personal statement at the top?

A short 2 to 3 line summary is fine if it is specific. Generic statements like 'a hard-working motivated individual seeking growth opportunities' are filler and get skipped. If you can be specific (year 12 leaver targeting a customer-facing role in retail or hospitality), keep it. If you cannot, leave it off.

How to write a resume as a school leaver in Australia

Your first resume is a one-page document that proves three things: you turn up, you are easy to manage, and you can string a sentence together. That is genuinely it. Everything else on the page either supports those three claims or wastes space.

The one-page format

Australian school-leaver resumes work best in this order:

Name and contact details at the top. Phone, email and suburb. No postal address. No date of birth. No marital status.
A short personal summary (2 to 3 lines) only if you can be specific.
Education, with your school, year completed and any ATAR or strong subject results.
Work experience if you have any, including casual, volunteer, school-based traineeships, sport coaching or paid tutoring.
Skills and software, kept practical and honest.
Achievements and leadership, if relevant (school captain, debating team, sport, music, community).
Referees, with the line 'Available on request' if you do not want to list them up front.

Stick to one column, one font, one size. Saving as PDF avoids most layout mistakes. Filename like firstname-lastname-resume.pdf.

What 'experience' actually means at 17

If your CV is light on paid work, you are not unusual. Most school leavers are in the same position. The trick is to translate non-paid experiences into the language recruiters use.

School captain or house leader: 'Led a team of 8 prefects, ran weekly assemblies for 150 students, organised the year 12 formal budget of $12,000.'
Sport: 'Captained school first XI for two seasons, coached the under-13s on Saturdays, weekly commitment of 8 hours during season.'
Volunteering: 'Volunteered at the local PCYC tutoring program 2 hours per week for one school year, supporting year 9 maths students.'
Tutoring or babysitting: 'Private tutored four year 9 maths students for 18 months, fully self-managed including parent communication and invoicing.'

The pattern: what you did, how much of it you did, who benefited. A resume line that quantifies (hours, students, dollars, weeks) is twice as memorable as a vague one.

Skills that are worth listing

Honest skills, not buzzwords. A school leaver can reasonably list:

Microsoft Office or Google Workspace at a fluent level. Spreadsheet basics matter for almost every entry-level role.
A second language, with the level (HSC Continuers, family fluent, conversational, beginner). Australian recruiters value second-language ability for customer-facing roles in major cities.
Driver licence and car access if the role needs it. Trades, deliveries, in-home work and regional jobs all assume yes.
First aid certificate, RSA, RCG, white card, working with children check, with the issuing state. If the role needs one of these you cannot start without it; listing what you already have moves you to the top of the pile.
Programming or design tools if you genuinely use them. Saying 'Photoshop' when you have only opened it once is risky; recruiters quiz you in screening calls.

Skills you should not list: 'team player', 'good communicator', 'fast learner', 'attention to detail'. These are claims, not skills. If you can show them in your achievements section, you do not need to list them as skills.

What to leave off entirely

Hobbies that are completely generic (reading, listening to music, hanging out with friends).
Your TFN or any bank details. The employer asks for these after you sign a contract, not during the application.
Long lists of every subject you took in years 7 to 10.
Your photo. Your religion. Your ethnicity. Your visa status, unless asked.
'References available on request' as a header with no other content. If you write the line, you have the references ready.

Tailoring without faking

Tailoring means moving the most relevant content to the top, not inventing experience. A 'tailored' resume for a retail role at JB Hi-Fi prioritises customer service and tech knowledge. A 'tailored' resume for the local bakery prioritises early starts, food handling certificates and reliability. The bulk of the resume is the same; what moves up varies.

Use the actual job description as your checklist. Copy the words the employer uses (with intent, not by stuffing keywords) and ensure your CV shows you can do each named task.

Common mistakes

Too long. Two pages with no paid work is a tell. Cut.
Email address from year 8. daddyslittleshredder99@gmail.com is not the signal you want to send. Make a clean firstname-lastname account if needed.
Wrong file name. Resume_FINAL_v3_2.pdf reads as casual. So does resume.pdf with no name.
Fancy design. Coloured boxes, infographics, icons next to each section: most ATS (applicant tracking systems) cannot parse these. Plain text wins.
Same opening line on every cover letter. Recruiters in the same town talk to each other; the obvious template gets noticed.

Cover letter template for school leavers
LinkedIn for teenagers
STAR method for interview answers
Career finder quiz if you are unsure what kind of role to target

The information here is general only and is not employment, legal or financial advice. For advice on your individual situation, talk to your school careers adviser or a Workforce Australia provider at workforceaustralia.gov.au.