How to Write a Resume for a College Internship: 7 Best Practices

You are about to graduate from college and are looking for internships to gain some real-world experience. Your search for roles and finally find an internship that matches all your requirements and allows you to grow.

Bingo! That’s exactly what you needed.

But wait, they need you to submit a resume. Now you’re thinking, “I hardly have any experience. How do I write a resume for college internships?”.

Well, here we are.

In this article, we will tell you how to write a resume for a college internship and increase your chances of getting that interview call.

7 Best Practices to Write a Resume for College Internship

So, what is a college internship resume?

An internship resume majorly focuses on your educational background, skills and hobbies, interests, qualifications, and extracurricular activities.

Since you are starting to work with no extensive work experience, these strengths will be the basis of how the internship hiring manager views you and if they are willing to hire you.

It can be daunting to build a resume from scratch with not many things to include in it but don't panic. Even the little bit of information that you have about yourself can, in turn, make your resume stand out and demonstrate what a good fit you are.

Use this opportunity to think about all that you’ve accomplished and achieved where you might have shown exceptional skills, creative thinking, and problem-solving methods.

We know it can be a bit of a struggle trying to make the perfect internship resume, but we are here to solve that for you. Take a look at the seven best practices of how to write a resume for college internships.

Consult your network

Before you start looking for internships, you should talk to your friends, advisors, professors, or anyone who can help you build a plan of action. If some of them work in a few companies or have referrals to sources who work in similar companies as your niche, ask them for advice or figure out whether you can use them as references.

Another great aspect of using your network is to find out what a college internship resume should include. Since they are more likely to know about your biggest strengths and qualifications, they would be able to guide you in the correct direction of framing your internship resume.

Use an internship resume template

You can use your time wisely by finding an appropriate resume template rather than spending your time working on your resume from scratch. Finding free resume templates online won’t take a lot of time and is the fastest way to get your job done easier.

Your internship resume should include the following

• header (name and contact number);
• resume objective;
• education;
• projects;
• extracurricular activities;
• skills.

Building a clear and comprehensive resume that highlights your accomplishments and experience, the skills you possess, and how you can be a valuable asset to the internships is the first step to getting quality internships.

So, using a resume template for your internship resumes can help you organize your information and put it across more uniquely and appropriately. By using these templates, you make a great first impression on your internship employers, and it saves you a lot of time.

Write a strong internship objective statement

Your internship objective should be well-defined, should mention your capabilities, and include the needs of the employer as well.

Browse through a few examples of objective statements, and note down the common traits that were used in them. This indicates the basic skills and qualifications that employers need to accept applicants for the internship.

Craft your objective statement by using the basic skills mentioned as a reference. Your statement should be a 3-4 line paragraph that highlights the following:

• your strengths;
• most marketable character traits;
• what you have to offer;
• what your career goals are;
• your willingness to learn;
• how you apply the skills, you’ve learned in school.

To be more thorough with the objective statement, make it a point to customize the statement according to each job that you are applying to. This level of attention to detail and customization will be greatly beneficial to the jobs that don't require you to send in a cover letter.

Here’s an informative video by Badass Careers that talks about the importance of an objective resume statement

Lead with your strongest asset or qualifications

When you’re structuring your internship resume, always keep in mind to put forth your strongest skills and your best qualifications right at the beginning. For students in college looking for internships, it is advisable to emphasize your educational background. This portion is likely what will set you apart from the rest.

If you have more volunteer work or other interesting and unique extracurricular activities, make it a point to feature them right after your resume objective statement.

Emphasize your education

For people looking for jobs, the education section would usually be at the bottom of your resume, with very minimal information.

But when it comes to building a resume for seeking internships, your education section should be on top and emphasized the most. As this is your main selling section and likely greater than your relevant work experience, you should divert a lot more attention to it.

Internship resume should include the following under the education section

• name of the degree;
• name of institutions;
• years attended;
• GPA;
• honors & awards: adding academic-related awards and honors show the hiring manager that you have been recognized for your work and achievements in the past. For example, an honors roll list, the dean's list award, etc.;
• exchange programs: this section shows your capability to work and succeed outside your comfort zone. It also reflects being skilled at working well under pressure and adapting to new lessons, cultures, people, and education;
• relevant coursework: You can provide the titles of coursework you’ve taken or will take in classes and other related reading materials that are relevant to the internship you are applying to.

Include an achievements section

Since a work experience section does not apply to a college internship resume, it is best to replace it with an achievements section focusing on your most significant accomplishments as a student.

In this section, you can include anything that you’ve been proud of doing and that has brought value to your life. You can point out the skills and projects that you have been recognized for and awarded for in your educational background.

Some potential things you can include in achievements section

• campaigns;
• research papers;
• project assignments (e.g., capstone projects, graduation thesis, research projects);
• extracurricular activities;
• volunteer experiences;
• leadership experiences;
• other internships.

You can also include your hobbies, interests, or sorority and fraternity experience in your resume if you think it can reflect on and emphasize your positive personality traits that can be used in the work setting that you’re applying for.

Edit and refine

Now that everything is on your resume, it is time to proofread, edit when necessary and refine it to look like a quality internship resume. You’ve probably used the resume template, which will save a lot of your time refining it.

Remember to check if you have truly customized your resume as per the internship that you’re applying to and if the information present in your resume is relevant to the hiring manager.

Since you are looking to apply for internships, your resume should not be lengthy and should fit completely on one page. Finally, give your resume a good read-through, check for spelling and grammatical mistakes, and if necessary, give your friend your resume to read for a different and fresher perspective.

If your resume is well-organized, talks about your interests and accomplishments, shows initiative and work ethic, and exhibits a willingness to learn in your desired field, employers will most likely be very interested and call you for an interview.

Conclusion

Internship resumes are a very vital part of starting out in the industry of your choice. With the help of these resumes, you can get into great internships that will be valuable for the growth of your career.

So, knowing how to write a resume for college internships is a skill that every college student should partake in to make this entire process much easier, resulting in you crafting that perfect page.

This article will help you through it all. All the best, and let’s get interning!