How to Write an Internship Resume
You can write a strong resume for internship applications if you showcase relevant skills and highlights from your previous experience. The following section-specific resume tips and examples will show you how.
1. Write a dynamic profile summarizing your qualifications
To prepare a compelling resume profile, choose your top three to five qualifications for the type of internship that interests you. One of those qualifications is likely to be your current degree program. For others, remember that you can include things based on your work, volunteer work, extracurricular activities, or even personal experiences if they are related to the internship you are applying for.
For instance, say the internship would require you to engage with clients in non-English speaking countries. If you have proficiency in a foreign language or study abroad experience, those are two great details to feature on your resume Profile.
(Note, it’s usually easier to write your Profile after you’ve built the other sections of your resume.)
Profile Example
Motivated student currently completing Bachelor’s Degree with honors in Hospitality Management. Strong recent hospitality experience serving customers and training new hires at a large popular hotel. Adapt readily to new work challenges and industry conditions. Bilingual: Fluent in English and French.
2. Add a relevant work experience section
A quick way to write a relevant work experience section regardless of job experience is to brainstorm for ten minutes and answer the following questions for each job:
- What were your primary duties or focus areas?
- What are you most proud of about this work experience?
- What general skill areas did you develop (e.g., teamwork, efficiency, customer service)?
Next, determine which things overlap with the key skills and experience required for the internship. Anything that overlaps should be included on your resume. By following this process, you can determine the relevant aspects of each job and give hiring managers a better sense of the skills you’d bring to their internship program.
Work Experience Example
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
3. Include relevant education and certifications
When you’re in school and applying to internships, your current degree program may be one of your top qualifications. So you should feel free to flesh out your resume’s Education section with any details that speak to your ideal internship. Don’t think that education is a secondary component of a resume — it may well serve as the centerpiece of your application for an internship.
You can develop a strong Education section by following the same brainstorm-filter process outlined above for your Experience section.
Following are templates and examples to help you format your education and certification details:
Education
Template:
Candidate: Degree Title [— Major], [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) – Hospitality Management, XYZ University, New York, NY | expected May 2023
- Dean’s List all semesters, with a 3.9 major GPA and 3.8 combined GPA to date
- Captain, Volleyball Team
Certification
Template:
Certification Name, Awarding Organization | date
Example:
Service Excellence Certificate, VCU Advanced Solutions | 2023
4. List impressive key skills and proficiencies
Interns typically need strong teamwork, prioritization, and information-processing skills. Below are keywords for these and other skill areas you may want to feature on your internship resume.
| Key Skills and Proficiencies | |
|---|---|
| Client Relations | Complex Problem-Solving |
| Customer Service & Relations | Data Entry & Updating |
| Data Gathering & Analysis | Efficiency Improvement |
| Event Planning | Inbox Sorting & Organizing |
| Independent Research | Inventory Monitoring |
| Microsoft Office Suite | Office Administration |
| Process Streamlining | Program Management |
| Project Management | Reporting & Documentation |
| Task Prioritization | Team Collaboration |
| Workflow Documentation | Writing, Editing & Proofreading |
How to Pick the Best Internship Resume Template
For internships, a clear and straightforward resume template is usually best. Choose a visual template that lets the hiring manager quickly and easily take in relevant information about you and your background. Avoid any template that calls undue attention to itself with more elaborate design elements.
Internship Text-Only Resume Templates and Examples
Years of Experience
- Example #1
- Example #2
- Example #3
John Bergsen
Detroit, MI 12345 | (123) 456-7890 | [email protected] | LinkedIn
Profile
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.
Key Skills
- Accounting Principles
- Advanced Microsoft Excel
- Client Relations
- Data Gathering & Entry
- Financial Statements Analysis
- General Ledger
- Writing & Editing
- Workflow Documentation
Work Experience
Bookkeeper, Small Accounting Corp, Detroit, MI | May 2022 to September 2022
- Made journal entries corresponding with revenue and expenses
- Tracked accounts payable and receivable to support billing for general company expenses
- Supported monthly close by closing out accounts, reconciling entries, and running financial statements
- Prepared client and supplier invoices
- Worked with treasury to manage cash flows and bank account balances
Administrative Intern, Tax Prep LLC, Detroit, MI | May 2021 to September 2021
- Answered phones, greeted clients, and prepared 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
Education
Candidate: Bachelor of Science (BS) – Accounting, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor | expected May 2023 | 4.0 GPA to date
Relevant coursework includes:
- Accounting & Economic Principles
- Audit & Assurance
- Business Law
- Corporate Finance
- Cost & Managerial Accounting
- Taxation
Skyler Thompson
Minneapolis, MN 12345 | (123) 456-7890 | [email protected] | LinkedIn
Profile
Writing & 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 & Relations
- Independent Research & Fact-Checking
- Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Outlook, PowerPoint)
- Office Administration
- Team Collaboration
- Writing, Editing & 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 & Drama
- Prose & Nonfiction
- Short Story Writing
Honors & 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 actively collaborating with other drivers and team members to ensure utmost work efficiency and accuracy
- Showed strong organizational skills combining food deliveries based on customer location
Languages
Fluency in Spanish | Proficiency in Italian
Mina Sayed
New York, NY 12345 | (123) 456-7890 | [email protected] | LinkedIn
Profile
Motivated student currently completing Bachelor’s Degree with honors in Hospitality Management. Strong recent hospitality experience serving customers and training new hires at a large popular hotel. Adapt readily to new work challenges and industry conditions. Bilingual: Fluent in English and French.
Key Skills
- Customer Service & Relations
- Data Entry & Updating
- Hospitality Operations
- Inventory Monitoring
- Reporting & Documentation
- Team Collaboration
Work Experience
Front Desk Clerk, Worldwide Hotels, New York, NY | January 2019 to May 2022
- Provided prompt, courteous service while helping guests check in and out of the hotel
- Answered calls and provided information on hotel pricing, services, amenities, and room availability
- Entered guest bookings into the tracking system based on email and phone registrations
- Made guests’ reservations at local tours, restaurants, museums, and movie theaters
- Offered directions and called taxis for on-site visitors as needed
Highlights:
- Ranked #3 on a 10-person team for efficient, error-free guest reservations
- Took on leadership role helping train and mentor new hires
Education
Candidate: Bachelor of Science (BS) – Hospitality Management, XYZ University, New York, NY | expected May 2023
- Dean’s List all semesters, with a 3.9 major GPA and 3.8 combined GPA to date
- Captain, Volleyball Team
Language
Fluency in French
Frequently Asked Questions: Internship Resume Examples and Advice
What are common action verbs for internship resumes?+
We know it’s easy to get stuck when writing your resume’s Professional Experience section. You may find that you start to run out of action verbs to describe your work. To help you over the hump, we put together this list of strong action verbs for an internship resume.
| Action Verbs | |
|---|---|
| Analyze | Answer |
| Attend | Coordinate |
| Create | Develop |
| Evaluate | Examine |
| Execute | Generate |
| Identify | Implement |
| Improve | Maintain |
| Manage | Plan |
| Problem-solve | Procure |
| Project-manage | Provide |
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 posting and/or are cited repeatedly. Consider using an online tool like wordclouds.com to visualize which terms in the text are most frequent or prominent.
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 much more relevant to the internship at hand.
What is the best internship resume format?+
In nearly all cases, you should opt for a Combination or Hybrid resume because they are the 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 may take the form of a Profile summary, Key Skills section, and/or Career Highlights section. By carefully choosing the details for these sections, you can (a) position yourself for your target job and (b) give hiring managers a clear, quick view of what you offer them.
Expert Advice: Include a cover letter with your resume
To increase your chances of landing an interview, make sure you craft a strong cover letter. As with your resume, the key to optimizing your cover letter is to customize it based on each employer you apply to. Read our internship cover letter guide to learn how. See our high school and recent graduate cover letter guides for other related examples.