Highlight skills, extracurriculars and accomplishments over limited work experience. Here's how to put together a well-crafted internship CV that shows hiring managers you have the right professional capabilities.
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An internship CV differs from other CVs in several key ways. Rather than work experience, an intern CV highlights skills, school activities and accomplishments. By following these internship CV examples and tips, you can create a strong CV for an internship in no time.
This article will cover:
An internship can help you make crucial connections at a company you want to work for. The purpose of this role is for interns to learn practical skills related to their career goals by assisting in various jobs at a company. You may choose to do a summer internship or a part-time internship during the school year depending on the company and whether the internship is for academic credits.
To land a great internship position, you need a strong CV. By including these key elements in your CV, you can place yourself ahead of the competition:
Figuring out how to layout your CV to showcase your best skills is an ongoing process as your career journey continues. You may even be working in a different industry years from now and need to change things around, so don’t be afraid to customise your document as needed. Generally, there are three main types of CV formats you can choose from: Chronological, Combination and Functional.
The best format for your CV depends on your skills and experience, with all three formats being suited to user preference. CVHelp’s CV Builder can help you format a professional CV in just minutes. There are three strategies when it comes to formatting:
For an internship, you’ll likely use a functional format, but a combination format also works if you have some professional experience under your belt that showcases the skills and qualifications the internship needs.
Keep these 3 factors in mind:
Different CV formats can be used to highlight different aspects of your career background. If you want to demonstrate that you have a strong work history choose a chronological CV format.
With some work experience and a strong set of industry-specific skills, a combination CV would be an excellent choice. If you are new to the workforce but want to emphasise the skills you’ve developed in school, like in our intern CV sample above, a functional CV format is the best fit.
If you have gaps in your employment history, this should be a consideration for job seekers when choosing the best CV format. If you have been laid off, are light on work experiences, or have taken time off for personal reasons, a functional CV format would emphasise relevant skills over your work history.
If you want to apply to jobs related to your previous field, but have different training then the best CV format for the job would be a combination CV so you can highlight your transferable skills. The chronological CV format is a solid choice for a professional with a long work history and an impressive career trajectory.
A well-organised CV is critical to getting past an applicant tracking system (ATS). ATS software is used by the majority of companies in the U.S. and is designed to scan your CV for a specific set of keywords to weed out unqualified candidates. Crafting a well-structured CV starts with a format that is easy to scan and puts your most impressive achievements front and centre.
Your CV header should contain crucial information such as your full name, your phone number, LinkedIn, and additional contact information like portfolio links. Make sure to select a header that is easy to read and isn’t too boxy or distracting.
Your professional summary or career objective statement may only be a few sentences long, but it’s key to grabbing employers’ attention. A summary (which is preferred by most job seekers with experience) is an overview of your best skills, work achievements and qualifications that is specifically tailored to the company.
While an objective is used to tell a recruiter what your career goals are and your reasoning for applying to the role, its focus is on your career path.
Student at XYZ University with experience managing marketing for social media accounts seeking an internship in social media marketing with XYZ Company. PRSSA scholarship award winner with strong technical skills and work ethic.
Highly motivated accounting intern offering working knowledge of accounts receivable, accounts payable and financial reporting. Self-starter, with adaptability to a fast-paced environment with extremely aggressive deadlines.
A great CV will be tailored to each internship with keywords from the job description. You can pick out relevant skills, tasks and responsibilities to match up with your own experiences and then make sure to place these crucial skills in your bulleted skills list, summary, and a separate skills section if desired.
The skills section of your CV is a great place to show recruiters that even though you may be a student or recent graduate, you have what it takes to make it. This is your opportunity to show competencies in both soft and hard skills like this:
This may not be the key section for your internship CV, but you can still give examples with quantifying achievements, or highlighting relevant accomplishments and specific responsibilities that match what the new job wants. Here’s what that could look like: Conducted market research and analysed marketing surveys to help management figure out how to improve sales by 15% by the end of the second quarter.
Because you are still in school or university when applying for an internship, your CV education section will look different than someone with years of experience. In your education section list your top academic achievements, your grades if applicable or required, and your college diploma if relevant.
In addition to the basic CV sections above it is important for an internship to be as specific as possible. So if it is relevant to the specific application, you may want to include:
If you want to make the best impression with your internship CV you need to be able to adapt to changes quickly and have a set of versatile templates that can help your documents be professional and readable. CVHelp has many resources which could help you to create the perfect CV for your next internship opportunity.
Check out these resources if you are looking for just the right way to present your CV:
A great cover letter is the most effective way to mention your interest in the company and how you believe you’d be the perfect fit for the team by being able to expand on the details of your CV and provide useful background information.
If you need help crafting your cover letter CVHelp has plenty of cover letter writing tips and cover letter examples you can use to write the perfect accompaniment to your internship CV.
The best format for an internship CV depends on how much experience you have. The Reverse-chronological CV format is the most popular format because hiring managers are accustomed to reading it, and it also features your work experience. But, if you don’t have a lot of relevant experience, a functional CV format can place the focus on your skills.
An internship CV allows the candidate to make a strong first impression. A professional-looking internship CV shows hiring managers that the candidate has the capabilities to excel in the internship. A great CV can even display your ability to take on a further role in the company.
Hiring managers will often keep the CVs of interns when looking to fill entry-level positions. Your CV can help the hiring manager recall all the hard work you put in during your internship experience.
Writing a CV for an internship, especially without direct work accomplishments, means you need to prove your skills another way. The effective combination of a skills-based CV in the functional format and an accompanying cover letter can be an extremely effective way to show that you have the skills required. It can show that you can effectively meet with and work alongside the right people to help you overcome your lack of experience.
Remember to use your skill section (and your cover letter) to show that you’ve researched the company and have curated the right academic or personal experiences for which they are looking.
With no direct work experience it may seem challenging to craft a CV. Instead, you can use research assistance, projects, previous school work, and relevant volunteering experiences as the base of your CV. You can also share your accomplishments, achievements, awards or other relevant accolades.
For your summary section, since you don’t have a directed job title, you can create an introduction to yourself and what you can bring to the company. Create some simple but effective points about your personality and how they would enrich the job you would be doing. List soft skills such as hardworking, trainability and communication skills so you can increase your appeal to hiring managers.
A resume is a one-page document that is mainly focused on relevant work experiences and training that pertain to one particular field. How thorough job seekers need to be with the information put on the page is the central difference between a CV and a resume, your document should include every element of your work and academic history and other relevant background information.
Additionally, for some countries and specified industries, it may be appropriate (or required) to include your picture, hobbies, interests and various background details.
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