When you’re starting out in the workforce, or even changing to a new career, internships are the perfect way to bridge the gap between education and professional experience. But do they count as proper work experience? Where on your resume do they actually belong? And how do you know when it’s time to take them off your resume entirely?
In this guide, we’ll answer all your questions and provide you with real resume examples you can follow.
How to list an internship on a resume
Let’s start with a quick step by step guide walking you through exactly how to put an internship on a resume:
- Choose where to include your internships — either in your work experience section or in a dedicated internships section (more on how to choose between these options below).
- List the employer, their location, and the dates you worked.
- Put your job title. Aim for a more descriptive title than “Intern” so hiring managers can see what your role entailed.
- Include 2-4 bullet points listing your main accomplishments.
- List 5-10 hard skills that you picked up during your internship, education, or other work experience.
- Upload your resume to Score My Resume for a free instant resume review.
Internship resume example
Wondering what your resume should look like once you’re finished? Here’s a sample entry level resume template that features space for internships:
You can download this template — and 50+ others — from our entry level resume examples page.
Essential tips for including internships on your resume
How to make internships look good on a resume
- Use a specific job title — for example, “Marketing Intern” rather than simply “Intern.”
- If you weren’t given a specific job title, ask your supervisor if there’s one you can use on your resume.
- If it’s appropriate for your line of work, you can list seasons rather than months or dates, e.g. “Summer 2021.” If you do this, make sure you’re using the same format consistently for all experiences on your resume.
- Don’t list everything you did as part of your internship. Stick to the most relevant accomplishments for the type of work you’ll be doing in your new job.
When to take internships off a resume
You should keep internships on your resume if:
- You’re a student or recent graduate
- You lack paid work experience
- You’re changing careers
- They’re directly relevant to the jobs you’re applying for
- You interned somewhere particularly prestigious (like Google or Microsoft)
It’s time to take internships off your resume if:
- They’re older than 5+ years
- You’ve held 2-3 professional jobs since then
- They’re pushing your resume over one page in length
Where to put internships on a resume
Generally, internships belong in your work experience section — after all, they are work experience. That said, you can also choose to separate them out into their own section if you prefer.
In your work experience section
When: This is the most common way of listing an internship on a resume, so it's a good choice in any situation. In particular, you should do this if you’re a college student with internships but no work experience applying for entry level positions.
How: Format the internship in the same way as you would any professional experience. Include the name of the company, the location, dates of employment, and your job title. Underneath, choose 2-4 accomplishments that are relevant to the job you’re applying for.
Example:
WORK EXPERIENCE
COMPANY NAME, New York, NY
Project Management Intern, Jun 2021 — Sep 2021
- Include 2-4 bullet points in the format [action verb] + [what you did] + [what the result was]
In an internship section
When: If you’ve held a large number of internships, it can be worth separating them out into their own section. You should only choose this option if you don’t have any relevant paid work experience — as you gain more professional experience, you should focus mainly on that and spend less time on other parts of your resume.
How: In this case, you should still list any relevant accomplishments. You can include less detail if you’re adding a lot of internships, but still aim for 1-2 accomplishments for each internship.
Example:
INTERNSHIPS
COMPANY NAME, [Location]
HR Intern, [Dates of Employment]
- Accomplishment #1
- Accomplishment #2
If you’re not sure how effective your internships are on your resume, upload it to the tool below — it’ll give you a detailed review of your internships, experience and accomplishments and suggest which ones to improve.
Internship advice for every situation
Do you have questions about your specific type of internship? Here's how to go about listing internships on your resume if you:
- Interned full-time
- Had a part-time or seasonal (e.g. summer) internship
- Left your internship early
- Have an upcoming internship you haven't started yet
- Didn't accomplish much during your internship
- Interned as part of a career change
Full-time vs part-time vs summer internships
The good news is: It doesn't matter what type of internship you had. You can list a part-time or summer internship in the same way as a full-time internship. Keep in mind that:
- You should be accurate with your dates (if it was a summer internship, then something like "Summer 2022" is fine).
- You can list "part time" next to your job title if it was a part-time internship, but you don't need to. If the internship overlaps with the dates of your education, most employers will understand the situation.
Listing an internship on your resume if you didn't finish it
Whether to list an internship you left early depends on:
- How early you left. Cutting an internship short by a week or two shouldn't immediately invalidate the whole thing. Leaving an internship halfway through, on the other hand, is likely to raise more questions than it answers.
- Why you left. If you had something unexpected come up (illness, family emergency, etc.) that meant you couldn't quite finish up, that's easy to explain. If you were asked to leave your internship or you quit without notice, it's more likely to reflect badly on you.
- What you accomplished while you were there. This is closely related to the above points — finishing eleven months of a year-long internship should be plenty of time to list one or two compelling accomplishments, but if you were only there for a few weeks, you're unlikely to have achieved much in that time.
Can you list a future internship on your resume?
No, you shouldn’t include upcoming internships on a resume. Why not? Because your resume should focus on accomplishments, and you can’t list accomplishments from something you haven’t actually done yet.
What if you didn't do anything practical during your internship?
Internships are most valuable when they closely resemble real-life work experience — that is, when you had at least some actual responsibilities and accomplishments. An internship that was more passive (because you were mostly shadowing another employee or just weren't given a chance to do much) isn't going to hold the same weight.
Related: How To Put Shadowing on Resume
Including internships on a resume if you’re changing careers
Internships aren’t just for college students — they’re also useful for career changers. Starting off with an internship is a great way to get your foot in the door of a new industry, make connections, and gain relevant professional accomplishments.
Assuming your internships were recent, include them at the top of your work experience section, above any previous unrelated work experience. You should always list your jobs in reverse chronological order, so if your internships are a little older, pull them out to a separate section or include them as part of a featured education section at the top of your resume.
Internship resume examples
If you’re struggling to think of concrete accomplishments from an internship to list on your resume, here are some examples from internships in some of the most common industries.
Computer science internship resume example
MACROHARD, New York, NY
Software Development Intern, Jun 2017 – Sep 2017
- Developed web scraping program in Python to help the firm download public data, including over 10,000 company descriptions and stock quotes, enriching internal data and increasing research efficiency by over 50%
- Implemented crash reporter and used findings to fix three biggest causes of crashes; reduced customer support calls by 30%
- Designed and implemented 50+ E2E tests using Selenium & Protractor, simulating each user group's actions
Engineering internship resume example
CITY ENGINEERING, New York, NY
Electrical Engineer Intern, Jun 2021 – Sep 2021
- Performed analysis on product performance, provided recommendations that improved product performance by 10%.
- Assisted two engineers in developing engineering solutions, which reduced company costs by 15%.
- Ran weekly tests and validity checks on data, equipment, and software, reducing error rates by 12%.
Business and project management internship resume example
RESUME WORDED (8 employee venture-backed recruitment startup), New York, NY
Business Analyst Intern, Jun 2021 – Sep 2021
- Developed an Excel macro and standardized reporting templates, resulting in efficient data collection and a 35% reduction in turnaround time
- Created knowledge base of 80 internal resources, improving employee onboarding and reducing time spent per project on administrative tasks by 40%
- Managed international stakeholders in India, United Kingdom and Hong Kong by hosting daily standups and coordinating weekly status reports
Marketing internship resume example
EXCITING COMPANY, New York, NY
Marketing Intern, Jun 2016 – Sep 2016
- Led the transition to a paperless practice by implementing an electronic booking system and a faster, safer and more accurate business system; reduced cost of labor by 30% and office overhead by 10%
- Analyzed data from 25000 monthly active users and used outputs to guide marketing and product strategies; increased average app engagement time by 2x, 30% decrease in drop off rate, and 3x shares on social media
Finance and accounting internship resume example
MULTICORP BANK, New York, NY
Finance Intern, Jun 2020 – Sep 2020
- Verified the reliability of the earnings predictions and having an average of 75% success rate.
- Reviewed and entered payable invoices, adjusted entries, entered inter-company transactions and assisted with administrative tasks with 100% accuracy.
- Prepared 4 budgetary presentation materials for the management team, successfully leading to department approval.
