For huge chains like Mcdonalds,Coles,KFC etc..just hand in your resume online(they will likely tell you do so anyway), as said before,a certain manager takes care of resume,and they get many applications a week (trust me my Mcdonalds store has ignored many many resumes every few weeks,if you do not get in,you were certainly fighting for a spot), there is little space in the office and anything like a resume will get lost in the pile within minutes,they prefer online where everything is easy to access and read through.(I notice some of my Mcdonalds managers are usually stressed, which is probably another reason they don't want more to think about when someone personally hands in a resume)
Most of the time it's not really your resume that's the problem it's either your availability or age. They don't really care if you had a academic award, it's either work experience,leadership(such as sports captain) or teamwork(again things such as playing sport) on your resume that counts.They really do prefer cheap wages,so 17-18 is still ok,but they prefer 16 or under. Availability really helps! Tell them you can work from morning(that helps alot because its during school hours, forget your crappy sleep, you've had enough of it. Basically as much availability as possible for these casual positions, IT IS CASUAL therefore they want you to be flexible(and its post HSC so that should be easy for you).