How To Put an Internship on a Resume (Plus Examples)

Updated June 12, 2023

If you're applying for your first job or transitioning to a new career, it may be beneficial to list your internship experience on your resume. You can include an internship on your resume to show employers the practical experience you've gained in a field or industry. Knowing how to put an internship on a resume can help you impress potential employers and distinguish yourself from other entry-level candidates.

In this article, we discuss when to include an internship on a resume, how to list this experience and examples you can reference when creating your own resume.

When to put an internship on a resume

There are several reasons you may want to add internship experience to your resume. You can include internships on your resume if:

You're a student or a recent graduate with little work experience.
You have internship experience related to the field or industry in which you're applying.
You're changing careers and have internship experience in your new industry.

Generally, you can remove internships from your resume once you've gained several years of professional experience in your field. Then you can focus your resume on the jobs you've held, rather than your internship experience.

Where to put internships on a resume

Typically, you can list an internship in two places on your resume, which are:

1. Work experience section

Often, you can include your internship in the work experience portion of your resume, since you likely completed tasks and gained valuable skills in the intern role. You can list internships as work experience, whether they were paid or unpaid positions.

2. Internship section

If you've had multiple internships, you may choose to create a separate section on your resume specifically for this experience. You can list your internship section ahead of your work history if your internships more directly relate to the position for which you're applying.

How to put an internship on your resume

Here are the steps you can follow to list your internship experience on your resume in a way that appeals to hiring managers:

1. Add the internship in a relevant section

Determine whether you want to include the internship in your work experience section or as its own section. List your internship and work experience in chronological order. Since employers and hiring managers may value the relevant experience you've gained from an internship, list it as experience on your resume, rather than in your education section.

2. Include relevant details

As you list your internship, include the name of your formal title. If possible, list the type of internship you completed as part of your title. For example, if you interned at a marketing company and created posts for social media accounts, you may use the job title "Social Media Marketing Intern" on your resume.

In addition to your internship title, include the dates you worked in the internship, the name of the company or organization and its location.

3. List your internship responsibilities

Below the details of your internship, list the responsibilities you had and the projects you completed. Use bullet points to describe the tasks you performed that relate to the position for which you're applying. Include five bullet points if the internship is the first role listed on your resume and three bullet points if you're listing it below your other experiences.

While writing your bullet points, review the job description to ensure you include relevant duties. If your internship helped you gain skills that a potential employer is seeking for the position, highlight those skills when describing your responsibilities.

4. Feature your achievements

In your bullet points, you can also include achievements you had while serving in your internship. Hiring managers may enjoy learning about your internship achievements to gain an idea of what you may accomplish in a full-time position with their company. When listing these achievements, use numbers or percentages to describe what you accomplished at your internship.

If you're unsure of what you achieved at your internship, you can ask your intern supervisor or manager for feedback. They may be able to provide insight into how you helped a team, department or company while serving as an intern. Your intern supervisor may also have ideas about the best ways to phrase and format your past accomplishments to match the requirements of a full-time position.

5. Review the formatting

As you build your resume, review the formatting to ensure it matches well. Make sure you format your internships in the same way as your work experience. For example, if you list the job responsibilities under your work experience in a 12-point font, you can apply the same font to the responsibilities listed under your internship. It may be helpful to have another person, such as a friend or relative, review your resume to help you identify potential errors or areas for improvement.

Examples of an internship on a resume

Here are two examples you can reference to help you add your internship experience to your resume:

1. Internship in a work experience section

Here's an example of how to list internship experience in the work experience section of your resume:

Experience

Social Media Marketing Intern | August 2022–April 2023
Bob's T-Shirt Emporium | Dallas, Texas

Created three to five daily posts for social media content on four platforms
Monitored social media content to build engagement, resulting in a 14% increase in followers across all platforms
Developed a new system to track social media content by creating a cloud-based calendar for remote access
Launched a targeted ad campaign that boosted social media engagement by 35% in one month
Collaborated with a five-person marketing team to generate new content ideas, building effective teamwork and communication skills

2. Internship experience in its own section

Review this example to learn how you can include internships in a separate section of your resume:

Internships

Finance Intern | September 2022–Current
Westport Community Bank | Cincinnati, Ohio

Provide administrative support to 12 financial advisers to assist with day-to-day operations
Prepare month-end reports for the finance manager, streamlining the process by 50% within six months
Interact with clients to retrieve requested information, including balances and stock quotes
Build and maintain positive client relationships through effective communication and customer service
Operate financial software to maintain client accounts and prepare reports

Data Analyst Intern | January 2022–August 2022
Excentron Group | Cincinnati, Ohio

Extracted and integrated financial data into modeling software to prepare reports for the data analysis team
Analyzed the accuracy and consistency of data to ensure clean, thorough reports
Conducted user research and documented findings to identify trends for future recommendations

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