First jobs, apprenticeships and graduates · Entry level · UK conventions

School leaver applying for a first job (retail assistant): resume example, explained

This fictional example shows a 17-year-old in the final year of sixth form applying for a part-time retail assistant job at a fictional homeware shop with no paid work history: GCSEs and A levels listed plainly, and a Saturday volunteering shift and a hobby project written as evidence of reliability, handling money and dealing with customers. Each decision is explained, three weak bullets are rewritten from their evidence, and the editable download lets you replace every detail. Nothing here describes a real person, school or employer.

Illustrative example. An illustrative, invented 17-year-old in the second year of A levels at a fictional sixth-form college, applying for a part-time retail assistant role at a fictional homeware shop. Every school, employer, date and figure is fictional.

Editable version of this example (.docx)

Kai Robertson-Adeyemi

School leaver · A level student · available weekends and school holidays

Nottingham · 07700 900 314 · kai.robertson-adeyemi@example.com

Profile

Sixth-form student taking A levels in Business, Geography and Mathematics, with eight GCSEs including English and Maths. Volunteers on the till of a fictional charity shop every Saturday, has run a bike repair-and-resell project for over a year, and is looking for a part-time retail assistant role of around 12 hours a week at weekends, with more in the holidays.

Experience

Volunteer Shop Assistant — Fictional Ridgeway Hospice charity shop

September 2025 – present · High-street charity shop; volunteer team of about 20; one six-hour Saturday shift a week.

Serve customers on the till for a six-hour Saturday shift most weeks, taking card and cash payments and counting the float with the shift supervisor at close; no unexplained differences in 14 months.
Sort, steam and price around 60 donated items a shift using the shop's pricing guide and rotate the rails before opening.
Covered the Sunday shift at short notice on four occasions in the past year when another volunteer was ill.

Bike repair and resale project (self-run) — Own project, from home

June 2024 – present

Bought, repaired and resold 11 second-hand bikes over 16 months, sourcing parts online and keeping a spreadsheet of costs and sale prices.
Wrote each listing with photos of the repair and answered buyers' questions within a day, meeting every buyer with a parent present.

Education

A levels in Business, Geography and Mathematics (in progress, expected June 2027), a fictional sixth-form college
8 GCSEs at grades 9 to 5 including English Language (6), Mathematics (6) and Business (7), Fictional Oakfield Academy, 2025

Availability

Saturdays and Sundays all year, weekdays in school holidays; can start within two weeks of an offer

Skills

Till operation, card and cash payments, cash-up · Stock sorting, pricing and rail rotation · Face-to-face customer service · Spreadsheet basics for costs and sales · Basic bike maintenance and parts sourcing

Why it is written this way

The volunteering shift is written as a job, because it is one

A school leaver's resume for a first retail job is read for three things: will the applicant turn up, handle money carefully and be polite to customers. Fourteen months of Saturday shifts on a till, with a cash-up and no unexplained differences, answer all three, so the charity shop role sits first and is written with the frequency and scale of paid work. 'Volunteer' stays in the title because it is true.

Education is near the top but kept to two lines

For a school leaver, qualifications are the main formal evidence, so GCSEs and A level subjects come before skills, compressed to two lines with grades for English, Maths and Business only. National Careers Service resume guidance says you can add education after the introduction if you are early in your career or do not have much work experience.

The hobby project is evidence, not a personality note

Repairing and reselling 11 bikes sits in experience rather than under interests because it shows what a retail advert asks for: honest product descriptions, costs tracked on a spreadsheet and replies to customers. Written as 'interests: cycling', the same activity would prove nothing. Any hobby involving money, other people or deadlines can be written this way.

Availability is stated plainly and personal details are left off

Part-time retail adverts hire for specific shifts, so the resume says when the applicant can work and when they can start. It leaves off date of birth and a photo: the National Careers Service says you should not include your age, your date of birth, whether you are married or your nationality, and the shop confirms any age requirement and right to work through its verified recruitment process.

Bullet rewrites, and the evidence behind them

Each rewrite was produced by asking an evidence question and using only the (fictional) answer. No number appears in a rewrite that is not in its evidence.

Before
Volunteer at a charity shop on Saturdays.
Evidence question
How long is the shift, how often, and is anything measurable?
Evidence (fictional)
Six-hour Saturday shift most weeks for 14 months; till, card and cash; float counted with the supervisor at close; no unexplained differences.
After
Serve customers on the till for a six-hour Saturday shift most weeks, taking card and cash payments and counting the float with the shift supervisor at close; no unexplained differences in 14 months.
Before
I like fixing bikes in my spare time.
Evidence question
How many bikes, over how long, and what did you keep track of?
Evidence (fictional)
11 second-hand bikes bought, repaired and resold over 16 months; parts sourced online; costs and sale prices kept in a spreadsheet.
After
Bought, repaired and resold 11 second-hand bikes over 16 months, sourcing parts online and keeping a spreadsheet of costs and sale prices.
Before
Good team player and reliable.
Evidence question
When did being reliable cost you something, and can anyone confirm it?
Evidence (fictional)
Covered the Sunday shift at short notice on four occasions in the past year; the shop manager has agreed to give a reference.
After
Covered the Sunday shift at short notice on four occasions in the past year when another volunteer was ill (reference available from the shop manager).

Try it on your own bullets with the bullet workbench, which asks the same questions and never adds a figure you did not supply.

Transferable skills in this example

Handling money accurately
Evidence: Till payments and a supervised cash-up every Saturday for 14 months with no unexplained differences.
Where it helps: Any role with a till, and later administration and finance support.
Turning up when it matters
Evidence: Fourteen months of Saturday shifts and four short-notice Sunday covers.
Where it helps: Every first job; the quality part-time employers say they cannot teach.
Describing a product honestly
Evidence: Eleven bike listings with photos of each repair, and buyers' questions answered within a day.
Where it helps: Retail, customer service and online selling; later, sales or marketing assistant roles.
Keeping simple records
Evidence: A spreadsheet of costs and sale prices, and the shop's pricing guide applied to about 60 items a shift.
Where it helps: Stockroom roles, business administration apprenticeships and any job with stock counts.

Occupation notes

Hard requirements

Minimum age and hours as the advert states them. Some retail adverts state a minimum age (often 16 or 18); apply where the stated requirement fits. In England, GOV.UK's school leaving age guidance says that after leaving school at 16 you must, until you are 18, stay in full-time education, start an apprenticeship, or spend 20 hours or more a week working or volunteering while in part-time education or training; Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have different rules.
Right to work. GOV.UK states that you need to prove your right to work in the UK to your employer before you start working for them; a verified employer may check it during recruitment, so the resume carries no nationality, date of birth or document numbers.

Vocabulary that belongs on the page

Till, float, cash-up, variance
Shop floor, stockroom, rail rotation, replenishment
Age-restricted sales (items with a minimum customer age; adverts say whether the role involves them)
Zero-hours, fixed hours, contracted hours
Key holder, opening and closing, lone working, probation
GCSE grades 9 to 1 (England; 9 is the highest), A levels, predicted grades

Pitfalls specific to this occupation

Opening with 'hard-working, enthusiastic and a fast learner' with nothing underneath; a retail manager reads the next line for proof and finds a list of GCSEs.
Hiding the volunteering under 'hobbies' or leaving it off because it was unpaid; for a school leaver it is the only evidence of turning up for a shift and handling money.
Listing every GCSE with its grade and exam board, which takes a third of the page and tells the shop nothing it will not confirm later.
Putting a date of birth or a photo on a resume that will be emailed around; the National Careers Service says not to include your age or date of birth.

UK and US differences

UK: Most UK part-time retail roles are applied for through a short online form or a resume handed in at the shop; either way it is read for availability, reliability and money handling first, so keep it to one page.

US: A US high-school student's first-job resume follows the same logic: education first with the expected graduation date, volunteering and a side project written as experience with numbers, and availability stated. Use the wording and spelling in the US advert.

Common questions

Should a school leaver resume include a personal statement when there is no work history?

Yes, but keep it to three or four lines: what you are studying, the one piece of experience that matters and the hours you want. The National Careers Service describes the introduction as a few short lines that sum up who you are and what you hope to do.

Can I put a hobby project in the experience section of a resume?

If it involved money, other people or deadlines, yes: give it dates, say what you did with numbers, and label it honestly as self-run. If it was purely for enjoyment, a single line under interests is enough.

Sources

School leaving age (GOV.UK)GOV.UK · UK · checked 3 November 2026
Prove your right to work to an employer (GOV.UK)GOV.UK · UK · checked 3 November 2026
How to write a resume (National Careers Service)National Careers Service · England · checked 3 November 2026

Published 6 November 2026 · Every person, employer and figure in this example is fictional. Drafted with AI assistance and checked against Luceria’s editorial standards.