If you’re applying for an internship, it’s likely that you don’t have much job experience to add to your resume. But that’s okay; dig into any projects, internships, events, or seminars that are relevant to the role you’re applying for. You can even conduct research into the organization, discover what they’re about and align your long-term goals and personal ideologies with theirs. This can work wonders to convey why you’re a good fit for the organization and what you will bring to the table.
My best tip for writing a resume for an internship is to focus on showcasing your relevant skills and experiences rather than simply listing your academic achievements. Highlight any previous internships, volunteer work, or extracurricular activities that demonstrate your ability to work in a professional environment and your willingness to go above and beyond what is required. Use specific examples to illustrate your accomplishments and show how you can contribute to the company. A generic resume won't cut it, so make sure to tailor your resume to the specific internship and company you are applying for.
Everyone has to start somewhere — employers know this, so at the internship level, they'll be more interested in your skills than your previous experience. A skills-based resume is ideal for emphasizing your abilities, education, and interest in a specific role (aka the exact qualities employers seek in a new intern). Skills-based resumes work by listing your skills as you would a work experience entry on a traditional resume. Add three-to-five key skills and follow each skill with bullet points outlining your relevant accomplishments. Use hard numbers and examples to give the employers a clear idea of what you've done. Let's say you're applying for a digital marketing internship and want to highlight your keyword research skills. You could list "keyword research" as you would a work experience entry and add 3-5 bullet points explaining how you've used those skills. For example, you've used (e.g. SemRush, AhRefs) or projects you've worked on (e.g. on-page SEO for a school blog).
List your skills at the top of the resume. Managers look for candidates who use similar platforms such as Asana, or Notion. This creates an easier onboarding experience and won't require much training on the first day. List the programs you can confidently work in and how they were used in previous experiences.
Employers today are looking for team members who can collaborate seamlessly to achieve company objectives. Interns often may appear untrained in this, thus the need to convince that you are a collaborative team member. To do this, highlight any co-curricular events you were involved in. For example, "Served as Secretary General of the Student Union and liaised with student leadership to communicate student grievances to the administration."
My main tip? Tailor your resume to the specific job you're applying to. For instance, ALWAYS include a "skills" section in your resume. But depending on the type of internship, ensure each skill is relevant. If you apply for a graphic design position one day and a digital marketing position the next, you'll probably want to highlight different skills for each. For example, you could go heavy on your graphic design knowledge for that job, and then go heavy on marketing experience for the other position. Another tip: don't overstuff your resume! Always try and keep it to a single page. Two-pagers have the chance to turn off employers due to increased time trying to read through them. Aside from skills, include RELEVENT school experience.
My best tip for writing a resume for an internship is to include relevant extracurricular experiences and make them as detailed as you would a work experience section. As a student applying for an internship, chances are, you don't have much relevant work experience to add to your resume. A detailed extracurricular activities section is a great replacement. Extracurricular experiences, such as volunteering or participation in university clubs, can provide valuable insight into your skills, abilities, and work ethic. Don't just list the extracurricular activities you've participated in, though. Also add your responsibilities and achievements from the experience. For example, you could list something like this: "Organized and led a team of 5 members to plan and execute a successful fundraising event for a local charity, raising $5,000" Including such achievements in your extracurricular activities section better conveys the type of skills you've picked up.
This section showcases your hands-on experience, creativity, and initiative by highlighting school, personal, or freelance projects that relate directly to the internship role. Including a "Relevant Projects" section on your resume will help you stand out from other candidates and showcase your practical skills and experiences, which can be particularly valuable when you don't have much professional work experience to include.
Showcasing internship experience can be more difficult, as it can come across as more lightweight than a "real job", but it's all about how you talk about that experience that counts. The key to any resume is showing the impact of what you did whether is its 8 week internship or a small class project. There are 3 elements to showing impact: 1 - The headline. What is the click-bait, attention grabbing line? Ex: Created new social media program to attract new customer segment. 2 - The how. Quick sentence on what you did to deliver that headline. Ex: Enabled new facebook campaigns focusing on new product innovations aimed at an untapped millennial audience. 3. The impact. What did your work deliver? Did it attract 10% more customers? Did it introduce new revenue or did it speed up production to allow faster time to market? Ex: Grew millennial audience from 5% to 10% in under 6 months. Its not about how long you were there, its about the impact you had.
My best tip for writing a resume for an internship is to keep it concise and highlight your most relevant qualifications. Use a clear structure that emphasizes your unique skills and experiences. Also, be sure to tailor your resume to the internship position you’re applying for. For example, if you’re applying for a marketing internship, you could include a section about your writing skills, experience with social media, or knowledge of marketing software. Pack your resume with action verbs (Avoid words like ‘did’ or ‘worked’ as they don’t convey how you did it and the impact you had). Here’s an excerpt from a well-written resume: Experience ABC Company, Anycity, CA Marketing Intern, June 2019-Present • Developed and implemented marketing campaigns and increased customer base by x% • Researched and analyzed industry trends and maintained relationships with customers • Wrote and edited content for the company website and blog
Keep the resume on one page. There are tons of other resumes that the recruiter is receiving, and they won't have time to go through several pages of your application. Keep it short and concise. Focus on your main experiences you've had and keep it to one page.
Your resume should begin with an introductory statement that highlights your qualifications and immediately grabs the reader's attention. This could be a brief summary of your skills, experience, and career objectives, or a list of key accomplishments that you'd like to highlight.
Customize your resume for each application: tailor your resume to the specific internship you're applying for. This may mean adjusting the order of sections or highlighting certain skills over others. Here's an example of how you could structure your resume: Contact information: include your name, phone number, email address, and any relevant social media profiles. Objective statement: include a brief statement outlining your career goals and how this internship fits in with those goals. Education: list your most recent education first, including your degree, major, and any relevant coursework. Experience: list any relevant work or volunteer experiences, highlighting the skills and achievements that are relevant to the internship. Skills: list any relevant skills, such as programming languages, software proficiency, or foreign language fluency. Activities: list any relevant extracurricular activities or hobbies that demonstrate your work ethic or leadership skills.
Here is an example of an effective internship resume from one of our previous interns to help you understand what it should look like: An amazing undergrad student interned in our marketing division, she made a strong impression on us with her resume by emphasising her expertise in social media marketing and content production. She gave particular instances of campaigns she had worked on and their outcomes. She mentioned statistics such as the percentage increase in sales/engagement due to a specific task that she performed, which really stood out. She also listed pertinent coursework and extracurriculars that showed her enthusiasm for marketing.
My best tip for writing a resume for an internship is to use a structure that highlights your most relevant experience and skills. Depending on your background and the internship you're applying for, different resume formats might work better than others. For example, if you have limited work experience, you might consider using a skills-based resume that emphasizes your transferable skills and achievements rather than your work history. On the other hand, if you have significant relevant work experience, a chronological resume that lists your experience in reverse-chronological order might be more appropriate. Remember to tailor your resume to the specific internship you're applying for, using keywords and phrases from the job description to highlight your qualifications. By using the most favorable structure for your experience and skills, you can increase your chances of standing out to potential employers.
A strong objective statement leaves a powerful impression on the employer. He can clearly understand why you need to do an internship through an objective statement. For writing such an impressive objective statement, include the key terms and phrases. Make sure your objective statement is on those same key phrases and skills. Keep it to only two to three sentences. So that the recruiter can easily and quickly read it. Write about your main strength and career goals. However, the objective statement can’t be the same for all types of internships. You have to review and edit the objective statement as per the company and your skills for the particular training. This is an effective approach to grab the attention of employers and offer you a chance for an internship. Example of an objective statement: "An internship at The Blood Bank would allow me to utilize my microbiology degree and pursue my passion to provide safe medical products to those in need."
As a current student or recent graduate, finding an internship in an industry related to your target profession is a great way to kickstart your career. However, to secure yourself an internship, your first step is to have a well-written resume that highlights all of your accomplishments, skills, and past experiences in a presentable fashion. While many people give tips on what to include in your resume, I believe that having an attractive looking resume that can be easily read in a quick manner is key in today's fast-paced hiring environment. It is crucial that a hiring manager is able to read your skills and qualifications without having to dig through the resume - please no long paragraphs! For example, breaking your resume into different sections for Education, Work Experience, Community Involvement, Certifications, etc. helps hiring decision-makers easily find the information they are looking for when looking at your resume.
HR Specialist & Recruiter at US Passport Photo
Answered 3 years ago
Writing a resume for an internship is an important and challenging step since you need to highlight your skills and capabilities without having so much experience. One of the best tips for writing a successful resume is to highlight the skills most transferable to the internship and suitable for different industries. Choose an example that can demonstrate your skills and attitude. Finally, emphasize what makes you unique and a perfect fit for the internship.
In my opinion, the key to landing a coveted internship is demonstrating your work ethic. Whether through your resume, or more likely your cover letter, you need to make clear to the hiring manager that you are here to learn and work hard. Those applicants who inflate their credentials with exaggerated job titles and complicated sounding duties are not setting themselves up for success. I think the better approach is to be honest, humble, and clear about your intention to come in and word hard, using every day as an opportunity to learn. That is what employer’s want to hear from prospective interns. My younger brother wrote a cover letter in this same vein about a decade ago that actually went viral. Such modesty and transparency isn’t always going to work, but it beats borderline lying about your work experience as an intern. Here’s a link to an article about his cover letter: https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mo-matthew-ross-cover-letter-20130117-story.html
Include extracurricular activities into your resume. While you may lack internship experience, especially if this is the first internship you're applying for, you can speak to the experience you do have through sports, clubs, or greek life. This is a great strategy if you hold a title, such as a sports captain or vice president of the group. Highlight those accomplishments on your resume and speak to it during the interview.