Career Development Center

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Internship Focused Resume

Highlight relevant academic work; this may be your strongest selling point.

  • Include work history to indicate your experience as an employee and that you have been able to hold a paid job for a period of time.
  • If appropriate, describe responsibilities/accomplishments that speak to your ability as a worker.
  • Relevant volunteer experience is also very important.

View a model internship focused format resume: Word | PDF

An internship oriented resume is different from a job oriented resume in the following ways:

  • In seeking an internship, your immediate goal is an applied learning experience which contributes to achieving your academic goals, rather than a job and a salary.
  • You will be expected to have transferable academic skills and background; you should not be expected to have professional level qualifications.
  • To convince an organization that you have appropriate transferable skills your resume will describe your academic background in more detail than in a job oriented resume.

Compiling an Internship Oriented Resume

You are designing a self-portrait of your academic and professional life.

Step 1: Articulate your goals. Why do you want to do an internship, and why now? What do you want to learn? Whether or not you include a statement of goals on the resume, know them for yourself.

Step 2: Identify your skills. What do you know how to do well? What academic background or job experience do you have to contribute to meeting this goal? Imagine the organization's needs; what would they want to know about your background?

Step 3: Gather evidence of your skills. Evidence can include: a copy of your transcript (can be ordered from Registration and Records); records from previous jobs or volunteer experiences, copies of program descriptions, syllabi and evaluations, and evidence of other accomplishments that might be appropriate for the kind of internship you are seeking.

Step 4: Start writing. Get everything that might be remotely relevant down on paper. To start with, use this format for each skill, event, job, program, volunteer experience:

  • Name it. Title the position, skill or topic of study; this is your name for it, not the Evergreen program name.
  • Date it. When and where did you do it. What was the duration of the experience?
  • Describe it. Using no more than two sentences, describe the content of the event or project.

Step 5: Organize. The organization of a resume is every bit as important as the content. If the content is not presented in an accessible way, it won't be seen. You want them to see it all, otherwise you wouldn't include it. The resume should have some organizing principle such as chronology, skill or function. Choose section headings that fit your needs and are appropriate for the content of the information.

Information Appropriate for an Internship

  • Degrees and/or certificates from college, community college, technical skills or formalized training programs. Be sure to include BA expected, and when.
  • Academic proficiencies and/or courses of study. List or describe areas of study in which you feel you have strong competencies. Don't just list program titles; look to your "equivalencies" on your faculty evaluations.
  • Jobs, part-time or full-time that have contributed transferable skills.
  • Volunteer or community service activities.
  • Campus community participation, involvement with campus student organizations or college governance.
  • Academic accomplishments. List ways you have demonstrated your proficiency in an area of study through understanding of principles of a subject. This could be producing a video, participating in a group designing a new system, writing a research paper, mapping an area, or many other kind of projects.
  • Relevant personal accomplishments such as knowledge of another language, artistic accomplishments, computer proficiency.
  • Tools and technical skills. Many professions have their own tools and will be interested to know if you can use them or will require training. Here are some tools: statistical analysis, video production, computer programming, the use of lab equipment, field identification of plants and/or animals, mapping, graphic arts.

A few words about references. You can expect any host organization interviewing you to ask for references. You should be equipped to provide three references who have some knowledge of your academic or professional strengths. Check with the person first to make sure they are willing to be used as a reference and will be available at the time you need them. Provide the following information when supplying a reference: name, title and organizational affiliation, daytime phone number and address (make sure it's current). Also, include a reference note describing your relationship to the reference if it's not already clear.

A few words about portfolios. A resume is only a snapshot of who you are; a portfolio can be more like an autobiography. Many organizations may find a resume doesn't give them enough information about you. They may want to see the video you produced, or read the research paper or see examples of your lab analysis skills. A portfolio can help you organize that evidence and have it handy should you need it to demonstrate your proficiencies. Portfolios can be useful in any area of study, not just the arts. Support for developing a portfolio may be available in your program. It is also available from the Career Development Center or Academic Advising office.

Prepared by Academic Advising. For more information, contact the Office of Academic Advising, Library 1401, (360) 867-6312 or the Career Development Center, Library 1407, (360) 867-6193.