How to Add an Internship to Your Resume

How to Add an Internship to Your Resume | Tips

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Many students seek internships to gain professional experience before starting a career in their field. Relevant internships can add value to a resume, especially if it is your only professional workplace experience. In this article, you can learn how to strengthen your resume by listing your internship experience in a way that highlights your skills and potential.

Why is internship experience important?

Internship experience is important because it is often your first opportunity to develop skills for your desired career. Internships often provide opportunities to learn about a variety of roles and operations within a company. Employers sometimes prefer candidates with internship experience because it shows that the applicant has already put effort into their professional development. Including internship experience on your resume highlights you as an ambitious candidate with a growth mindset.

Should you add your internship to your resume?

Including internship experience on your resume can improve your application, especially if you have limited work experience. While internship experience may not be relevant for people who are established in their field, it can help entry-level employees start their careers. After you have about five years of experience, you can leave out your internship experience.

You can usually apply the skills you gain during an internship to many different jobs and industries. You might have developed skills like organization, time management, teamwork, and critical thinking throughout your internship, which are valuable items to add to your resume.

How to add an internship to your resume

Follow these steps when adding internship experience to your resume.

1. First, create a section for experience

Whether your internship is your first professional experience or you have had other jobs, create a separate section on your resume for your job experience. List internships with your other job experience, which shows employers their professional value. If your internship is your only professional experience, include extra details about the qualifications you earned as an intern.

2. Second, add the internship details

Your internship entry should have the following details:

  • Internship title
  • Company
  • Location
  • Dates of internship

If you interned for a well-known company, you could list its name first, followed by your internship title. Completing an internship at a prestigious company might be more valuable than your intern title, and adding the organization first can quickly get the employer’s attention.

3. Third, list your responsibilities

Think of all the responsibilities you had during your internship, and decide which tasks are most relevant to the job. When listing internship responsibilities, use verbs that describe specific actions you took to accomplish your goals. Achieved, spearheaded, constructed, and developed are all good action words to use.

Keep in mind that employers look for the ways an applicant can benefit their company, so each responsibility should reference the positive impact you made during your internship. Use numbers and statistics to add more value to your responsibilities. For example, an internship responsibility could be Developed new volunteer schedule, reducing missed shifts by 11%.

4. Next, share your achievements

Include a list of the key achievements you earned during each internship. Highlighting the work you are most proud of shows employers that you take full advantage of professional opportunities. Your achievements also provide employers proof of your skills through measurable feedback such as performance ratings, sales numbers, or company awards.

5. Then, use the proper verb tense

When listing your internship experience, use the correct verb tense for when you completed each task. If you are currently an intern, you use the present tense for your responsibilities in that role. Use the past tense when you’re referencing the internships you completed. Using the proper verb tense shows professionalism and a basic understanding of best practices for resume writing.

6. Finally, ask for guidance

If you need help remembering all of the details of your experience, ask your internship advisor for assistance. Contact them if you need to know your official internship title or want more details about your responsibilities. If you’re applying for a job in the same industry as your internship, your supervisor could also give advice for the best details to include and which words to add to stand out.

When you’re done adding your internship experience, proofread it for any spelling or grammatical errors. If you tailor your resume for each application, read it again before you send it, or ask a trusted friend or family member to review it.

Internship experience template

Use this template as a guide when adding an internship to your resume.

Experience

[Internship title]
[Name of employer]
[City, State]
[Start date–End date]

Responsibilities

  • [List your most relevant responsibilities as an intern using bullet points]
  • [Include the positive results of your actions if possible]

Accomplishments

  • [List key successes and achievements of your internship]

Internship experience example

This example shows what internship experience should look like on a resume.

Experience

Early Childhood Education Intern
Houston Museum of Art
Houston, TX
July 2019–December 2019

Responsibilities

  • Collaborated with education staff to supervise and facilitate free community art events.
  • Wrote lesson plans based on museum collection to engage young learners.
  • Taught seven groups of young children in studio and gallery environments.
  • Collected and analyzed feedback from parents and guardians to create reports on the success of art classes for toddlers.
  • Prepared materials for art classes based on detailed instructions using die-cut machines, laminators, and 3D printers.
  • Updated the website every week with class descriptions, lesson plans, and ticketing information.

Accomplishments

  • Created surveys to assess the quality of future early childhood education programs and documented a 10% improvement in visitor satisfaction after implementing feedback.
  • Earned HMA Education Department Leadership Award.

Tips for including internships on a resume

When writing your resume, use these tips to make sure that your internship experience adds as much value as possible to your application.

Focus on growth

Use your internship as an example of your ability to pursue professional growth. Internships usually teach basic professional skills, and employers look for candidates with the ability to learn and grow beyond those skills. You can show growth on your resume by listing times that you pursued more responsibility as an intern or took the initiative to support your team.

Use a specific job title

When listing an internship, be specific with your title and responsibilities. If you worked with a specific department or team, include that information in the job title to show your unique expertise. Your job title should concisely reflect the type of work you learned and the basics of your role.

Emphasize industry knowledge

If your internship was in the same field as the job you are applying for, emphasize any industry knowledge you gained. Knowledge of methods, standards, and best practices within an industry indicates your interest in growing with the company and your ability to quickly adapt to their procedures and culture.

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