How to Put an Internship On a Resume? 5 Tips

How to Put Incoming Internship On Resume?

Internships are a great way to kickstart your career when you have no relevant experience. They are invaluable for students who want to gain hands-on professional experience and apply their skills to real-world tasks. Many interns are offered full-time employment with the company, and even if not, an internship with a big name company makes you more employable.

But what should you do if you got an offer for the internship but the internship hasn't started yet? Does it make sense to add a future internship on a resume?

In this article, you will find:

• when and how you should add a future internship on a resume,
• how do you list past internships as a recent graduate, and
• internship resume examples to help you craft your own.

Want to get hired faster but don't have much experience? A professional resume creator can help. At ResumePerk, we create persuasive student resumes tailored to your target internship or job. We focus on your skills, internships, and education to help you get noticed faster! Special student discounts and unlimited edits are available.

Can you add future internship experience on a resume?

The short answer is yes. If you have officially accepted the internship, you can add it to your resume even though it is a future position. Adding future jobs or internships is not very common, but it is perfectly acceptable.

For example, if you accepted a three-month winger internship as a marketing intern, you can add it to your resume and start looking for summer internships right away. Thus, the hiring managers will appreciate your relevant internship and may prioritize you over other candidates.

Writing about the future internship on a resume looks similar to describing the past ones. The main difference is that you cannot list specific duties and achievements. Below, we will describe how to put your future internship experience right.

5 reasons to list internships on your resume

The primary goal of listing internships is to make up for the lack of relevant experience. Yet, there are other reasons why you might want to incorporate them into a resume:

1. To downplay lack of paid experience. Resumes with an empty Experience section have little chances to impress the employers. Listing experience other than paid employment, on the other hand, will be taken positively in most cases.
2. To show your practical skills in the target industry. Let's say you're a Marketing student with no prior experience. In this case, having a 1-2 summer internships boost your chances for an interview as any company or agency would prefer hiring a junior marketer who had already dealt with real-life projects, even on unpaid basis.
3. To change career. If you're an accountant transitioning to web designer, your previous experience is of little use. Yet, putting a relevant internship above the fold along with training will show the hiring manager that you qualify for their advertised position.
4. To show unique or in-demand skills. If you were an intern in an industry leader or a very niche company, chances are you've built an impressive skillset and contributed to big projects. In this case, you'll want to list this experience in detail as it can help you stand out from the rest of applicants.
5. To do the name-dropping. An internship with a worldwide known brand immediately catches the reader's attention. All in all, it's a goal of your resume to draw the attention and get an interview call. Maybe, you'll get an interview invitation because the hiring manager wants to talk about your internship with Facebook.

Internship can be an asset to your resume if you list them right. Below, we'll show how to do this. And if you're not sure what's more important for you right now – high income vs job satisfaction – read our expert guide.

How to add incoming internship to a resume

Locate the internship correctly

As a student, you should locate your internship under the Professional Experience section. If you have paid experience as well, it's okay to list both paid jobs and short-term internship in the same section of your professional resume.

If you are switching careers, the situation is different. Place relevant internships at the top, separating them from the past experience that has nothing to do with your current career goals. List them at the top of your resume after the career summary, and group the irrelevant experience using the “Early career” title. In this case, you'll concentrate the hiring manager's attention on the relevant experience you've earned.

In both situations, you shouldn't overlook part-time jobs. Here are the great reasons why you need to take them into account: https://resumeperk.com/blog/8-reasons-to-find-part-time-jobs

Add the job title and dates

Clarify the exact job title of your upcoming internship. For example, Marketing Intern, Project Management Intern, or else. Make sure that the title reflects your responsibilities - thus, the hiring managers will better evaluate your qualifications.

Put the start-end dates of your internship next to the company name and the job title. This is where you indicate that this is a future position. If you don't have the end date yet, write Expected start date: 11/2023.

You may also add the word Incoming next to your job title to avoid confusion. Example: Accounting Intern (Incoming position).

Briefly list your duties

Now the hardest part. How do you list responsibilities if you haven't worked a day yet? Of course, no hiring manager will expect you to accurately depict future responsibilities. Yet, you can add a few lines based on the expected duties based on the internship profile. Read the job posting and write 2-3 bullets based on the listed responsibilities of the candidate.

Future internship experience example

XYZ Agency, New York, NY

Marketing Intern (Upcoming) 05/2024 - 08/2024

• Conduct market research and analyze trends in content creation
• Contribute to implementation of marketing strategies and campaigns and support Marketing Manager with any tasks

How to list your current internship experience?

Listing a winter or summer internship you currently have is much easier. You add the job title, dates, and specific duties to showcase your most relevant skills to hiring managers. Here's what to keep in mind.

Describe your internship as a full-time job

You want to persuade the recruiters that the internship has provided you with a set of skills needed to excel in the role. So, you should describe that internship as you would list a full-time paid job. Make sure that you use a meaningful title that reflects your actual duties.

List the job responsibilitiesthat were assigned to you. The most appropriate length is between 5 and 7 bullet points. Describe the tasks that were typically given to you, the projects you contributed to, and the results you delivered. Thus, you'll give the target employer a big picture of your contribution and your value as an entry-level professional.

Tailor it to the job posting

You've probably heard about the importance of resume tailoring. It works like this: you read the job listing carefully, and write a resume focusing on qualifications and skills that it specifically calls for. If the job listing says that the successful candidate should be experienced in copywriting and content creation, describe your relevant experience in deeper detail. As an entry-level candidate, you can focus not on hard skills only, but also on your ability to develop good working relationships.

It's also important that you use the same language that the job ad uses. If it requires you to have strong organizational skills, use the same phrase in your internship experience. This trick helps you pass the ATS filters and therefore maximizes your interview chances.

Include figures and accomplishments

Along with job responsibilities, also list at least 1-2 accomplishments. You may argue that it's hard to accomplish much during one- or two-months internship, yet, any tangible contribution or exceeding expectations can count as achievement. If you struggle identifying your contribution, talk to your intern supervisor and ask how your contribution helped the company. Ideally, your accomplishments should include figures and percentages.

For instance, if you sorted out the incoming correspondence and calls, you can write “Handled customer calls with 90% issue resolution rate”. If you ran the social media accounts of the business, say “Increased the number of Facebook subscribers by 25% in one month”. Such details that show your measurable contribution help you look as a potentially good hire for employers.

Know when to leave your internships out

The main reason not to include your internships is irrelevance. If you're seeking a job in business analytics, no need to include internships in sales or a literary agency. They'll simply distract the hiring person and make the resume less focused which isn't the impression you're looking to make!

Another reason not to list internships is when they're outdated. Let's say had a great internship in a marketing agency five years ago. But since then, you've had three full-time jobs as a marketer and completed a number of successful projects. Then, adding an internship makes no sense since the paid experience you've earned is more valuable for your target employers.

Internship resume example

Image: https://www.kickresume.com/en/help-center/marketing-intern-resume-sample/

Why is it a good resume?This intern gives a detailed description of their internship and also lists accomplishments with figures. The resume is well-structured and easy on the eye, so it instantly pops to recruiters. The candidate also lists their activities and achievements in the university and adds transferable skills, such as communication skills and attention to detail.

Internship resume formatting and writing style

What you write about the internship matters most. Yet, how you write it also contributes to an overall impression about your resume as well. To help your resume look professional, use the following tips:

✓ Use bullet points. Blocks of text are not used on resumes these days. Describe your internship duties using bulleted lists, with each bullet point taking no more than two lines.

✓ Include strong action verbs. Avoid using “responsible for” – it makes your job description look dull and downplays your contribution. Instead, rely on strong verbs such as “Initiated”, “Developed” or “Organized” – they subtly highlight your impact.

✓ Format consistently. Your experience section, just like the rest of the resume, should look neat. Use the same font throughout the document and the same type of formatting. If you have used Calibri 12 pt. in the objective, stick to it in other sections as well.

✓ Be detailed about your education. If you are a college student or recent graduate, add details such as your GPA, extracurricular activities, and relevant coursework. These details will help potential employers better understand your background.

✓ Add a strong Summary section.With limited experience, having a persuasive summary is a must. Write 2-3 sentences expanding on the highlights of your education, relevant internships, and professional goals.

With the tips above, you'll effectively put a future or current internship on your resume and expand your career prospects.

Understand the real market value of your resume

The quality of your resume has a major impact at how often you hear back from employers and how many interviews you receive. If you are not sure if your resume looks appealing to employers, our experts can evaluate it for you. We offer a FREE resume critique to students and graduates. Send us your resume, and a professional resume writer will tell you how to improve your resume and make it more persuasive.

Look for professional resume help? The experts of ResumePerk can write your internship resume with a 20% student discount. Chat with us to get your discount code.