How To Write a Finance Intern Resume
To write an eye-catching finance intern resume, emphasize your most compelling financial skills, coursework, and qualifications. It may be tempting to skip the professional experience section if you lack much relevant work history. Think outside the box and use academic projects or volunteer work to demonstrate your knowledge of finance.
This guide offers actionable tips for every section of your resume and provides some ideas for skills and action verbs you can incorporate.
1. Write a dynamic profile summarizing your qualifications
This section works in tandem with any cover letter to introduce you to the employer and entice them to read your full resume. Put your best foot forward, highlighting your most impressive accomplishments, coursework, or skills, such as accounting or data analysis.
Keep things professional and concise, writing two to four sentences. Don’t drop names here. Save connections, such as a professor who is recommending you, for your cover letter. Instead, write with confidence about your skills and how you can use them to bring value to the hiring organization.
Profile Example #1
Accounting student with a 4.0 GPA and hands-on work experience in small business bookkeeping. Completed 32 credit hours to date, with intensive coursework on auditing, cost accounting, and managerial accounting. Committed to continually gaining and applying new finance knowledge.
Profile Example #2
Financial planning graduate with internship experience providing quality services to individual and small business clients. Perform rigorous data analysis to generate detailed and reliable financial recommendations. Equally effective working independently or on a team. Committed to professional integrity and excellence in all endeavors. Bilingual: Fluent in English and Spanish.
2. Add an accomplishment-driven professional experience section
Your professional experience section is meant to demonstrate your competence in the field and ability to create value for potential employers. Intern candidates may need to think strategically when crafting this section, as they may not have a lot of specific experience in finance. One approach would be to leverage academic projects to convey your financial expertise.
Also, consider how skills from your previous jobs might transfer. For example, did you spend a summer cashiering at a store back home without making a single register error? Or did you complete work-study or job hours at school that involved entering data on spreadsheets? Even jobs that demonstrate your customer service or organizational skills can be used to demonstrate your value as a potential intern.
Professional Experience Example #1
Bookkeeper, Small Accounting Corp, Columbus, OH | December 2019 to Present
- Write and edit journal entries to accurately document revenue and expenses
- Closely track accounts payable and receivable to ensure timely, accurate billing operations
- Support monthly close by reconciling entries, closing out accounts, and running financial statements
- Prepare and send accurate invoices to clients and suppliers
- Work with treasury to manage cash flows and bank account balances
Professional Experience Example #2
Accounting & Finance Intern, WayUp, Manchester, NH | May 2021 to Present
- Help produce budgets and financial projections for individuals and small businesses
- Generate detailed, accurate financial suggestions based on robust data analysis
- Contribute to fact-finding and progress meetings with clients, and respond to phone and email inquiries
- Achieved 99.9% accuracy on all updates to financial reports and spreadsheets
- Earned top marks on all four formal assessments for expert math reasoning and client relations
- Received 98% positive feedback on customer satisfaction surveys
3. Include relevant education and certifications
Education information is important for most resumes, but it’s especially so for intern candidates. Some intern programs require certain educational backgrounds. Don’t miss out on an opportunity because you didn’t include your degree or other schooling in a clear, concise manner.
While most professionals wouldn’t normally detail coursework, extracurriculars, or other education information on their resume, you may be able to mine these experiences for relevant skills and knowledge. If you can’t include such information organically on your resume, list your degree as shown below and add some of these details in your cover letter.
Education
Template:
[Degree Name]
[School Name], [City, State Abbreviation] | [Graduation Year]
Example:
Bachelor of Science (BS) – Financial Planning
Southern New Hampshire University, Manchester, NH | 2021
Certifications
Template:
[Certification Name], [Awarding Organization], [Completion Year]
Example:
Excel Specialist in Accounting (CESA), Institute of Finance and Management | 2021
4. List pertinent key skills
While employers don’t necessarily expect interns to show up ready to run financial teams on their own, they are looking for people who can add some value to those teams. Demonstrate your key skills on your resume by including them in the skills list and your professional experience section.
Even if you haven’t yet worked in an accounting job, you can mention some skills you’ve picked up in other work or through education. For example, you may write that you mastered accounting principles taught in a certain course or you practiced due diligence in a previous warehouse inventory job.
| Key Skills and Proficiencies | |
|---|---|
| Accounting principles | Accounts payable and receivable |
| Cross-functional collaboration | Customer service and relations |
| Data gathering and analysis | Due diligence |
| Financial analysis | Financial reporting |
| Financial statements | Maplesoft |
| Microsoft Excel | ProSeries |
| Quality assurance | Quantrix |
| QuickBooks | Team collaboration |
How To Pick the Best Finance Intern Resume Template
Keep things professional-looking and streamlined on your finance intern resume. Choose a template with consistent fonts, plenty of white space, and well-organized sections.
If you don’t have a lot of professional experience to include, opt for a template that lets you expound on your educational experience, including information and achievements relevant to coursework, other internships, work studies, or extracurriculars.
Ensure you choose a template you’re comfortable working with. Find options for programs such as Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Adobe, Canva, or other word processing programs or design suites. Make sure you can output the resume as a PDF or another common format.
Finance Intern Text-Only Resume Templates and Examples
Years of Experience
- #1
- #2
- #3
Jack Smith
(123) 456-7890 | [email protected] | 123 Address Rd, Columbus, OH 09876
Profile
Accounting student with a 4.0 GPA and hands-on work experience in small business bookkeeping. Completed 32 credit hours to date, with intensive coursework on auditing, cost accounting, and managerial accounting. Committed to continually gaining and applying new finance knowledge.
Key Skills
- Accounting Principles
- Advanced Microsoft Excel
- Financial Statements
- ProSeries
- QuickBooks
Education
Candidate: Bachelor of Science (BS) – Accounting
The Ohio State University | expected May 2023
4.0 Major GPA
Select Coursework: Accounting & Economic Principles | Audit & Assurance | Business Law | Cost & Managerial Accounting | Taxation
Professional Experience
Bookkeeper, Small Accounting Corp, Columbus, OH | December 2019 to Present
- Write and edit journal entries to accurately document revenue and expenses
- Closely track accounts payable and receivable to ensure timely, accurate billing operations
- Support monthly close by reconciling entries, closing out accounts, and running financial statements
- Prepare and send accurate invoices to clients and suppliers
- Work with treasury to manage cash flows and bank account balances
Administrative Intern,Tax Prep LLC, Columbus, OH | May 2019 to September 2019
- Answered phones, greeted office visitors, and helped prepare for client meetings
- Replied to new client emails, providing information on the firm’s services and pricing schedules as needed
William Jeong
(876) 678-8765 | [email protected] | 345 Red Street, Manchester, NH 23456
Profile
Financial planning graduate with internship experience providing quality services to individual and small business clients. Perform rigorous data analysis to generate detailed and reliable financial recommendations. Equally effective working independently or on a team. Committed to professional integrity and excellence in all endeavors. Bilingual: Fluent in English and Spanish.
Key Skills
- Customer Service & Relations
- Data Gathering & Analysis
- Financial Forecasting & Reporting
- Mathematical Reasoning
- Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint)
Professional Experience
Accounting & Finance Intern, WayUp, Manchester, NH | May 2021 to Present
- Help produce budgets and financial projections for individuals and small businesses
- Generate detailed, accurate financial suggestions based on robust data analysis
- Contribute to fact-finding and progress meetings with clients, and respond to phone and email inquiries
- Achieved 99.9% accuracy on all updates to financial reports and spreadsheets
- Earned top marks on all four formal assessments for expert math reasoning and client relations
- Received 98% positive feedback on customer satisfaction surveys
Education
Bachelor of Science (BS) – Financial Planning
Southern New Hampshire University, Manchester, NH | June 2021
Intensive coursework on wealth management, applied statistics, and financial statement analysis.
Language
- Fluency in Spanish
Sarah Sark
(216) 456-9854 | [email protected] | 111 Avenue Street, San Jose, CA 11111
Profile
Junior-level Financial Analysis Professional with demonstrated success as an intern at a major infrastructure planning firm. Skilled communicator who puts complex finance topics in clear terms for diverse audiences. Generate positive results working both independently and on a team. Fast learner who adapts readily to new business systems and software programs. Recently completed Master’s Degree in Financial Analysis.
Key Skills
- Accounting
- Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Data Gathering & Organization
- Financial Analysis
- Maplesoft
- Microsoft Excel
- Quantrix
Professional Experience
Financial Analysis Intern, ABC Infrastructure Corporation, San Jose, CA | June 2021 to September 2021
- Completed a 12-week program closely assisting the firm’s head financial analyst
- Reviewed and drafted summaries of proposed local tax changes
- Prepared report that demonstrated how a specific vendor could save 30% on material costs for a major infrastructure project
Education
Master of Financial Analysis
Ball School of Business, San Jose, CA | June 2022
Won the school’s “Finance Graduate Student of the Year” award
Select Coursework: Advanced Accounting | Corporate Finance Modeling | Tax Planning
Bachelor of Accounting
San Francisco University, San Francisco, CA | June 2021
Participated in the Small-Business Accounting Simulator Program
Select Coursework: Auditing | Financial Reporting | Managerial Accounting
Frequently Asked Questions: Finance Intern Resume Examples and Advice
What are common action verbs for finance intern resumes?+
Action verbs help position you as someone who steps in and gets things done. This can be critical for an intern candidate. While employers know you’ll be learning and growing on the job, they also want to ensure they get value out of the relationship.
Start bullet points and sentences throughout your resume with relevant action verbs, such as those in the list below. When possible, pair the verbs with skills, accomplishments, and experience. You might say you “gathered non-profit funding data to support an organization’s understanding of its finances” or “learned medical billing and accounting protocols for health care organizations.”
| Action Verbs | |
|---|---|
| Analyze | Assist |
| Collaborate | Create |
| Cross-reference | Deduce |
| Document | Ensure |
| Evaluate | Explain |
| Facilitate | Improve |
| Monitor | Organize |
| Relay | Report |
| Resolve | Streamline |
| Update | Verify |
How do you align your resume with a finance intern job description?+
Job opportunities in the financial sector are expected to grow at a faster-than-average pace through 2032, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). To get a foot in the door of this growing job market, ensure your resume is as polished as possible. That includes aligning each resume you send to speak directly to the unique needs of the employer in question.
Start by looking at the job listing. Note what the employer seems to need most, such as what they list as a requirement for the job. Pay attention to any preferences or “nice-to-haves” the employer mentions. If you have those skills, even if they come from your work in college or as a volunteer, include them on your resume.
What is the best finance intern resume format?+
Whether they’re just coming out of college for the first time or making a career change, finance interns don’t usually have a long list of specifically relevant job experiences. Because of this, a combination resume format may be the right choice. This format puts equal emphasis on experience and skills, letting you build a holistic picture of your qualifications for the job.
For those making a career change, combo resumes make it easy to highlight transferable skills. If you previously worked in sales or education, demonstrate on your resume how your detail-oriented nature and ability to communicate can be valuable in a finance intern position.
Expert advice: include a cover letter with your resume
Send a unique cover letter with every resume. When possible, always address the hiring manager and include personal but professional notes in your letter. Mention why you want to work for the company in question, how your values align with the hiring organization, or what you hope to learn as you provide value to the business. Check out our finance resume cover letter example for some ideas on how to get started.
