Competition for internships can be just as fierce as it is for full-time positions. Every college student seeking an internship needs a strong resume that clearly communicates their career objective and unique qualifications. The quality of your resume can directly impact whether you're invited to interview for available internship opportunities.
Objective Examples for an Internship Resume
Before you start writing or updating your resume to use in your search for an internship, you'll need to come up with a good resume objective that communicates your short-term goal of securing an internship, in support of your long-term career goal. A few examples include:
- Summer internship: Seeking a summer internship with XYZ Corporation in the ________________________ department to provide support to company projects and programs while gaining professional experience in the field.
- Business internship: To apply my knowledge in [specify aspect of business, such as accounting, finance, marketing, management] in an internship role with ABC Company to meet company needs while gaining valuable firsthand experience in the _______________________ industry.
- Engineering internship: Engineering student seeking opportunity to gain hands-on civil (or specify other discipline) engineering experience through an internship with Metro Engineering Associates.
- Political internship: Future political staffer seeking an internship to support the work of Senator ______________________________ and gain practical experience in the legislative sector.
Any of these objective statements can be tweaked to be appropriate for students seeking an internship in any field. You may also want to review additional resume objective examples. When drafting your objective, remember to be specific about your field of study, specify that you are seeking an internship, state how you can benefit the organization, and mention that you are seeking real-world experience in support of your long-term career goals.
Resume Templates for College Students Seeking Internships
When it's time to start writing your resume, you may want to use a basic college student resume template or resume builder software to help you get started. Even if you'd prefer to start from a blank document, reviewing sample resumes and templates can be helpful. There are several types of resumes to consider.
- See sample resumes for a student for academic and skill-based templates designed with college students in mind.
- If you have a good bit of experience already, you may find these functional and chronological resume forms to be more appropriate.
- If you're seeking a nursing school internship, the template in nursing student resume would be a better option.
- If you have no previous work experience (or very little), these resume templates and tips for teens may be helpful.
Tips for Writing a Strong Internship Resume
Companies that hire interns are seeking college students for entry-level roles that are intended to help the company while providing experience and practical training for those who are hired. Keep that in mind while deciding what to include in your resume. In addition to general resume writing best practices, key tips to follow when writing an internship resume include:
- Include skills that will help you be a good intern, such as your ability to use certain software packages, data entry, research, data analysis, etc. Consider what you have learned how to do in school as well as relevant skills you have acquired from jobs, volunteer work, student organizations, etc. Make sure that critical information isn't missing from your resume.
- Include appropriate keywords in the text of your resume, as this will help your resume stand out to recruiters whether they are using an applicant tracking system or directly reviewing printed or electronic resume documents.
- Ask your school's career services representative and/or your academic advisor to review and provide feedback for a draft of your internship resume. Edit based on their advice.
- Proofread carefully before finalizing your resume, as typos, grammatical mistakes, or inaccurate information could exclude you from being considered for internship opportunities.
- Save your resume in a PDF format so it can easily be emailed along with a cover letter or uploaded via an applicant tracking system.
- Build out your LinkedIn profile so that it closely aligns with the information included on your resume. That way, if you come across internship opportunities advertised on LinkedIn, you'll be able to easily apply directly from the site.
Finding Internship Opportunities
Once you have a good resume focused on helping you secure an internship, you'll need to identify and apply for internship opportunities. Many large and small businesses, government agencies, nonprofits, and other organizations offer internship. Your college's career services can be a good resource, since companies with formal internship programs often engage in college recruiting. Speak with a career services representative to find out about summer internships and opportunities for other times of year. It's also advisable to use job search engines and to scour the career pages of company websites to determine if they are hiring interns. Armed with your new internship resume, you'll have everything you need to apply!
