Assignment Title: How to List Internship Experience on a Resume
Course: CHMN 699 - Internship
Student: Kristine Sage
2022
Professor: Dr. Mary Smith
Liberty University
How to List Internship Experience on a Resume
If you're applying for a new job opportunity, it may be beneficial to feature your internship
experience on your resume. This can help employers and hiring managers to learn more about
the practical experience you gained from a past internship located in a similar field or industry.
To achieve this, your resume should correctly display your experience, responsibilities and
accomplishments from your past internship. In this article, we discuss what an internship is,
when you should add internship experience to your resume and how to put internships on your
resume.
What is an internship?
An internship is an opportunity to gain practical experience in an occupation you may be
considering. It can be a beneficial way to learn if a specific field you're interested in is one you
want to pursue as a career. Undergraduate and graduate students often complete internships
during their college programs. When serving in an internship, students often aren't yet ready to
pursue this position as a full-time career.
Internships can also help students make connections with experienced professionals in
their field of interest. Building a professional network while completing school can help
students find jobs easier once they graduate. They may also be able to establish a mentor-
mentee relationship during an internship.
Typically, they will dedicate only a few hours to an internship each week. This is often
because they are balancing their internship with their studies or another part-time position.
Internships can be paid or unpaid opportunities. Students are sometimes given the chance to
list an internship as college credit due to the valuable experience it can bring them. Another
common internship option is to complete one over the summer in between semesters.
When to add an internship to your resume
As you prepare to apply for a new career, you may wonder if it's beneficial to add any
previous internships to your resume. The ideal opportunities to add a past internship to your
resume may include:
You are a recent graduate and have little to no work experience.
You hold internship experience related to the field or industry you're applying for.
You've gained skills or abilities from past internships that are applicable and beneficial
to the position you're applying for.
Once you've gained enough full-time work experience to fill your resume with past skills
and accomplishments, you can stop adding internship experience to your resume.
How to put internship experience on your resume
Here is how to list your internship experience on your resume in a way that appeals to
hiring managers:
1. Add the internship to your work experience.
2. Write the formal title, company, location and date of your internship.
3. List your responsibilities throughout the internship.
4. Include any achievements or accomplishments.
5. Ensure the formatting matches the rest of your resume and work experience.
1. Add the internship to your work experience
Since your internship likely involved working under the supervision of a professional and
gaining valuable skills, you can list it alongside your other work experience. Your work
experience is often featured near the top of your resume. Internship experience can be added
to this section as well. You can order your internship and work experience chronologically or
according to the relevance of the position you're applying for.
Employers and hiring managers may value the practical experience you received from your
internship, especially if you gained skills listed in their job description. This is why your
internship should be featured with your work experience rather than in your education section.
If you held several past internships relevant to the position you're applying for, you can also list
them in a separate section dedicated to your past internships.
2. Write the formal title, company, location and date of your internship
As you list your internship, include the formal title you worked under. You can talk with
your past internship supervisor to learn the formal name of your internship if it's not already
known. For example, if you served as an intern in a marketing company and created posts for
their social media accounts, your title could be social media marketing intern.
Include your internship title, the date you served in the internship and where it was
located.
3. List your responsibilities throughout the internship
You can now list the responsibilities you held during the internship. Similar to the
responsibilities you've listed in your job experience, your internship experience should be
relevant to the position you're applying for. If you're applying for a specific job, review the
posted job description and duties. If your internship helped you gain any of the skills they need
for this position, you can list them in your internship responsibilities.
List these responsibilities using two to five bullet points that are clear, simple and include
action words.
4. Include any achievements or accomplishments
Within your responsibilities, you can include anything you accomplished or achieved while
serving in your internship. Hiring managers may enjoy learning about your past internship to
gain an idea of what you may accomplish during a full-time position with their company. When
listing these accomplishments and achievements, you can use numbers or percentages to
describe what you accomplished at your previous internship.
If you are unsure of what you achieved at your internship, you can meet with your past
supervisor. They can help you realize what you helped the company accomplish while serving as
an intern. Your previous intern supervisor may also know how to best phrase and format your
past accomplishments to fit the requirements hiring managers may search for.
5. Ensure the formatting matches the rest of your resume and work experience
As you build your resume, review the formatting and ensure it matches well. Since your
internship experience should be in the same section as your work experience, you will want it
all to be equally formatted. For example, if you list the job responsibilities under your work
experience in 12-point font, you should apply the same font to the job responsibilities listed
under your internship.
Example of an internship on a resume
Here is an example of how to list internship experience on the work experience section of your
resume:
Social Media Marketing Intern
Bob's T-Shirt Emporium, Dallas, Texas
August 2017–May 2018
Job Responsibilities
Created content for social media featured on social media platforms
Tracked social media content using a calendar created in Microsoft Excel
Built and monitored social media content to build engagement and followers
Launched an ad campaign that boosted social media engagement by 35% in one month
