A young person is writing a resume for an internship on a laptop. It can be hard to put together a resume for an internship. First impressions are important, and your resume is the first thing that companies you want to work for will see about you.
Recruiters and hiring managers spend less than seven seconds on each resume because there are so many applications for each job. So, as a candidate, it’s up to you to think of ways to catch the eye of the person reading your resume in those seven seconds. For the Virtual Internship you can attend the Virtual Internship program.
We’ve worked with thousands of interns and host companies at Virtual Internships, and now we’re giving you a six-step guide to writing the best internship resume. Plus, a quick way to get a remote internship that will make you stand out.
What is a CV for an internship?
An internship resume (or CV, if you’re reading this in the UK) is, as the name suggests, a list of your most important skills and work experience that you can use to apply for an internship.
The only goal of your internship resume is to get you an interview with the company or recruiter.
So, this is the perfect place to talk about how you can help a company grow. Also, these resumes put most of the emphasis on your skills, education, and abilities.
How to Write the Best Resume for an Internship in 6 Steps
Students and people who just finished school often don’t have much experience to put on their resumes. But if you plan well, even a small amount of what you have can be used to make a great resume.
Here’s how to make an interesting internship resume from scratch, from coming up with sections to put on it to editing it in a way that will impress the hiring manager or recruiter:
Step 1: Decide on the best structure for your resume
A resume for an internship does two things well: it has all the sections that are needed and it is well-organized.
Next, we’ll talk about the sections you need, but before you start filling out the rest of your resume, it’s important to have a plan for how it will look. This is the best way to put together a resume for an internship:
Your contact information will be in the header.
An objective on your resume that sums up what you have to offer and what you want
Education section that focuses on how well you did in school
The section on work experience (ironic? Yes, but we’ll show you how to make it work)
Use the “Skills” section to list your most important skills.
References (if applicable) (if applicable)
In addition to the above, your internship resume will also include details like interests, certifications, hobbies, and more.
Step 2: Put the header first.
A header usually has your contact information and the goal of your resume.
So, start by putting in your personal information and how to reach you. Put your name, phone number, email address, and links to your website or LinkedIn profile at the top, preferably in a bold font (if applicable).
Make sure you have a professional email address. Even though you are applying for an internship, the hiring manager won’t let you off the hook if you use your high school email address.
Next, add an interesting opening statement or objective to your resume. This is your chance to grab the reader’s attention and make them want to keep reading. Aim for two to three sentences and include:
Study subject
Relevant skills and experiences
Why are you applying for this particular internship? (Tip: Make sure to change this for each internship, so it’s tailored to the experience you’re likely to get.)
Like your contact information, the goals section of your resume doesn’t need a title. Just write it below or next to your contact information (depending on the resume format).
Step 3: Talk about your schooling
Most likely, you are writing a resume for an internship because you are in high school or college and have little or no work experience. In this case, the education part of your resume will be the most important part.
So, in the education section of an internship resume, every student or recent graduate must include the following:
School, college, or university name
Details about your field of study
Relevant coursework (remember only to include those that are relevant to the internship)
The Dean’s List honours (if any)
Honors like Summa Cum Laude Grades or your GPA for any study abroad programmes or extracurricular activities you’ve done (if they are impressive enough to put on your resume)
Here, you shouldn’t make the mistake of writing down everything. Instead, only list projects and experiences that are related to the internship you are applying for.
Step 4: Three Great Ways to Get Work Experience
You may feel like you don’t have any work experience to list, but there are a lot of other experiences you can talk about instead to show how committed you are to growth. Putting these experiences at the top of your resume could be the difference between you and another candidate who gets a second look.
Here are the top three things you can put on your resume instead of work experience:
Extracurricular Activities
Extracurricular activities are a great way to show that you have a wide range of skills that can be used on the job and that employers are looking for. Putting these in the work experience section can help you compete with people who have more experience.
Here are five things outside of school that you might want to put on your resume:
Languages you don’t speak well Clubs or groups you belong to Sports Student Council or similar honours
Activities related to a job
Volunteering
In this section, you can list any volunteer or unpaid work you’ve done that is related to the internship. Volunteering sections on your resume are a great way to show how employable you are, and they also show that you are a person with a strong sense of purpose.
Research has shown that putting relevant volunteer work on your resume can help you get a job in a different field.
As with skills and education, when you talk about your volunteer experience, try to put your accomplishments ahead of your responsibilities.
Internships
Having an internship on your resume will help you stand out from people who haven’t worked before. So, if you have worked as an intern for a company before, now is the time to talk about it.
Step 5: List Your Skills
Employers may be looking for different skills, so make sure you tailor your skills to each internship.
Making a master list with examples is the best way to do it. This list will have all of your skills on it. You can also separate soft skills from hard skills.
When you’re done, this master list will be the starting point from which you can choose the most important skills when you change your resume for different internships.
Also, make sure to put the ones you are most sure of all over your resume. You can put some in the sections for your education, work experience, and even your resume objective.
Step 6: Extra Section for Maximum Impact and Other Things
If you haven’t worked much or at all, your internship resume might look a little thin. If this is the case for you, you might want to add the following sections:
Hobbies and interests in languages
Certifications
But having a one-page, simple, and clear resume is often a plus. Don’t fall into the trap of filling your resume with useless information. Instead, make sure to only include specific, interesting, or important information.
Change and improve
You just made a resume with all the important information that shows why you should get the internship. Here are three ways to edit your resume to make it even better before you send it in:
Keep it short.
It’s best to keep your resume short if you don’t have a lot of experience. For new graduates, a one-page resume is enough, so don’t add too much.
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