resume format for college students for internship

Build my resume

• Resume builder
• Build a better resume in minutes
• Resume examples
• 2,000+ examples that work in 2024
• Resume templates
• 184 free templates for all levels
• Cover letters
• Cover letter generator
• It's like magic, we promise
• Cover letter examples
• Free downloads in Word & Docs

5 College Student Internship Resume Examples for 2024

College Student for Internship Resume

• College Student for Internship 2
• College Student for Internship 3
• College Student for Internship 4
• College Student for Internship 5
• Resume Writing 101

Taking a deep breath after seeing the perfect-looking web developer job ad, Dahlia Mathers pulled up her old resume. Having built some solid IT experience debugging software and troubleshooting networks, she was ready to make her next career move with a web developer internship . . . as soon as she celebrated her impending graduation in computer science, that is!

But her college student internship resume needed an update: Dahlia wanted a layout that aligned with Coursera’s vibe to show her enthusiasm for an internship there. Plus, she learned that writing an effective cover letter could be the touch her application needed.

Now, after referencing our time-tested resume examples , Dahlia is sporting a post-interview smile with her new start date! If you’re seeking your own college student internship, we’re confident our resume layouts and cover letter examples can help you, too.

or download as PDF

College Student for Internship 2 Resume

College Student for Internship 3 Resume

College Student for Internship 4 Resume

College Student for Internship 5 Resume

Related resume examples

• College Student No Experience
• Current College Student
• College Graduate
• Grad School
• College Student

What Matters Most: Your Skills & Experience Sections

While the types of skills you include will directly depend on which type of internship you’re applying for, balance and clarity are always helpful! Recruiters want to see that you have what it takes—plus a little something extra that sets you apart.

If you’re going for a more technical role (like just about anything within the realm of computer science), it’s especially important for you to be precise about your hard skills. That means each list item should be both professionally relevant and specific.

So, avoid generic skills or terms that could apply to just any field, and focus on honing your presentation to show more in-depth abilities that specifically qualify you for that internship. Don’t pitch your cooking skills for an IT internship!

Check these out:

9 top college student internship skills

• RESTful APIs
• Algorithm Design

Sample college student internship work experience bullet points

Some applicants get a bit uncertain about this part, so let’s go over a few ways you can show recruiters how you’ve put your skills into action.

Plenty of people already have some job experience that’s at least somewhat relevant to the internship they’re hoping for. List it if you have it! It isn’t “backwards” to go from a job to an internship if you’ve just graduated or decided to switch to a more specialized field.

Use any previous teen jobs , other internships, or even volunteer projects that relate to your career goals and demonstrate your abilities. And always measure your impact! You need quantifiable data like time measurements or budget savings to back up your achievements and prove that you’ve already made a difference.

Here are some examples:

• Performed bug fixes by utilizing JavaScript proficiency to reduce glitches by 11%
• Updated software on computers and performed basic maintenance on office devices to save $12.3K+ in repair costs
• Streamlined work flow by implementing a ticketing system and grouping similar issues together, reducing time to complete inbound requests by 3 days
• Build a scraper in Python to structure data on thousand of publications, using the Natural Language Toolkit library to improve abstract searches for research publications by 14%

Top 5 Tips For Your College Student Internship Resume

• Since you’re applying for an internship, it can be especially helpful to include other relevant courses within or alongside your degree in your education section. Don’t forget any independent classes you’ve taken—especially if they lead right up to your internship!
• Keep your skills list tidy and organized by arranging your skills in groups. So, if you’re applying for a software-related internship: List Python-related skills together, name JavaScript tools in succession, and so on.
• If applicable, make sure you’re upfront about your graduation date on your internship application. You don’t want to confuse recruiters—or wind up biting off more than you can chew to avoid passing up an opportunity for much-needed internship experience!
• Some people really can’t resist including a bold color or two on their resumes, but you really want to keep this to a minimum. Stick with just one color, use it sparingly, and ensure that everything is still highly readable. Show recruiters that you’re already professional and polished for your internship!
• When you pick your resume template , go for one that puts your greatest accomplishments front and center. But don’t be afraid to leave a little breathing room, too—it’s better than your resume looking crowded or filler-heavy. When you’re applying for an internship, you want all emphasis to rest on your qualifications.

Yep, and it’s easier than you might think! Refer to the internship description for phrases and keywords that stand out as good examples of team culture. Reflect these in your resume with a few tweaks to your wording or skill choices to show how you’re already the ideal intern.

Keep it to just one page, and don’t feel pressured to fill the page. Just stick with your highest achievements from college and your most impactful qualifications. Remember, if you’ve got the itch to say more, say it in your internship cover letter .

Just like your color usage, your font choices should be understated. Think “clean, modern, and readable.” Recruiters can only spend a few seconds skimming your college internship resume, so make it easy for them to see the good stuff at a glance!

• We’ll show you how, step-by-step • Real, practical tips and tools • 100% free

• Knowledge Base
• Free Resume Templates
• Resume Builder
• Resume Examples
• Free Resume Review

Intern resume...is that even a thing?

Who makes resumes in college, you might wonder? BOORRRRINNNGGGGG!

We know. Resumes will probably not figure in the priority list while you are in college. And why would it, when there's a ton of interesting stuff going on just about everywhere?

But much like the fabled ant and the grasshopper story, being reckless or just plain lazy when it comes to making your student internship resume will lead to a brutal summer wherein you are jobless while everyone else is busy with their internships in exciting growth ventures and gravity-defying corporates.

But don't worry. We'll help you draft the perfect resume for college.

Our 2022 Guide to Internship Resume containing Internship Resume Examples and tips on Intern Resume Format will make sure you don't have to spend days and weeks on your laptop staring at a blank piece of document.

With a detailed step-by-step process outlined in the points below, making an intern resume and an internship resume will be a breeze.

Why do you need an Internship?

Isn't slavery dead, you wonder? Why would you spend your time working for someone else for free when you can better spend it bingeing on Netflix?

Well, slavery is indeed dead, but it's a bit more complicated than that.

Anyone up-to-date with the trend knows that there's a huge gap in the skills which a typical graduate possesses and which are required by the industry in general. Consequently, a significant majority of graduates often find themselves without a job right after they graduate.

And when you couple that with unpredecented levels of debt (USD 1.4 trillion in total in the US alone), the students find themselves in a deplorable condition where they are in a crushing debt but don't have the means to do anything about it.

Short of changing the education system from the ground up and designing the curriculum in a way which bridges the skills gap, what can the individual student do at his/her level to make sure that they don't fall into the same trap?

In such cases, internships can play a game-changing role.

While there exists a lot of avenues when it comes to paid internships, because of the cutthroat competition out there, not many can claim to successfully bag one.

Which again brings us back to the same question: why work for someone for free?

To which we ask a counter-question: you spend your college years emptying kegs and bingeing on Netflix and come placement season, your resume is full of...full of what exactly?

What are the chances of getting a job right after graduation if the only thing on your intern resume is a 1-month stint wherein you flipped burgers or assisted the college librarian? And how will that fare against your classmate who did a grueling 3-month internship in a top firm?

Enough said.

Sure, the chances of landing a paid internship are slim, but in the long run, it's going to benefit you in ways more than one. A half-decent internship will beef up your intern resume and exponentially increase the probability of companies rushing to bag you.

In addition to that, internships are a brilliant way to bridge the skills gap we talked about earlier. No amount of lectures and theoretical knowledge can prepare you for the real world than a single day of an internship will.

Say you just entered college and are eyeing a particular industry or job profile - graphic designer for instance. A short stint as a graphic design intern will tell you more about the nuances of the profile than countless hours and days of Googling will. And when college gets over, you'll be better prepared to decide if you want to pursue that as a career or not.

You get to understand how workplaces work in general and you'll have a substantial idea of the real world so you can prepare yourself even before you enter. You'll have a taste of what slogging in a job tastes like.

And guess what? Recruiters will know that too. Any hiring decision is costly (in terms of money, time, and resource) and a company would rather invest their resources in someone who they think will be able to withstand the workplace environment and deliver.

And if that's not reason enough, here's another - networking. A few months in an internship will arm you with contacts that you can leverage months and years down the line.

Your college seniors or professors can vouch for the importance of networking in any sector or profile, and if you're a college student with a network of high-profile corporate professionals, you're already ahead of the game boy!

How will an Internship Resume help?

Now that you know the importance of an internship, how do you go about getting one?

You don't think you'll just walk in and find recruiters waiting for you, right?

The key to a good internship is a good student internship resume or an intern resume.

The nuances which go into making a standard resume will extend to the intern resume as well but to a somewhat lesser degree. While we'll pick apart the entire internship resume section by section, there are a few things that might benefit you before we proceed.

As tempting as it is, you'll be better suited to have an intern resume that you customize as per the requirement of the vacancy you are targeting - instead of having a generic resume that you are sending anywhere and everywhere.

We know, we know. Unpaid internship, and now customized internship resume for each vacancy? That's quite a drag, we agree, but it's going to reap you major dividends. The competition is intense, be it for internships or full-time profiles, and just so we didn't make it clear, let us reiterate it one more time:

You only get one shot.

Since internships are for a limited duration, and they are seasonal (in almost all cases), recruiters are usually bombarded with applications in one go. If for any reason whatsoever, your application is rejected, you don't get another chance.

Hence, it's of critical importance that you can judiciously utilize the one opportunity which you have in such a way that you don't have to send your student internship resume elsewhere.

One advantage, or a bargain if you may, that an internship resume might have over a standard resume is the reduced level of complexity. An internship resume is not filled with work profiles, simply because there aren't any. There are no multifarious sections that will make you pull your hair.

But that is not to say that making an intern resume is easy. It has its own set of nuances that you need to consider before you go about making the perfect intern resume for that dream internship that you are targeting.

Before the Intern Resume - Checklist of items before you begin with your Resume for College

Here's a checklist of factors that you might want to consider before you proceed with your internship resume:

Introspection

A lot of students will not bother reviewing their options - maybe because they don't even know if they have any. And it makes sense: why not jump at the first opportunity which presents itself?

But think about it: if you spent hours and days working on your resume for college, wouldn't you want to be sure that you are getting the bang for your buck?

An internship is a perfect laboratory for you to identify and realize if a profile/industry that you always admired from afar is as satisfying as you think. A favorable or not-so-favorable experience in an internship can determine your view of that industry for the rest of your life.

For that reason alone, you must have absolute clarity on what you want. You must ask some sincere questions to your inner self before you proceed with any decision: - What are your hobbies and interests? - Is there an industry that you think might be a perfect fit for you but you are still unsure about? - What kind of work culture would suit you? Do you see yourself in a corporate setting or a startup venture?

Location is a major factor. Are you limited by physical location or not? Are you looking for any or all internships in a particular location near you, or are you open to moving? If that's the case, are you looking for an internship in a specific profile or industry, irrespective of the location where it might be? Have you factored in all the costs, monetary and otherwise?

Will moving to a different city/country for your internship benefit you in the long run? Who knows if the company which you are targeting also offers dorm-style living arrangements for their interns?

Once you've achieved a certain level of clarity, proceed by researching everything there is to know about the company and the internship.

Find out if the company or sector which you are targeting is even looking for interns in the first place. Get to know about their recruitment process and their interview methodologies. Do they ask to include specific details in their internship resumes?

What is the typical duration of the internship? Is it a fixed internship or is there a possibility of engaging you after you leave as well? Most companies also reserve the right to send Pre-Placement Offers (PPOs) to their most high-flying interns. Check out the parameters for those and see if it's something you might be interested in.

Read reviews online to understand if your illusions regarding the profile/company/industry differ from the ground reality. Even if you find that your targeted company is offering no internships, call a representative to make sure of the same and then drop off your internship resume.

Most companies, when called upon to fill in vacancies, usually turn to their existing database before engaging in a fresh outreach. And how sweet would it be if they do so and find your internship resume on top of the intern resume pile?

Online Research for finding internship avenues will typically include scouring the net on any or all of the following:

LinkedIn : Don't just abandon your profile there. Try to secure recommendations from your Professors. Add skills that are relevant and which might get you more traction. Demonstrate your volunteer work, achievements, and extra-curricular accomplishments. Most large organizations (as opposed to start-ups and small businesses) will resort to LinkedIn for fulfilling their internship requirements. So if that's what you are looking for, a stellar LinkedIn profile is your safest bet. [Btw, we at Hiration also offer professional services when it comes to revamping your LinkedIn profile. Head on over to the website for more!

Glassdoor : In addition to listing out internships from multiple sources (online and offline), Glassdoor's main attraction is that it allows users to search companies based on salaries, reviews, and descriptions of interviews and the recruitment process. Since it aggregates data from users, the figures are broadly accurate (more or less) when it comes to larger corporates. But for smaller companies and in cases where very few users report data, the outcome is not that favorable.

Internships.com : Probably the biggest source of internships primarily because it's free to post listings on its portal. Moreover, it includes social media integration wherein it gives you a list of your Facebook friends who are/were associated with a particular company.

Internmatch.com : A slightly modified version of internships.com, it allows employers to post up to 10 listings for free. With a database of listings sourced from 30,000 companies, it specializes in internships and entry-level jobs.

Idealist.com : Specializing in the non-profit sector, Idealist includes both paid and free internships around the world.

Once your research has taken off, it's time to tap into your network and see what you can extract from there. Your network might typically include: Career Center at your School/College: Not only do most vacancies first posted there, but the good folks over at most Career Centers also lend a hand in creating or proofreading your intern resume.

Professors/Faculty: Most Professors that we know want nothing more than to genuinely help anyone and everyone who approaches them for help. If you earnestly ask the Faculty members for help, you'll undoubtedly get some valuable insights.

Senior/Alumni Students: Your immediate seniors will always be one step ahead of you, so our advice is to leverage that. Additionally, their internships are fresh and their insights will be more relevant to you than anyone else's.

Resume Experts @ Hiration: If none of that works out, our Resume Experts will be at your service 24x7! Just shout out in the comments below or visit our website in case you have any doubts pertaining to your intern resume.

Perseverance

Lastly, nothing beats more than perseverance. If you've zeroed in on a company or two for which you'd be willing to give your heart and soul, start cold calling them.

What if they are not looking for interns? Doesn't matter. Drop-in your internship resume anyway. A lot of companies rely on their existing database first whenever they want to fulfill their hiring requirements, and it wouldn't hurt if your internship resume is just there for them to peruse in such a situation.

Be an avid follower of the company and its initiatives. Keeping yourself up-to-date will benefit you sooner or later. Maybe there's an event or a job fair happening nearby in which the said organization is participating. Well, what are you waiting for?

If anything is stopping you - ranging from anxiety to just plain laziness - just ask yourself: what's the worst that could happen? You'll not get the job? But if you are sitting on your butt, it's going to happen anyway!

Drafting the Perfect Internship Resume for College - How to Begin

What's the difference between an internship resume and a college resume.

Before you get down to the nitty-gritty of it, let's clear a few things:

• Don't compare your intern resume with a professional who has had years of experience. A simple Google search will give you thousands of resume samples and layouts, and assigning that as a benchmark for yourself will give you nothing but anxiety.

You are still in college. Your experience in the real world is, in all probability, limited. The objective is to showcase that in the best possible way and not instead get drowned out by other internship resumes and give up altogether.

• Recruiters won't be expecting you to have extensive professional experience. That's the major difference between an internship resume and a regular college resume.

Your end goal is the college resume which you'll finish after graduation. The objective of the internship resume is to pack your final college resume with enough relevant experience that gives you an edge over others.

But even if the internship resume is just a means to an end, it doesn't mean that you can compromise on the quality of the same.

You can check out our guide to Resume Layouts to get an idea of how to proceed. Our advice: stick to a traditional reverse-chronological format for your college resume.

Contact Information

We wouldn't have included a section on Contact Information for your Internship Resume if we didn't think it was important.

But we've often seen people make the silliest of mistakes even when it comes to something as basic as adding their contact details to their internship resume. And when people with 10-15 years of professional experience can commit these mistakes...

Oh well. So if you are a college student who messed that up as well, we'd recommend you to not be too hard on yourself. Instead, read on.

• Name, Contact Number, and Email: Sure, that's basic stuff. But are you sure your email isn't [email protected] or [email protected] ? You are not in high school anymore. In case you don't have a professional-looking email id, now's the perfect time to go and make one.

You don't want to be applying for jobs after college using an id like [email protected] , y'know?

Address: Don't include your entire residential address even if you are applying for internships in the same city. Just the area and postal code will do. Drop your current location in case you are open to internships outside your city, or you can include the same with a caveat stating that you are willing to relocate.

Misc. (Skype, LinkedIn, Blog/Portfolio, etc.): Include your Skype handle only if a telephonic round will be a part of the recruitment process. Companies usually specify the same in the Job Description in case it is.

A Skype handle only makes sense if you're locating. In case you are applying for internships in the same city, mentioning Skype will not add any value.

Include your LinkedIn only if you think it will bolster your application. If you last updated your LinkedIn months/years ago, you can refrain from including it in your resume for college.

You can showcase your portfolio or provide links to your blogs, but only if there's relevance between that and the internship which you're targeting.

For instance, if you are targeting a Finance internship but you also maintain a blog in which you document all your favorite recipes, do us a favor and don't include it on top along with the rest of your contact details.

Do that only if it's relevant, or if you think it will complement your application in any way. In all other cases, you can add a separate section of Hobbies or Interests at the end and include all such points there.

One major area in which a standard professional resume differs from an intern resume is the Education section.

Or more specifically, the order in which this section appears in your student internship resume.

Since recruiters won't expect your internship resume to be filled with multiple job experiences, you can lead the internship resume with your Education section. But even then, there isn't a single way to go about it.

Let us clarify that through an example:

University of Berkeley BA Economics (Hons.) Expected to graduate in '19

On the face of it, there's nothing wrong with this. It's just...perfectly average.

But you don't want perfectly average, do you? You want to knock 'em out of the park. Also keep in mind that in the absence of a Professional Experience section, your Education section becomes the most critical section of your student internship resume.

List out anything and everything that you have done to date and categorize them broadly into Education, Co-curricular Activities, and Extra-curricular Activities.

An example will clear that right out.

EDUCATION Bachelor of Economics (Honours) | University of Berkeley May ‘11 – Jun ‘14 • Selected out of 10,000+ applicants to receive an additional 30% scholarship owing to a stellar academic & work profile • 1 of 5 to be shortlisted out of 120+ applicants for a 1-year internship with the Microsoft Strategy team post-graduation • 1 of 3 mentees to be selected out of 80 applicants by US’ top investor Jack Welch, former Chairman & CEO of General Electric • Secured 1st Rank in a batch of 80 for Micro-Economics (96%) and Mathematics (86%) EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES • Event Head | University of Berkeley Led a team of 25 members across 10+ colleges to develop a unique brand positioning & boost y-o-y participation by 15% Strategized marketing by liaising with the Core Cultural Committee for UoB’s largest official annual cultural fest with a 1000+ footfall Championed the debating event as Director Coordinator to execute marketing, tie-up with colleges, reach out to the volunteers, etc. Conducted personal college visits to coordinate with individual Debating Society Presidents, develop interest & enhance participation • Head, Organizing Committee, National Seminar | University of Berkeley Led 30+ members to host a delegation of 100+ eminent academicians like Noam Chomsky & leaders from Morgan Stanley • Awarded Bronze at the Vocal Music Festival across California & secured a top 10 rank at the American Idol Season 10 • Selected as a core committee member of the economics debating club & collaborated with The Economics Club of Harvard • Executive Member – Core Committee, Music Society | Core member, Football and Swimming team | Community School, San Francisco*

Get it? Merely mentioning you will receive a so-and-so degree will put you on par with thousands of other applicants who are doing the same. The snapshot above is how you break free from the competition.

Nothing will be too big or too small for this section. Since it's only your Education experience, recruiters aren't expecting anything flashy as well. But before they decide whether or not to invest in you, it'd help if they know you showed some level of initiative too.

You can additionally provide a breakdown of all the modules and coursework across the duration of your degree. This will help in case you are looking for internships in the field of your major.

You can customize what you include here based on where you are applying. For instance, there might be some academic projects which you completed but which are only relevant for a few specific profiles.

A Section-wise Breakdown

Intern resume summary/objective.

This section will go at the top and will be a game-changer, whether you like it or not. We've seen a lot of students spending countless hours working on just this one section but still not getting the results.

Are you also one of them? What do you think is going wrong? What is it that you can do better?

Let's start with the difference between Resume Summary & Resume Objective. How do you tell which one to use?

Whenever we come across people who can't figure out the distinction between the two, we like to distort a famous JFK saying along the lines of 'Ask not what the company can do for you but what you can do for the company.'

Many people mindlessly start working on the Resume Objective section without bothering to find out if that's even needed. Place yourself in the shoes of the recruiter: what will you do with an applicant who is sending you a list of all the things that s/he is looking for?

Something like this.

> Dedicated Finance major looking for an engaging internship to enhance skills and gain experience.

And what if there's another candidate who details the skills that s/he possesses, only to explain how they can be used to achieve organizational goals?

Something like this:

Dynamic and detail-oriented English major looking to leverage his stellar communication skills as an Intern to create engaging and SEO-driven content for large-scale conglomerates. Demonstrated ability to efficiently work in teams as a zonal-level lacrosse player at the University of Berkeley.

Who will be prioritized? Whose internship resume will end up in the 'Awwyeaaah' pile? The latter of course.

Try to convince the recruiter how you'll play an instrumental role in helping them achieve their goals. Merely sending a bucket list of items that you are looking for won't serve any purpose.

That's the major difference between an Intern Resume Summary and an Intern Resume Objective section. You should ideally be targeting the former. The skills that you possess will remain constant in both cases, but the emphasis should be on the needs of the recruiter, not your own.

You can check out our in-depth guide on the Resume Objective section for more insights on how to optimize this section as per your requirements.

Professional Experience

Our first advice would be to not get overwhelmed by the resumes that you see online. Most of them are standard professional resumes and nowhere related to what you are looking for.

Even the recruiter knows that your internship resume won't be a powerhouse of profiles. They know that you're looking for internships so that you can beef up your internship resume, and not the other way around.

Consequently, you can include all odd jobs which you have done to date, which might or might not be related to the internship profile which you are targeting. The idea here is not to look like you were born for this internship. The idea is just to showcase a certain level of initiative from your end.

Besides odd jobs, you can additionally add your experiences in the non-profit sector, or any voluntary work which you might have done previously.

As you are done with internships, you can gradually add them to your resume to convert your internship resume into a standard college resume.

Since the internship resume will not exceed one page, you can spruce up the points you frame using action verbs. Check out our guide on Power Verbs for more tips on jazzing up your student internship resume.

The objective is to transform your previous job roles, and your resume in general, from a responsibility-based one to something more aligned towards achievements.

Key Skills section in an Internship Resume

Like in a standard professional resume, the Key Skills section in a resume for college will play a crucial role in getting you those shortlists that you deserve.

Most people tend to fall on either extreme of the spectrum: either they'll miss the Key Skills section altogether or they'll relentlessly stuff the internship resume with keywords. Both of these options won't cut it.

The biggest and most underrated source of relevant keywords is the Job Description, and it's surprising how often it is excluded from the entire internship resume writing process. You MUST NOT send in your internship resume without consulting the Job Description once, to check if the skills which the recruiter is looking for have been catered to or not.

Prioritize your leadership and professional skills (project management, team management, stakeholder management, etc.) over soft skills (coordination, communication, etc.). Try to establish a cause-effect relationship to explain how the skills that you possess can help you achieve organizational goals (which can be better catered to in the internship Resume Summary section)

To gain better clarity on how the skills that you have incorporated can help you get shortlisted, you can check out this great resource . It analyzes the Job Description against which you made your internship resume and gives you an ATS (Applicant Tracking System) score, along with instructions on how you can optimize your college internship resume further.

For a greater understanding of the role which the Key Skills section plays in your internship resume, check out our comprehensive guide on Resume Key Skills .

Additional Sections in your Resume for College

Many college students/freshers struggle to reach the end of the page for their internship resume. They'd rather incorporate junk points and add unnecessary fluff just so they can stretch the internship resume to 1 complete page and get a false sense of accomplishment.

But in the macro picture, that strategy often backfires.

To avoid that, keep the requirements of the recruiter in mind before you take a call on what to add and what to avoid. Additionally, a bit of research can go a long way in customizing your resume for college to your target profile.

For instance, if the organization that you are targeting has an unofficial lacrosse team that plays with teams from other corporates, and if you also indulged in that sport in school/college, you can go ahead and mention the same in glowing letters.

That's an example of a relevant key skill that specifically targets the organization of your choosing. But that won't happen in every case, right?

For all other cases, it helps if you can quantify your achievements and provide detailed information around the same. The idea is to showcase your skills in all arenas and to convince the recruiter that if you excelled in, say, A, you also can transfer those skills to excel in B.

HOBBIES: Photography, music, traveling, reading books

Most internship resumes, especially student internship resumes, are flooded with Additional Sections along these lines. They add zero value to your internship resume in general and your application in particular. Students prefer to take the easy way and stuff their internship resumes with fluff points and sections like these to stretch the document to one page.

Don't. Do. That.

Now take a look at this:

HOBBIES Photography: Owner and administrator of ZYX Photography Page on Facebook with 7k+ likes Travelling: Visited 6 countries in the last 1 year and documented my travels on my travel blog (insert link) with average traffic of 50k users/month

You are going a step beyond what's expected and detailing how you excel in those hobbies. A recruiter reading this will instantly conclude that you'd also be able to transfer these skills in the workplace to help him achieve organizational goals.

In addition to the Hobbies section for your student internship resume, you can add more sections around Projects, Publications, or Extra-curricular Activities. The idea is to stay relevant and keep the requirements of the recruiter in mind at every step of making a resume for an internship.

The Final Touch: What to do before sending your Resume for an Internship?

Since in all probability, you'll be sending your resume for college for the first time, there are a few things that you can keep in mind before you do. Any slack when it comes to these factors will lead to outright rejection.

It sure would be unfortunate if you spent all those hours working on the perfect resume for college but due to something so insignificant, you are out of the race, right?

Here it goes.

Proofread We cannot stress this enough. A single typo or error in your 1-pager internship resume can spell doom. And why shouldn't it? If you can't write a 1-page document, about yourself , without errors, why should the recruiter think you'll excel in other work?

A lot of intern resumes are trashed even before they land on the table of a human recruiter because the ATS screens all intern resumes for errors. An extra 10 minutes spent proofreading your internship resume will automatically place you above a lot of those candidates.

Customize Nothing is more futile than spending countless hours on your resume for college and blindly sending it anywhere and everywhere.

Tweaking your student internship resume a bit, depending on the target job role and the organization, will mean so much to the recruiter. Given the sheer volume of intern resumes that they process daily, they can find out if you made the effort to tailor your college internship resume according to the job role, or whether that application was selected out of 20 others and you just hit 'send resume'.

File Format More often than not, the JD will specify the format in which the recruiter wants your intern's resume. Stick to that.

In the absence of any instruction, you can send a .pdf format with minimal formatting along with a .docx file, just to be sure. A lot depends on the ATS that a company deploys to parse and process internship resumes.

Make sure that you don't go overboard with the formatting when it comes to the resume for an internship. An ATS is designed to parse only basic text - while extensive formatting might look jazzy on paper, it's going to be useless if your intern resume is going to get tossed in the bin because of that.

HIRATION PRO-TIP: while we are it, do us a favor and don't name your internship resume file as, well, 'Internship Resume'. Your file will land in a folder with hundreds of other intern resumes, and a title like that won't help. Keep it basic with something like 'Name_Internship Resume'.

Subject Line for emailing your Intern Resume We'll keep this short. For any internship resume queries, a rule of thumb is to place yourself in the shoes of the recruiter.

While submitting your resume for college, what kind of subject line will ease the recruiter's burden the most?

Keep It Simple Silly. The objective here is to be short but precise. You can go with 'Application for Finance Intern - FirstName_LastName' or something along those lines. You're fine as long as you've mentioned your name and the purpose of sending the email in the subject line.

Cover Letter That's the last thing that you can do to dramatically increase your chances of getting a shortlist. A personalized cover letter addressed to the recruiter will work wonders for your application.

You can refer to our comprehensive guide on writing a brilliant cover letter for the same.

ATS Optimization for your Internship Resume

Keywords. Keywords. Keywords.

But that doesn't mean blatantly stuffing your intern resume with them. Any HR worth his/her salt won't take more than 10 seconds to figure out if you're guilty of that - and if you are...bye-bye cruel world.

Scan the Job Description to get an idea of the keywords which are on top of the recruiter's priority list, and make sure you organically place them on your resume for an internship.

When it comes to assigning the priority order for keywords, professional skills will come before soft skills. And while we are at it, don't lie. Mention only those keywords which you think you can justify at the time of the interview, or during the internship itself.

Remember, your goal is not to get shortlisted. It's to bag that sweet little internship - and that includes the interview as well.

Sanitizing your digital presence

Gone are the days when internships were assumed to be light and carefree. Companies approach all interns as potential employees - which means they are put through the same recruitment criteria.

And that typically includes verification of your online presence. Sanitizing Facebook, being a personal social network, is optional - just make sure there's nothing too incriminating.

It's LinkedIn that counts. Make sure you have a LinkedIn profile before you send out your internship resume. In addition to that, you can have a blog or a portfolio where you showcase your best work. That will only add more brownie points to your application.

Internships can be a rewarding experience and can set you up on the path to professional success - provided you lay the foundations of the same during college.

An internship may look futile, and make an internship resume even more so, but the truth is, in the present scenario, a few stellar internships while you are in college will do wonders for you down the line.

Go to Hiration career platform which has 24/7 chat support and get professional assistance with all your job & career-related queries. You can also write to us at [email protected] and we will make sure to reach out to you as soon as possible.

Share this blog

Subscribe to Free Resume Writing Blog by Hiration

Get the latest posts delivered right to your inbox

Stay up to date! Get all the latest & greatest posts delivered straight to your inbox

Is Your Resume ATS Friendly To Get Shortlisted?

Upload your resume for a free expert review.

How to Write an Internship Resume [w/ Examples]

Internship Resume Sample for 2024

Are you required to present your resume to secure an internship and have conflicted feelings about how your resume should look for such an internship?

Are you scared that you’d be over or under-qualified?

Do you fall into the above categories or more that hinder you from getting your resume to the appropriate places? Then this article is written especially for you.

Sample of Resume for an Internship Application

Writing resumes can be a very tricky affair because your resume is basically an introduction to your employer. So you can be rest assured that first impression matters. Prior to receiving your resume, the recruiter or employer has no knowledge of who you are or your previous achievements as grand as they might be, so always aim not to impress but to express.

The recruiter will probably be more interested in getting to know who you are as a person than the things you’ve achieved and there’s a very high probability that it is not a lot given that you’re applying for an internship anyway.

A recent study conducted shows that the average recruiter takes a look at a resume for no longer than six-seven seconds and will only look for any longer period of time if the six-second glance was worth it.

So kindly look inwards and try to come up with a way to establish a relationship between you and the recruiter in less than six seconds. You’re most probably wondering how on earth it’s possible to do that sort of thing. Well, it is and you’ll learn just how to do it right here. 

The first thing to do while writing that resume is to look at your previous experiences and check if you’ve done anything related in any way at all to the work you’re currently trying to apply for. 

If you’re applying for an internship at a digital marketing agency, then you should be looking out for any experience in a field such as social media management. Look for times where you have handled any social media account for any brand, even if it’s a personal one and turn it into a corporate experience.

While writing your resume for an internship, you can be rest assured that the recruiter or company does not expect you to have serious professional qualifications and your current qualifications are only expected to boost your academic or career goals, hence you can totally include all those skills you gained on your own and show willingness to gain more skills.

• It should perfectly highlight your strengths and be appropriately structured.
• There is absolutely no need for preambles so you should go straight to the point and make the position you’re applying for very obvious.
• Avoid errors and make your resume very easy to read.
• Above all, make sure that your resume isn’t more than one page .

Reiterating the above, the recruiter does not expect you to have tons of experience but that does not give you the permission to fill up your resume with generic information as it sends a very bad message to the recruiter about you.

Also, keep it in mind that your recruiters are looking for someone who has skills that are honed personally through practice and very willing to learn.

Skills such as; the ability to work under pressure and meet target deadlines, a very high level of creativity, impressive communication skills , hard work and exceptional leadership abilities.

It is very common while writing a resume for internships to see many students stressing or having a meltdown because of their GPA.

If you’re in that category, then you need to take a step back and desist from giving yourself a high blood pressure because, in actual fact, recruiters in most cases usually do not take the school GPA into cognizance or let it determine if you deserve to be recruited or not.

Although always make sure to include your academic qualifications as poor as they might be on your resume because for someone in your stage, you might not possess enough field experience and as I said before, even recruiters do not expect you to.

Recruiters are usually more interested in relevant work experiences so kindly focus more on that.

On your resume, there are basic things that should attack your recruiter first, and one of them is your ' Professional Summary ' which is where you tell your recruiter what you have got to offer in just a couple of sentences.

Always make sure that you do not turn in a resume without a professional summary as that’s the best way to let your employer know what you’re good for or at.

Your resume should be tailored to fit the position you’re applying for, as this gives the recruiter the idea that you’re already a nice fit for their company even long before you’re offered a position. 

You should also never forget to include all the awards and honors you’ve received as little as they might be, they go a long way in creating a lasting impression in the mind of your employer and give you an edge of credibility over other resumes.

 With all the above insights, you should be well on your way to securing that dream internship, without an atom of doubt that you can be absolutely sure of.

Related Resume Examples

• No Experience Resume
• Research Assistant Resume
• High School Resume
• College Resume
• Students and Graduates Resume
• Teacher Resume

Suggested Readings:

• +150 Best Skills to Put on Your Resume
• How to Write a Cover Letter for an Internship
• Strengths & Weaknesses for Job Interviews

To provide a safer experience, the best content and great communication, we use cookies. Learn how we use them for non-authenticated users.

Privacy preference center

We care about your privacy

When you visit our website, we will use cookies to make sure you enjoy your stay. We respect your privacy and we’ll never share your resumes and cover letters with recruiters or job sites. On the other hand, we’re using several third party tools to help us run our website with all its functionality.

But what exactly are cookies? Cookies are small bits of information which get stored on your computer. This information usually isn’t enough to directly identify you, but it allows us to deliver a page tailored to your particular needs and preferences.

Because we really care about your right to privacy, we give you a lot of control over which cookies we use in your sessions. Click on the different category headings on the left to find out more, and change our default settings.

However, remember that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of our website. Finally, note that we’ll need to use a cookie to remember your cookie preferences.

Without these cookies our website wouldn’t function and they cannot be switched off. We need them to provide services that you’ve asked for.

Want an example? We use these cookies when you sign in to Kickresume. We also use them to remember things you’ve already done, like text you’ve entered into a registration form so it’ll be there when you go back to the page in the same session.

Thanks to these cookies, we can count visits and traffic sources to our pages. This allows us to measure and improve the performance of our website and provide you with content you’ll find interesting.

Performance cookies let us see which pages are the most and least popular, and how you and other visitors move around the site.

All information these cookies collect is aggregated (it’s a statistic) and therefore completely anonymous. If you don’t let us use these cookies, you’ll leave us in the dark a bit, as we won’t be able to give you the content you may like.

We use these cookies to uniquely identify your browser and internet device. Thanks to them, we and our partners can build a profile of your interests, and target you with discounts to our service and specialized content.

On the other hand, these cookies allow some companies target you with advertising on other sites. This is to provide you with advertising that you might find interesting, rather than with a series of irrelevant ads you don’t care about.

Student Internship Resume Examples & Writing Guide for 2024

Kick-starting your career with an internship? Your student internship resume is the key to unlocking that door. But in a sea of skilled candidates, how can your resume bubble to the top?

This guide is your lifesaver. Packed with useful tips, concrete examples, and handy samples, we'll help you line up your talents and skills in a resume that's hard to ignore. Keep reading to learn the answers to the following questions:

• Which resume format is best for interns?
• Why write a resume summary as an intern?
• What skills should an intern include on a resume?
• How do you describe work experience as an intern?
• How can an intern accurately include education on a resume?

Still looking for a job? These 100+ resources will tell you everything you need to get hired fast.

1. What is the best format for your intern resume

Whether you are currently working as an intern or are applying for an internship position, the first decision you must make for your resume is which format to use .

Internships are often seen as a transitional role to help you build professional experience either while you are still a student or after you have graduated. As such, employers may not be looking for a plethora of work experience, but rather educational credentials and academic skills that qualify you for the job.

Below is a breakdown of the 3 main types of resumes and when to use them:

• Reverse-Chronological: The reverse-chronological resume focuses mainly on work experience, listing your most recent job first and working backward from there. This format is best for applicants who have relevant experience in the field of the internship they are applying for.
• Functional: The functional resume removes the focus from work experience, placing it instead on education, skills, and unpaid experience. This format is often the best-suited for interns, as it provides the best opportunity to highlight academic experience and achievements.
• Hybrid: The hybrid resume spreads the focus of the document out evenly between all sections. This makes this format a good option for interns who have a mix of both professional and academic experience.

2. How to write an appealing intern resume summary

A resume summary is a short statement at the beginning of your resume that helps introduce an applicant to the employer reading the document.

As an intern, writing an effective resume summary is a great way to help your resume stand out from the competition. When written well, this summary can make your resume far more memorable and eye-catching, boosting your chances of landing the position.

To help illustrate how to write a good resume summary, here is a weak example followed by a correction and explanation:

Incorrect intern resume summary example

Recent College Graduate seeking an internship position within the FinTech space. Highly knowledgeable of machine learning and artificial intelligence. Skilled at working with large teams of developers and designers, helping to create a new smart product that won a major competition.

Why is this incorrect?

In this example, the applicant is too vague when discussing their experience and accomplishments. Rather than skirting around specific details, they should strive to include more exact information, such as what competition they won or specific examples that show they are knowledgeable in machine learning and AI.

Corrected intern resume summary

Recent Graduate with a B.S. in Information Systems and Computer Science. Passionate about artificial intelligence, with 3+ years of experience working in collaboration with other students on faculty-led technology projects. Served as a professor’s assistant in creating a new Smart Watch that won first place in the 2021 Innovation in STEM competition.

Why is this correct?

In this example, the applicant offers exact details about their academic credentials and experience working with AI. Additionally, they include key insights into their interpersonal abilities by describing their collaborations with students and professors. The summary wraps up with a bang by detailing the award-winning product they helped a professor create.

Try our AI Resume Writer and have your resume ready in minutes!

3. what are the best skills to put on an intern resume.

No matter what internship position you are applying for, it is important to include both hard and soft skills on your resume.

Hard skills refer to your learned abilities, like software development or bookkeeping. These are the skills that should be as specific as possible for the internship you are applying for, as they will often be a qualifying factor in the eyes of employers.

Soft skills refer to your ability to understand the people and world around you. Without soft skills present on a resume, it can be difficult for employers to get a true sense of your personality and working style.

With this in mind, here are 10 examples of both hard and soft skills for Interns:

The best hard skills for your intern CV

• Bookkeeping and accounting software
• Computer skills (typing, presentations, etc.)
• Office software (Microsoft Office 365, Google Suite, etc.)
• Graphic design
• Telecommunication
• Data analytics
• Foreign languages
• Office management
• Technology skills

Effective soft skills to put on your intern resume

• Willingness to learn
• Time management
• Problem-solving
• Self-confidence
• Collaboration
• Organization
• Verbal and written communication
• Critical thinking
• Active listening

4. How to best describe your work experience

Typically, an applicant who is applying for internship positions will lack an extensive work history – hence why they wish to work in the role of an intern.

However, even if you have work experience that is not directly related to the position you are applying for, you can still use this experience to showcase your transferrable skills and work ethic. Additionally, you can help yourself stand out more by including specific accomplishments from previous roles.

Here is an example of a work experience entry from an intern resume

Sears, Salt Lake City, UT Customer Support Agent August 2019 to June 2021

• Provided accurate and in-depth information and assistance to customers calling about making returns and receiving refunds.
• Improved overall customer satisfaction rating from 75% to 96% by helping to implement a new incoming call script and conflict management process.
• Received the Employee of the Month award for 4 consecutive months, from March 2021 to June 2021.

Find out your resume score!

5. How to accurately include education in your intern resume

As an aspiring intern, you are likely looking for a position within your field of study. This makes it highly important to list your education correctly . In some cases, it may even be beneficial to include relevant coursework if it is relevant to the internship position.

If you are still in the process of completing your diploma or degree, then it is also essential to indicate within your education section when your expected date of graduation is.

Here is an example of a well-crafted education section on an intern resume

Boston University, Boston, MA B.S. in Communications

• Ongoing, Expected Graduation: May 2024
• Introduction to Broadcast Journalism, Completed Spring 2021
• Diversity in Communications, Completed Fall 2021
• Advanced Topics in Human Virtual Representation, Currently Enrolled

6. How to include customized extra sections in your intern resume

When creating an intern resume, it's essential to include relevant sections that highlight your qualifications, experiences, and skills. Adding extra sections can provide additional value and make your resume stand out.

One effective extra section to consider is "Projects and Internships." In this section, you can showcase notable projects you have worked on or internships you have completed, highlighting your practical experience and demonstrating your ability to apply classroom knowledge to real-world scenarios.

Here's an example of how to list an extra section in your intern resume

Projects and Internships

• Digital Marketing Intern, XYZ Company (Summer 2022): Assisted the marketing team in developing and implementing social media campaigns, resulting in a 20% increase in online engagement and a 15% growth in website traffic.
• Web Development Project: Created a responsive website for a local non-profit organization, incorporating modern design principles and optimizing user experience through intuitive navigation and mobile compatibility.
• Research Project on Renewable Energy: Conducted independent research on renewable energy sources, analyzing their environmental impact and presenting findings to a panel of faculty members.

7. Top job resources for aspiring interns

As an intern on the hunt for the perfect opportunity, it helps to have a few handy resources tucked up your sleeve. Here are some platforms widely acknowledged as top-notch spots to find internships:

• LinkedIn: Networking is everything, and LinkedIn stands tall as the go-to platform. Not only can you easily search internships, but with robust tools for connecting, creating a profile, and showcasing achievements, you enhance your visibility to potential employers.
• InternMatch:  With a user-friendly interface and vast categories, InternMatch helps aspiring interns like you find tailored opportunities across industries.
• Glassdoor:  Known for its company reviews, Glassdoor also hosts a robust job and internship search engine. The added insight about company culture and review is a valuable bonus.
• WayUp:  Designed specifically for students and recent grads, WayUp offers a thoughtful blend of internships, part-time jobs, and entry-level positions.

Remember, while these resources can significantly aid your internship quest, nothing beats a well-written resume and a proactive approach. So, get searching and start applying!

Student Internship Resume FAQ

As an intern, you're not expected to have as much work experience as a seasoned professional, so it's perfectly fine if your resume is shorter. One page is typically sufficient for a student internship resume.

Absolutely! If you’re newer to the workforce, your extracurricular activities can demonstrate transferable skills, leadership qualities, and commitment to your field.

If you have notable gaps, focus on the skills and experiences you've gained during those times. Included any relevant activities or self-improvement endeavors you engaged in.

Usually, it's not necessary to include references on your resume. Employers would generally ask for them separately during the application process.

An objective statement can be beneficial on an intern resume. It can succinctly express your career goals and why you’re a good fit for the internship.

Martin Poduška

Martin is a resume expert and career advice writer at Kickresume. In his five years at Kickresume, he has written hundreds of in-depth, painstakingly researched resume advice articles and, as chief editor, he has also edited and revised every single article on this website. Tens of thousands of job seekers read Martin’s resume advice every month. He holds a degree in English from the University of St Andrews and a degree in Comparative Literature from the University of Amsterdam .

All student resume examples

• Formal Sciences Student
• High School Student
• Humanities Student
• Natural Sciences Student
• Professions And Applied Sciences Student
• Social Sciences Student
• University Student

All student internship resume examples

Related student internship cover letter examples

Resume guides

How to write a professional resume summary [+examples], how to put your education on a resume [+examples], how to describe your work experience on a resume [+examples], let your resume do the work..

Join 5,000,000 job seekers worldwide and get hired faster with your best resume yet.