How To Write an Internship Resume

Internship experience can be crucial to getting your first job after graduation. The most effective way to land the perfect internship is to write a resume that includes your related work experience, schooling, and any other relevant life experiences you may have had so far.

Regardless of your career direction, you can write an effective resume for internships by showing your ability to quickly gain and use new knowledge in a real-world setting. The tips and examples below will help you capture this skill on your resume so it gets you interviews for a great internship opportunity.

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1. Summarize your internship qualifications in a dynamic profile

Your resume profile should catch hiring managers’ interest by giving the top reasons they can expect you to apply your college studies successfully. Use this section to show you have the knowledge base and work ethic to excel as an intern.

If you have a high major GPA or other academic honors, consider mentioning those in your profile. Also, note any relevant work or internship experience you already have, which can help you stand out from other applicants. The best interns are often curious, resourceful, collaborative, and adaptable. Think about which traits describe you, then add a profile line on how you’d use them in a work environment.

Profile Example


Dedicated accounting student with a 4.0 GPA to date. Completed 32 credit hours, including classes in auditing, cost accounting, and managerial accounting. Recent work experience in small business bookkeeping. Well-versed in accounting software such as QuickBooks and ProSeries. Naturally curious and eager to learn new finance systems and procedures.

2. Add a compelling section featuring your internship experience

With the experience section, you can show you’re a good intern candidate by giving examples of your success in building and using new work knowledge. If you have prior internship or related work experience, flesh out those descriptions so they’re the main focus of this section. Under each job, brainstorm and describe how you quickly learned new concepts and generated value in an unfamiliar environment.

For any jobs you’ve held that don’t pertain to your target internship, keep the description short and focused on whatever transferable skills you gained. Say you’re applying to intern at a financial services firm, but your work experience so far is mostly summer jobs at coffee shops and restaurants. In this case, you could show the value of these experiences by describing the general customer relations skills you gained as a result.

Work Experience Example


Administrative Intern, Tax Prep LLC, Detroit, MI | May 2021 to September 2021

  • Gained and applied strong service skills such as answering phones, greeting clients, and preparing for client meetings
  • Replied to new client emails with information on the firm’s services and price schedules
  • Received, scanned, and cataloged clients’ tax records
  • Supported tax preparation by entering client data and organizing written communications

3. Include your internship-related education and certifications

When you’re in school and pursuing an internship, your current degree program may be one of your top qualifications. So feel free to add any details about it that speak to your ideal internship. Consider listing any relevant courses or topics you’ve studied so far – this is often a great way to show hiring managers the knowledge base you’d apply in their internship program.

Below are templates and examples to help you format your education and certification details. Note that optional template areas appear in [brackets].

Education


Template: 

Candidate: Degree Title [— Major, Minor], [Academic Department,] School Name,City, ST or online | expected graduation date

  • [Dean’s list or other honors] | [#.# GPA] | [class rank]
  • [Dissertation: “Name of Dissertation Paper”]
  • [Relevant coursework includes: Topic, Topic, Topic]
  • [Club or Sports Team]
  • [Club or Sports Team]

Example: 

Candidate: Bachelor of Science (BS) – Accounting, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor | expected May 2023 | 4.0 GPA to date

Relevant coursework includes:

  • Accounting and economic principles
  • Audit and assurance
  • Business law
  • Corporate finance
  • Cost and managerial accounting
  • Taxation

Certification

Template

  • Certification Name or Title, [Awarding Organization] | [date]

Example

  • Service Excellence Certificate, VCU Advanced Solutions | 2023

4. List your internship-related skills and proficiencies

Include a “Key Skills” section to show managers the various ways you could add value as an intern at their organization. These might range from general soft skills like teamwork to hard technical skills like Microsoft Excel. Make sure each one overlaps with your target role. By having a good mix of relevant skills in this section, you can emphasize your ability to build and harness new practical knowledge. Below are some common skills and keywords to consider for your internship resume:

Key Skills and Proficiencies
Client relations Complex problem-solving
Customer service and relations Data entry and updating
Data gathering and analysis Efficiency improvement
Event planning Inbox sorting and organizing
Inventory monitoring Legal and corporate compliance
Microsoft Office Suite New system implementation
Office administration Process streamlining
Program management Project management
Rapid problem-solving Reporting and documentation
Research and fact-checking Task prioritization
Team collaboration Workflow documentation
Writing, editing, and proofreading  

How To Pick the Best Internship Resume Template

For internships, a clear and straightforward resume template is usually best. Opt for a visual design that lets the hiring manager quickly review your best career details. Select a traditional resume font, and avoid any template with an overly colorful or elaborate design. Also, consider whether the template is compatible with applicant tracking systems (ATS) employers use to screen resumes.

Internship Text-Only Resume Templates and Examples

  • Example #1
  • Example #2
  • Example #3

Skyler Thompson 
Minneapolis, MN 12345 | (123) 456-7890 | [email protected] | www.linkedin.com/example

Profile

Writing and editing professional with strong recent academic and work experience. Currently completing Bachelor’s Degree in English and Creative Writing from the University of Minnesota. Bilingual: Fluent in English and Spanish.

Key Skills

  • Customer service and relations
  • Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Outlook, PowerPoint)
  • Office administration
  • Research and fact-checking
  • Team collaboration
  • Writing, editing and proofreading

Education

Candidate: Bachelor of Arts (BA) – English, Creative Writing, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis | expected May 2023

Relevant coursework includes:

  • Children’s fiction
  • Fiction workshopping
  • Poetry and drama
  • Prose and nonfiction
  • Short story writing

Honors and activities

Winner, University of Minnesota Campus Award for Long-Form Fiction | 2022

Runner-up, University of Minnesota Campus Award for Excellence in Poetry | 2021

Staff Writer, UMinn News [biweekly college newspaper] | 2021 to present

  • Provide copy for various sections, including arts, athletics, and opinion
  • Work with photo editors to determine placement with accompanying text

Work Experience

Receptionist, Regional Floral Magazine, Minneapolis, MN | December 2020 to August 2022

  • Managed magazine’s main email account, responding to feedback and providing subscription information as needed
  • Answered and forwarded calls to the appropriate department
  • Maintained and updated subscription rolls
  • Organized meetings and verified sources for reporters

Pizza Delivery Driver, Little Caesars, Minneapolis, MN | June 2019 to May 2020

  • Member of a high-performing 10-person team
  • Praised by manager for working with other drivers and team members to ensure the utmost efficiency and accuracy
  • Gained and demonstrated strong organizational skills combining food deliveries based on customer location

Languages 

Fluency in Spanish | Proficiency in Italian

Frequently Asked Questions: Internship Resume Examples and Advice

What are common action verbs for internship resumes?-

For internship candidates, the best resume verbs will show how you’ve quickly built and applied new knowledge – for example, “developed,” “gained,” or “implemented.” But there are various others you might use to describe your school and work experiences so far. The following list can help you find the right mix of action verbs for your internship resume:

Action Verbs
Acquired Adapted
Analyzed Answered
Applied Attended
Coordinated Created
Developed Evaluated
Examined Executed
Explored Followed
Gained Generated
Identified Implemented
Improved Incorporated
Integrated Learned
Maintained Managed
Planned Problem-solved
Procured Produced
Project-managed Provided
Streamlined Strengthened
Supported Uncovered
Won  
How do you align your resume with a job posting?-

A quick and effective way to align your resume with each posting is through the Key Skills section. For any internship you’re drawn to, follow these steps:

1. Identify the most important skills required. These often appear toward the top of the job post and/or are cited repeatedly. Consider using an online tool like wordclouds.com to visualize which terms in the text are most frequent.

2. Among these required skills, highlight any you possess. For example, if one of the posting’s top skills is “teamwork,” consider how collaborative your experiences have or haven’t been, then highlight it if you feel it’s a strength you’ve gained.

3. Compare the skills you’ve highlighted to your resume’s Key Skills section and add any that are missing. Continuing the above example, say you’ve identified teamwork as one of your strengths. Is this reflected in your existing Key Skills section? If not, add a term like “Team collaboration” or “Cross-functional coordination.”

4. Finally, consider deleting any terms in your resume’s Key Skills section that don’t correspond with the skills cited in the internship posting.

This simple exercise gives each hiring manager a clear view of your relevant skill set, making your resume more relevant to the internship.

What is the best internship resume format? -

In nearly all cases, use a Combination (or Hybrid) resume because it’s easiest for hiring managers to learn about your pertinent skills and experience. It’s also easiest for you to modify based on your job goals.

With the Combination format, you highlight your most relevant skills and experience in your experience or work history section and an intro section. (This combination of work history and intro content is where the format gets its name.) Your resume intro should usually include a profile summary and Key Skills section, but you may also add a career highlights or awards section.

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Expert Advice
Include a cover letter with your resume

To increase your chances of an interview, write and submit a strong cover letter. The key to an effective letter is customizing it based on each internship opening. Read our internship cover letter guide to learn how. For other related examples, see our high school and recent graduate cover letter guides.

Jacob Meade headshot

Jacob Meade

Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW, ACRW)

Jacob Meade is a resume writer and editor with nearly a decade of experience. His writing method centers on understanding and then expressing each person’s unique work history and strengths toward their career goal. Jacob has enjoyed working with jobseekers of all ages and career levels, finding that a clear and focused resume can help people from any walk of life. He is an Academy Certified Resume Writer (ACRW) with the Resume Writing Academy, and a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) with the Professional Association of Resume Writers & Career Coaches.

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