Internships offer a valuable opportunity to gain some real world work experience and develop important professional skills that will make you a competitive candidate for your next job.
You should put an internship on your resume if:
- You’re a current student or recent graduate
- You have minimal work experience
- Your internship experience is highly relevant to the job you’re applying for
Here’s how to list your internship experience:
1. Format your internship experience correctly
For each internship you’ve held, include the following information:
- Name of the company or organization you interned for
- Your position title
- The start and end dates of your internship
- A bulleted list outlining your projects, responsibilities, and accomplishmentsHere’s an example:
VERTIAS STRATEGIES, New York, NY
Research Intern, November 20XX — present
- Produced reports and crosstabs to present recommendations for company data acquisition
- Assisted senior staff to clean and upload approximately 10 new datasets a month
- Streamlined our data analysis process, reducing polling data processing time by 5%
- Used SQL to parse data and produce reports
- Guided clients towards strategic decisions using political knowledge and data-driven insights
JERSEY CITY CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL, Jersey City, NJ
Information Desk Assistant, August 20XX — May 20XX
- Greeted hospital patients and visitors and guided them to find the department, examination room, or patient room
- Processed and distributed mail and newspapers to patient rooms
- Took patients in wheelchairs to their desired locations
2. Choose the right section for your internship experience
If you have one or two jobs to list on your resume, you can add your internship to the work experience section, like this:
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Elite Events
Event Planning Intern
July 20XX – October 20XX
- Coordinated logistics for 20+ corporate events, ensuring a satisfaction rate of 19 events
- Managed vendor relationships, negotiating discounts and saving $5,000 on event costs
- Assisted in designing event marketing materials, increasing attendee registrations by 300
Great Valley Co-op
Stocker and Cashier
January 20XX – May 20XX
- Stocked and organized merchandise, ensuring optimal product placement and inventory levels for over 500 items
- Operated cash register and handled transactions for an average of 100 customers per shift
- Provided excellent customer service, resolving issues and answering questions for 50+ customers daily
If you have multiple internships but no formal work experience to list yet, then you can create a separate “Internships” section. Here’s an example of what that looks like:
INTERNSHIPS
Biomedical Research Intern
Health Innovations Lab
June 2023 – September 2023
- Analyzed data from clinical trials, contributing to a 12% increase in study efficiency
- Assisted in preparing research findings for 3 scientific publications
- Conducted laboratory experiments, improving sample processing speed for 200 samples
Environmental Science Intern
Green Horizons Institute
February 2023 – May 2023
- Conducted soil and water quality tests, improving data accuracy for 15 samples
- Assisted in the analysis of ecological impact reports for 5 major projects
- Collaborated with a team to develop a new sustainability initiative, reducing waste by 500 pounds
If you haven’t gotten your first job yet but you have a combination of other experiences like volunteer work, projects, and coursework, create a “Relevant Experience” section and put your internship experience there along with your other experience.
Here’s an example:
RELEVANT EXPERIENCE
Sacramento City Health Department
Public Health Intern
October 20XX – March 20XX
- Conducted surveys and analyzed data from 500+ participants to assess community health needs
- Assisted in planning and implementing public health outreach programs, increasing participation by 150 people
- Supported the development of educational materials, reaching an audience of over 500,000 residents
Healthy Communities Coalition
Public Health Education Volunteer
June 20XX – November 20XX
- Facilitated health education workshops for 100+ community members
- Conducted surveys and gathered feedback to assess the effectiveness of public health programs
- Assisted in distributing health resources and promotional materials
If you’re years into your career and are struggling to fit your relevant experience on one page, you should omit your internships and use the space to highlight accomplishments from your full-time positions.
3. Use action verbs to showcase your performance
The bullet points you list under each internship need to communicate your duties and accomplishments to managers in a clear, concise way.
So, begin each bullet point with an action verb that clearly describes what you did in your internship.
Action verbs clearly express what actions you took and center you as the proactive doer. For example:
- Assisted
- Supported
- Contributed
- Initiated
- Developed
- Designed
- Created
- Conducted
- Improved
- Enhanced
- Coordinated
- Analyzed
- Collaborated
- Drafted
Avoid using passive verbs like “tasked with” or phrases like “responsible for” and “in charge of” because they express your actions indirectly and don’t sound as impressive as action verbs.
Here are some examples of how to use action verbs to effectively describe your internship experience:
Use action verbs
- Developed a social media strategy that increased engagement by 25%
- Analyzed financial data for 12 client accounts, identifying key trends and insights
- Created content for marketing campaigns that reached over 50,000 users
Avoid passive phrases
- In charge of social media strategy
- Tasked with analyzing financial data and identifying key trends and insights
- Responsible for marketing campaign content
4. Quantify your accomplishments
Use numbers like percentages, dollar amounts, and time you spent on a project to make your internship bullet points more specific. Adding metrics shows hiring managers the impact you made in your internship, and helps them understand what you’re capable of accomplishing.
Add numbers whenever you can to make your bullet points more impressive. Here’s what that looks like:
- Reduced customer service response time by 40%
- Saved $5,000 on event costs through effective vendor negotiations
- Resolved 50 customer queries daily
- Coordinated logistics for 10 events
Examples of internships on resumes
Here’s an example of how to list an internship on a digital marketing resume:
Relevant Experience
Digital Marketing Intern, 20XX — 20XX
American Heart Association (Dallas, Texas)
- Developed 12 editions of the AHA monthly newsletter
- Continuously updated the company website with relevant medical news
- Wrote and edited copy for brochures and pamphlets for patients
Here’s an example of how to list a computer technician internship:
Work Experience
Computer Technician Intern, 20XX — 20XX
Asus (Berkeley, California)
- Performed 30+ computer repairs and maintenance checks per week
- Assisted in regular installations and system updates
- Applied troubleshooting tactics and predictive maintenance practices to reduce downtime by 12% across the board
And, here’s how you can list a legal internship on your resume:
Work Experience
Legal Intern, 20XX — 20XX
Shelley Ingram Law Office (Columbia, Maryland)
- Developed hundreds of polished legal documents, including briefs and memos, to aid court affairs
- Coordinated 40+ hours of trial exhibits to support litigation proceedings
- Enabled legal team to take on an additional 5 cases per quarter by significantly contributing to research efforts and preparing essential legal paperwork
Additional resources
If that was helpful, check out some of our other resources for students and early-career professionals:
- 9 internship resume examples and templates
- How to write a resume with no experience
- How to make a resume for your first job
- College student resume
- How to write an undergrad resume
- Recent college graduate resume
- How to list relevant coursework on a resume (with examples)
The best resume templates for 2024
One of the best ways to make your resume is by filling out one of our free resume templates. All our templates are designed by experts and free to download for Microsoft Word or Google Docs.
Nathan Soto
Career Expert & Digital Content Writer
Nathan Soto is dedicated to providing practical guidance to job seekers, especially people with nonlinear career paths. Nathan’s articles and career advice have been featured on multiple platforms, including Newsweek and Fast Company, offering insights into resume writing, interview preparation, and personal branding. Nathan graduated from the University of Nevada with a double B.A. in French and Music. Currently based in Taipei, Taiwan, he also excels as a Mandarin–English translator and English language coach.
View Nathan's Profile
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How to Put an Internship on Your Resume
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