While a resume for an internship emphasizes your education history, a standard resume should highlight your relevant work experience, as that’s what employers are looking for.
Fortunately, internships count as work experience, and adding them to your resume can help you land full-time work.
When to put an internship on your resume
Internships offer valuable work experience and are a great opportunity for recent graduates or people with little work experience to pick up some important professional skills.
You should put an internship on your resume if:
- You’re a current student or recent graduate
- You have minimal work experience
- You have internship experience that is highly relevant to the job you want
However, listing internships on your resume isn’t always the right move. If you’re years into your career and are struggling to list all your relevant experience on a one page resume, you should omit internships. This gives you more space to highlight accomplishments from your full-time positions.
Where to put an internship on your resume
List your internships in the work experience section of your resume. Each internship should be placed next to previous jobs you’ve had or projects you’ve worked on.
If you’re using a chronological resume, list each internship you’ve done in the order you did it, with the most recent position at the top.
Here’s an example of internship experience listed in the proper part of a resume:
How to list an internship on your resume
List your internship experience using the same format as any full-time job you’ve held.
For each internship you’ve held, include the following information:
- Name of the company or organization you interned for
- Your position title
- Your employment start date and end date (including month and year)
Underneath, provide a bulleted list outlining projects, responsibilities, and accomplishments you made during your internship.
Be sure to frame your accomplishments in terms of how your presence directly contributed to the success of the company at large. If possible, use hard numbers such as percentages, financial figures, and/or hours you spent on a specific project.
