Use these internship resume examples and tips to put together a well-crafted internship resume that shows employers you have the right professional capabilities.
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When figuring out how to apply for an internship role it’s important to do your research and look at not just the job description but the company’s mission statement, history, and social media channels (like LinkedIn) to get an idea of what their ideal candidate looks like. This will also help you find the right keywords and phrases to carefully work into your document so that, even without an extensive work history, you can still make it past their ATS system. Another helpful tip is to look at resume examples for your career level and industry, like the one below, so that you know the best way to structure your document:
An internship resume differs from other resumes in several key ways. Rather than work experience, an intern resume highlights skills, school activities and accomplishments. By following these internship resume examples and tips, you can create a strong resume for an internship in no time.
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An internship can help you make crucial connections at a company you want to work for. The purpose of this role is for interns to learn practical skills related to their career goals by assisting in various jobs at a company. You may choose to do a summer internship or a part-time internship during the school year depending on the company and whether the internship is for academic credits.
To land a great internship position, you need a strong resume. By including these key elements in your resume, you can place yourself ahead of the competition:
Figuring out how to lay out your resume to showcase your best skills is an ongoing process as your career journey continues. You may even be working in a different industry years from now and need to change things around, so don’t be afraid to customize your document as needed. Generally, there are three main types of resume formats you can choose from: Chronological, Combination and Functional.
The best format for your resume depends on your skills and experience, with all three formats being suited to user preference. No matter which resume format you need, ResumeHelp’s Resume Builder can help you format a professional resume in just minutes. There are three strategies when it comes to formatting:
For an internship, you’ll likely use a functional format, but a combination format also works if you have some professional experience under your belt that showcases the skills and qualifications the internship needs.
Considering changing or modifying your resume format?
1. What’s your level of experience?
Different resume formats can be used to highlight different aspects of your career background. If you want to demonstrate that you have a strong work history choose a chronological resume format. With some work experience and a strong set of industry-specific skills, a combination resume would be an excellent choice. If you are new to the workforce but want to emphasize the skills you’ve developed in school, like in our intern resume sample above, a functional resume format is the best fit.
2. Is your career progression the focus of your document?
If you have gaps in your employment history, this should be a consideration for job seekers when choosing the best resume format. If you have been laid off, are light on work experiences or have taken time off for personal reasons, a functional resume format would emphasize relevant skills over your work history. If you want to apply to jobs related to your previous field, but have different training then the best resume format for the job would be a combination resume so you can highlight your transferable skills. The chronological resume format is a solid choice for a professional with a long work history and an impressive career trajectory.
3. Does it pass the ATS test?
A well-organized resume is critical to getting past an applicant tracking system (ATS). ATS software is used by the majority of companies in the U.S. and is designed to scan your resume for a specific set of keywords to weed out unqualified candidates. Crafting a well-organized resume starts with a format that is easy to scan and puts your most impressive achievements front and center.
Your resume header should contain crucial information such as your full name, your phone number, LinkedIn and any additional contact information like portfolio links. Make sure to select a header that is easy to read and isn’t too boxy or distracting.
Your resume summary or resume objective statement may only be a few sentences long, but it’s key to grabbing employers’ attention. A summary (which is preferred by most job seekers with experience) is an overview of your best skills, work achievements and qualifications that is specifically tailored to the company. While an objective is used to tell a recruiter what your career goals are and your reasoning for applying to the role, its focus is on your career path.
An example of an objective statement for a college student is:
Student at XYZ University with experience managing marketing for social media accounts seeking an internship in social media marketing with XYZ Company. PRSSA scholarship award winner with strong technical skills and work ethic.
A summary statement would look like this:
Highly motivated accounting intern offering working knowledge of accounts receivable, accounts payable and financial reporting. Self-starter, with adaptability to a fast-paced environment with extremely aggressive deadlines.
A great resume will be tailored to each internship with keywords from the job description. You can pick out relevant skills, tasks and responsibilities to match up with your own experiences and then make sure to place these crucial skills in your bulleted skills list, summary and a separate skills section if desired. The skills section of your resume is a great place to show recruiters that even though you may be a student or recent graduate, you have what it takes to make it. This is your opportunity to show competencies in both soft and hard skills like this:
Highlight interpersonal skills such as:
And technical skills such as:
This may not be the key section for your internship resume, but you can still provide examples from extracurricular or volunteer work, with quantifying achievements, or highlight relevant accomplishments and specific responsibilities that match what the new job wants. Here’s what that could look like: Conducted market research and analyzed marketing surveys to help team improve sales by 15% by the end of the second quarter.
List your top academic achievements such as your college or high school degrees in this section with the most recent first, along with any awards or honors and your GPA if it is required.
In addition to the basic resume sections above it is important for an internship to be as specific as possible. So if it is relevant to the specific application, you may want to include:
So you’ve followed the tips on this page and you got that internship you wanted. How do you present that experience on your resume moving forward? And what should you do if the notable internship you completed isn’t getting the response you’re looking for from employers? One of our readers asked this very question.
My work history section contains exactly one item: an allegedly impressive, prestigious, highly competitive internship with a major firm in my city. I thought that if I mentioned this internship, potential employers would drool. I was told that with an internship like this under my belt, they would be fighting to sign me on. Guess what? They’re not. Nine resume submissions out of 10 are bringing no response at all, and every tenth submission results in an interview or phone call from an employer who asks about my internship program as if he’s never heard of it before. I feel like a fool. I worked all summer for no pay, just the promise that this opportunity would launch my career. What now?
Well, you can’t get your summer back. What you should do at this point is move forward. You can also adjust the way you present this experience on your resume by following these four tips.
1. Don’t just mention the title of the program you completed. This program isn’t creating the gasps of recognition that you imagined, so you need to be specific. State the title and describe the program in one line, as in:
Internship, Dooley Bartle, Inc.
Three-month on-site training program for college graduates demonstrating academic merit in accounting and finance.
2. Break your program down into specific skill sets or branches of experience. For example, you could create a subheading for leadership training, technical training, professional exposure and so on.
3. Under each subheading, add bullet points that summarize what the program taught you within that category of experience. If your internship included a tour of city hall, list that under professional exposure. If you spent an entire week filing folders, list that under organizational skill development.
4. Above all, highlight any special accomplishments that took place during your internship. Any awards you won and any projects you completed (on your own or with a team) deserve special mention.
In this case, it looks like your potential employers don’t really care who you know; they’re more interested in what you can do. Make changes like the ones we suggest above easily with our quick and simple Resume Builder. The improvements in your resume should get you more positive results in your job search.
If you want to make the best impression with your internship resume you need to be able to adapt to changes quickly and have a set of versatile templates that can help your documents be professional and readable. ResumeHelp has many resources which could help you to create the perfect resume for your next internship opportunity.
Check out these resources if you’re looking for just the right way to present your resume:
A great cover letter is the most effective way to mention your interest in the company and how you believe you’d be the perfect fit for the team by being able to expand on the details of your resume and provide useful background information. If you need help crafting your cover letter ResumeHelp has plenty of cover letter writing tips and cover letter examples you can use to write the perfect accompaniment to your internship resume.
An internship resume is a resume that focuses on education and skills and is highly customized for an internship context. It is used mainly for students and recent graduates to present their background, skills and accomplishments in a way that is easy for recruiters and hiring managers to understand as an internship resume follows the same traditional structure as most resume formats.
The best format for an internship resume depends on how much experience you have. The Reverse-chronological resume format is the most popular format because hiring managers are accustomed to reading it, and it also features your work experience. But, if you don’t have a lot of relevant experience, a functional resume format can place the focus on your skills.
An internship resume allows the candidate to make a strong first impression. A professional-looking internship resume shows hiring managers that you have the right capabilities to excel in the internship. A great resume can also display your abilities to take on a longer-term role in the company. Hiring managers will often keep the resumes of interns when looking to fill entry-level positions. Your resume can help the hiring manager recall all the hard work you put in during your internship experience.
Writing a resume for an internship, especially without direct work accomplishments, means you need to prove your skills another way. The effective combination of a skills-based resume in the functional format and an accompanying cover letter can be an extremely effective way to show that you have the skills required. It can show that you can effectively meet with and work alongside the right people to help you overcome your lack of experience.
Remember to use your skills section (and your cover letter) to show that you’ve researched the company and have curated the right academic or personal experiences for which they are looking.
With no direct work experience it may seem challenging to craft a resume. Instead, you can use research assistance, projects, previous school work and relevant volunteering experiences as the base of your resume. You can also share your accomplishments, achievements, awards or other relevant accolades.
For your summary section, since you don’t have a directed job title, you can create an introduction to yourself and what you can bring to the company. Create some simple but effective points about your personality and how they would enrich the job you would be doing. List soft skills such as hardworking, trainability and communication skills so you can increase your appeal to hiring managers.
A resume is a one-page document that is mainly focused on relevant work experiences and training that pertain to one particular field. How thorough job seekers need to be with the information put on the page is the central difference between a CV and a resume as a CV, for countries, should include every element of your work and academic history and other relevant background information.
Additionally, for some countries and specified industries, it may be appropriate (or required) to include your picture, hobbies, interests and various background details.
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