Internship Resume

Writing Descriptions For Internship Resume

Limiting your skills, abilities, and experiences to one page can be an extremely daunting task.  For many, there isn’t enough room on there for everything you’ve done.  This is a good problem to have, but an obstacle, nonetheless.  Let’s get one thing straight: extending your resume to that second page simply isn’t an option.  It might be tempting to get a full extra page to show a company why you’re worthy of them taking a risk on you, but you’ll end up doing much more harm than good in the end.  If you can’t catch an employers attention with just that one page, you’re doing something very wrong.

If you’re having space issues, take some time to evaluate how crammed your internship resume has gotten over the years.  While it all may seem important to you, it’s not all going to be relevant to every job you apply for.  Make up one master internship resume as long as you’d like it to be (I strongly urge you to restrict this to a page an a half).  Then, as you apply for jobs, change up your internship resume each time!  If you’re going for marketing, knock off that HR externship.  If you’re going for non-profit, keep those volunteer hours on there.  Get rid of as much as you can spare because trust me, you’re going to need it.

When you’ve filtered out the white noise, find three topics on there that you think would be most appealing to the company you’re applying to.  Now, take the time to add bullet points describing in detail all the pertinent skills and talents you acquired through each experience.  This will catch the employer’s eye when they’re sifting through internship resumes, as well as cater the questions in every internship interview to your most familiar skills.

Online Internship Resume Submission

Why on earth would anybody just submit an internship resume online? This makes zero sense as your chances of landing the internship are close to about .3%. Don’t just submit your internship resume online because it begs the recruiter to put you in a pile. The goal is to get out of that pile, not be part of the pile! Submitting you internship resume almost guarantees you a spot in that pile! Don’t do it, ever!

So if you should submit your internship resume online, what should you do? For starters, at least mail it in. Or better yet, walk to the office and hand it in. These channels are just less crowded. I met with an internship recruiter the other day and he turned his monitor towards me and said, “See these emails, they all have internship resumes that I am not going to read.” There must have been 100+. They just don’t have the time to sort through this huge amount of internship resumes and why would they when some college students come recommended or creatively approach the problem. Please stop the trend of online internship resume submission! There is no logic to it.

As always, the best way to get your internship resume read is to find a contact within the company and get a referral. Try as hard as you possibly can to get another individual within the company to hand the recruiter you internship resume. This works.

Stop submitting your internship resume online, it just doesn’t work.

Internship Resume Rules

Break them. Break the internship resume rules. Why does an internship resume have to be one page? Why does an internship resume have to include education? Why does an internship resume have to be a piece of paper? Why does an internship resume have to include bullet points? Who made these rules? You don't have to play by them.

Playing by the rules means that you are just like everyone else. Chances are, other students have better GPAs or work experience, so unless you are the top dog, playing by the rules means that you lose.

What if you internship resume was a picture? What if it was a column that read: problem | solution. Internship resumes should be interesting so that they get noticed. Playing by the internship resume rules guarantees just one thing: you won't be remarkable. As they say, the rules are made to be broken. So, go break the internship resume rules - they were created years and years ago and no longer make sense.

The amazing internships, the ones people write about and talk about, are never filled with average internship resumes. Be different, it's worth being wrong.

Internship Resume Goal

It is incredibly easy to forget the goal of an internship resume. It is easy to think about creating a beautiful document that showcases your history. It is easy to make a killer resume, but hard to get an internship.

The goal of an internship is simple: Get a company to talk with you. Period. Students continue to forget this! That is it. Students should continue to ask themselves the question, "After I read this internship resume, do I want to talk to this person?" That is it. It is that simple and that hard at the same time. Internship resume goal is simple but complex.

Resumes are a very antiquated way to get noticed.Internship resumes need to be looked at as a tool rather than a product. It is not the end goal, it is the means to the next step. Once students start seeing this differently, they will take more risks and create documents (internship resumes) that convert. This is incredibly difficult to understand, especially when you are a student and you so want to create a one page document that is easy to post all over Monster or CareerBuilder.

All this said, we must never fail to forget that great resumes, no matter how great, never get the internship. So, stop reformatting a word document and start meeting people.And when you land the internship, do amazing internship work - and watch in awe what happens.

One Chance At Your Internship Resume

If you’re applying or an internship, your internship resume gets one chance.  One.  The recruiter will check it out for a few minutes, and put in the ‘interview candidates’ stack, or he’ll put it in the garbage.

This is why you need to get your internship resume right the first time.  And it makes me frustrated to Google “internship resume” and find a bunch of terrible, formulaic resumes that will without a doubt get turned down.

People need guidance for internship resumes.  When you’re writing an internship resume for the first time, it’s tough.  You don’t even know where to begin.  Of course, you need some guidance.  But don’t follow any guidance or advice blindly.  Use your head and think about it.  When you find an example of an internship resume, think to yourself, “If I were a recruiter, would I hire this guy?”  The answer to that question will tell you whether or not you should take this internship resume into account when you’re writing yours.

I’m just saying that there is a lot of different internship resume advice out there.  But this is YOUR internship resume.  The person you’re sending it to is going to look it at once.  You only have a few minutes of his time.  So don’t blow your chance by writing an internship resume that he’s going to toss.  Follow the right internship resume advice.  Put yourself in the recruiter’s shoes and think about seeing the internship resume from their perspective.  Common sense and instinct will tell you if it’s good or bad.

When you go for an internship, come with all the materials you can - great internship cover letter, internship interview, and of course - dominate the internship work.

Be Real In Your Internship Resume

Get real with your internship resume!

So you want an internship, and you’re working on the old resume.  What should internship resume look like?  Not that many people writing internship resumes have experience writing them.  The most important thing tell your story and be real in your internship resume.  Here are some things to think about.

If you were an employer, what would you look for in an internship resume?  What would the ideal internship resume look like?  Don’t forget that your internship resume is going to be viewed by an actual person.  Think about what you would want to see in an internship resume and be sure to include those things in your internship resume.  Your best bet for connecting with someone is to be real and down-to-earth in your internship resume.

Following a template for your internship resume screams that you are being fake.  Be real and be yourself in your internship resume.  Format it however you want.  Be creative.  It won’t kill you.

Don’t litter your internship resume with “action verbs.”  Nothing is more fake than an internship resume strewn with vague, irrelevant action verbs.  Remember that the people looking at your resume do this for a living, and they can spot BS from a mile away.  Do yourself a favor and don’t test them.  Use  action verbs sparingly and only when they’re appropriate in your internship resume.  Too many action verbs say that you are dishonest and have something to hide.  With actions verbs, it’s a thin line.  Don’t cross it.

Fit relevant experiences into your internship resume.  Don’t focus so heavily on the internship resume guideline that you leave out some key experience you’ve had.  Get some of your experiences on your resume that make you look real and dedicated.

Keep these things in your mind to write a real, honest internship resume that says who you are and what you’ve done.  Too much template-following and action verbs tell the employer that you have something to hide and that you aren’t interesting at all.

How To Get Your Internship Resume Tossed

The easiest internship resume to throw away is one that obviously follows a template.  Using the outline that career services gave you and filling in the blanks won’t cut it.  Start with a blank page and do what you want.

Using your own format and maybe a little color will be beneficial to you and the HR person reviewing your resume.  It will be a breath of fresh air from all of the other template-formatted resumes that flood the office.  You can look like a creative, interesting person and make your own resume from scratch.  Or you can use your career center’s template and look like a huge tool while someone folds your resume into a paper airplane and throws it at Johnson from Accounting.

Another way to get your internship resume folded up into a paper airplane is to load it up with “action verbs.” Your career center will tell you that these are huge and recommend that you cover your resume with them.  These make your work history/extracurricular activities/what have you sound more important than they really are.  This is lying, and it’s stupid.

Do you know how many internship resumes HR people see from college students?  Do you know how it easy it is for them to spot BS?  Use action verbs at your own risk.  Use them sparingly and only when they’re relevant.  Too many irrelevant action verbs, and your resume is getting turned into a paper football by Matthews from Sales.

Be real, personal, and relevant when you’re writing your internship resume.  Realize that you are selling yourself to a person, and you have competition.  If you look like everyone else, you’re going to get the same treatment of everyone else: tossed.  Don’t write your resume to be the same:  write it to be different.  Otherwise, Robinson from Marketing could be balling up your resume to shoot into a trash can like Kobe dropping a three in Game 7.

Create a killer internship resume and best of luck on the internship search! But, make sure you nail the internship cover letter, internship interview, and especially any internship work you are given! A Summer internship program is a great way to get our foot in the door and become noticed.

Internship Resume

Putting the right “spin” on your internship resume.

When you are applying for internships, particularly popular ones, there is a lot of competition for a limited number of spots.  The real question is, “What can I do to differentiate myself?” Let’s talk about how to use your internship resume.

Recruiters have to weed through tons of internship resumes.  The nice thing about a resume, however, is that you can completely control everything about it.  You need to use this control to send the message that you are the right person for the internship.  Obviously, by the time you apply for an internship, your content is fixed.  In other words, you cannot go out and suddenly get a different job than you had last summer.  You are stuck with what you have (or have not) already done or accomplished.  But you can effectively “spin” your material to suit your position, and this is extremely important. A great internship resume counts!

First, find all relevant material.  This will require some thinking on your part- so invest some time.  There may be things that you have left off your resume that could help you here.  Have you ever managed people?  This does not just mean you led a team of summer interns at your last job- because this would clearly already be on the resume.  Think about other situations- maybe you volunteered to help organize and run your church’s Vacation Bible School.  Maybe you were in charge of the fundraising for the National Honor Society in high school.  The important thing is to put everything in the context of the position you are applying for.

Include a description that applies to the internship.  If you want an investment banking internship, but lack much relevant experience, you can include a blurb about your personal investments, or talk about joining the church investment club.  If you are applying for a position as an advertising intern, you can describe how you promoted your friends band that plays in your hometown- and maybe even create a job/position out of it!  If you called your friends and created a facebook group, suddenly you have a job description that says “Utilized existing contacts and new social networking technology to drive up door sales.”  And that will catch someone’s eye much faster than listing your summer job as a lifeguard.

Find your material.  Spin it the right way.  And make your resume stand out so you can get that internship! Beyond the internship resume, make sure you bring a great internship cover letter, nail the internship interview, and dominate the internship work.

Your Internship Resume Is A Brand

Let's view your internship resume as a brand.

Forgot what you know about internship resumes.  A resume isn’t your one-page highlight reel to wow companies.  It’s a way for companies to filter out the thousands of applicants they get every year.  When you’re writing your resume, think about what you can do to make the cut and called for an interview.   Here are some things to think about.

You are a brand.  The person reviewing your internship resume is your consumer.  You are marketing yourself.  Your resume and your cover letter are your first touch points with your consumer.  Always remember this.

How do you want to market yourself?  What can you do to occupy a perception in your consumer’s mind?  How can you stand out against competing products?  You need to think about how you can connect with who you’re writing to.  How can you jump off of the paper and into someone’s mind?  How can you stay there?

You should have a theme when you market yourself-- have one coherent strategy when you’re writing your internship resume and internship cover letter.  What do you want someone to take away from your resume?  What do you want them to think about you?  The point of this is to streamline your resume and focus on your strengths (and how they make you a great fit for the position).

And if you’re wondering, the answer is yes: you should write different internship resumes for different positions.  If I’m applying for a job in investment banking, my resume will look different than my advertising resume will.  I won’t be making stuff up, but I will focus on different strengths and experiences in both versions.  It doesn’t make sense for me to talk about my experience in financial forecasting and ratio analysis on my advertising resume, but you bet I’m going to include it on my investment banking resume.

One last thing, and this is common sense.  It could be the most important thing in this article.  And it is:  NEVER call your internship resume “Investment Banking Resume” or “Advertising Resume” when e-mailing it to an employer.  These people know you have multiple resumes, but they don’t want to see it.  Make a folder called “Resumes.” In this folder have folders for “Investment banking resume” and “Advertising resume.” In these folders, have your job specific resume titled “Resume.” Good luck with the internship search!

When you have a remarkable internship resume, internship cover letter, internship interview, you have the complete package. It is this "Internship package" that really counts. But is is even more important to do amazing internship work.

Using Your Internship Resume to Stand Out

You need to use your internship resume to standout!

With the flood of resumes that companies receive on a daily basis, it is extremely difficult to differentiate yourself from other applicants.  Tradition orders us to follow a template for our internship resumes.  We are told to follow examples and formats in order to find success in applying for jobs.  After not hearing back from so many companies with the same old resume, maybe it’s time for you to reconsider how you want to present yourself when applying for internships.

Think about it logically: anything you ever remember, anything that sticks with you, stands out.  You don’t remember a standard, boring looking billboard when you’re driving down the highway.  You remember the catchy and colorful billboard that doesn’t blend in with the rest.  Why are we constantly being told not to stray from the flock, to change up the content of the internship resume but not the look of it?  It makes no sense!  When you are applying for internships with public relations firms and marketing firms, do you really think they’re going to be impressed with the same standard resume?  These are companies that thrive on ingenuity and creativity.  Following the rules and fitting in get these organizations nowhere.  They won’t go after the applicant who doesn’t stand out.  If you can’t even sell yourself with a full piece of paper, how are you going to come up with a way to sell a product or firm on a quarter page of a newspaper?

If you’re daring enough to grab their attention, if you aren’t afraid of trying something new, as yourself what you’d like to see in an internship resume.  If it has color and lots of crazy designs, you can bet that someone’s at least going to glance at it.  As long as you’ve got the credentials to back it up, you may very well find yourself hearing back a lot more often.  Keep in mind, a colorful resume doesn’t make up for a lack of experience.  If you want an internship in public relations or marketing, you still need some firsthand familiarity with the area of study. Best of luck with the internship search!

Make sure to come in with all guns firing. Aka - internship cover letter, internship interview, and yes of course - internship work (after you get the job)!