
Internship Resume Example & Best Format in 2023 (+ Tips)
Wondering how to put your college experience on a resume for an internship? Read our guide and see proven internship resume examples that will show you how to do it like a pro.
A resume job description is a resume section where you list your professional experience, usually in reverse-chronological order. It means you start with your most recent position and proceed backwards. Each entry should contain 3-6 bullet points. It is recommended to include 10-15 years of work history on your resume.
Well-written job descriptions in your resume work experience section is what recruiters crave. Why?
This is critical: employers ask for resumes to review your work history.
Maybe you’re the most qualified candidate for this position. But, you still might fail to land the job if your resume work experience section isn’t top-notch. Here’s how to make sure they like what they see.
This guide will show you:
What does a perfect resume job description look like? See below—
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To begin with, meet Amelia—
She’s applying for the position of Head of Digital Marketing at a major financial institution, XYZ Company. Below, you’ll see her sample resume work experience section.
Digital Marketing Manager
Acme Corp, NYC, NY
2014–2018
Most relevant accomplishment: Grew the company blog from 0 to 700,000 organic users per year in 14 months.
Product Manager
Pfitzer, Newark, NJ
2011–2014
Most relevant accomplishment: Supervised the design of 2 flagship product websites increasing online sales by 231% in 6 months.
Freelance Online Marketing Consultant
Self-employed, NYC, NY
2008–2011
Wow, right? Amelia can sit back, relax, and wait for her interview invitation.
Don’t have work experience at all and feel at a loss as to what you should write? Fret not. See: Complete Guide to Writing the First Resume with No Work Experience
Think it’s hard to write an equally professional work experience section for on your resume?
Nope. It’s easy. All boils down to three key strategies. Here they are:
This study by The Ladders found that recruiters spend, on average, just 7 seconds on each resume they get.
Here’s the twist: it applies mostly to resumes that have poor formatting and are difficult to follow.
Legible formatting of your resume work history is key to earning more eye-time.
Here’s what you need to do to present the work experience on a resume the way recruiters expect:
1. Name the section “Work Experience,” “Work History,” or “Professional Experience.” Write the section heading in bold and make it slightly larger than the rest of the contents.
2. Use reverse-chronological order. Start with your current or most recent job, follow it with the one before it, and so on.
3. In each entry heading, list, in the following order: your job title, the name of the company, and dates worked.
4. Underneath each job add up to 6 resume bullet points describing your duties and professional work achievements.
5. At the bottom of each entry add a subsection named “Most relevant accomplishment” or “Key achievement.” Present your proudest professional win.
6. Focus on your most recent work experience. Make your job descriptions briefer and briefer as you go back in time.
Expert Hint: Make sure you include one or two of the most relevant work achievements in your resume profile (professional summary, or resume objective). This is a surefire way to make your resume stand out to recruiters.
Recruiters don’t care how successful you’ve been so far, in general.
They want to know if you’re familiar with the duties and responsibilities that come with the advertised position.
If there’s just one takeaway I want you to get out of reading this guide, it’s this:
Personalize every work experience entry on your resume to the position you’re trying to land.
Remember Amelia, the candidate from our sample resume job description?
She’s eyeing the Head of Digital Marketing position. Her most recent job has been a managerial role in digital marketing, but—
Before that, she worked as a Product Manager. So, what did she do? In her resume work history, she described responsibilities that were relevant to digital marketing.
Have a look:
Product Manager
Pfitzer, Newark, NJ
2011–2014
Most relevant accomplishment: Supervised the design of 2 flagship product websitesincreasing online sales by 231% in 6 months.
Product Manager
Pfitzer, Newark, NJ
2011–2014
Don’t get me wrong. The bad example isn’t “bad” as such. It’s just not right for this particular post.
Need more in-depth guidance on personalizing or tailoring your resume to the job description? Go here: How to Tailor Your Resume to the Job Description to Get More Offers
Making a major career change but having actually no relevant experience? See: Career Change Resume: How to Make Sure It Land You the Job
But—
Being relevant in your resume job description isn’t just about what you write. It’s also about how far back your resume work experience should go and what you choose to omit.
Here's how far back a resume should go:
Expert Hint: If you’re not a seasoned pro yet, make sure to include internships in your resume work experience. Research has shown that internship experience increases the interview rate by 14%.
And is there any sort of work experience you should leave out no matter what?
Yes—and, again, there’s science behind it.
Unless you’re fresh out of college, don’t put low-level interim jobs on your resume. They can hurt your callback rate by as much as 15%.
And, yes, according to the same data, it’s better to leave employment gaps on a resume (no variation in callback rates by the duration of unemployment!) than list interim blue-collar gigs.
Alright then.
You know how to lay out your experience for greatest impact and you’ve learned how to personalize every job description.
Now, for the final part: time to learn how to showcase your strengths, not just everyday responsibilities—
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Some food for thought:
People don’t drink diet Coke because of low calorie. They do it to look better than that coworker they hate at the end-of-year party.
The same goes for employers: they won’t hire, say, an “experienced customer service rep,” a “project manager skilled in Agile and Scrum,” or a “developer with extensive knowledge of PHP and R.”
Instead—
They’ll go with someone who’ll raise their revenue, cut costs, or optimize processes. In your resume work experience, show them you’re that person.
Provide proof of your achievements, don’t just list your responsibilities and “features.” Focus on benefits for your future employer.
There are three steps:
No more “responsible for the development of … .” Go with “developed.”
Use action verbs and resume keywords that highlight your initiative. See the examples below.
Like this:
Resume Job Description Sample: PAR Formula
Problem? Phone surveys were bad for customer retention.
Action? So I designed new survey scenarios.
Result? Customer retention raised by 32%.
Forget about “significantly boosting sales.” Say how much exactly. Demonstrating results with numbers in the work experience on your resume enhances your hireability by 40%.
I know, I know.
Not everyone works with hard numbers and sometimes it’s difficult to measure your results.
But still—there are other ways to back up your performance with quantified data. Here are some useful questions to ask yourself:
That’s right: answers to these should appear in the job descriptions on your resume.
Expert Hint: “Does a resume need a cover letter?” It certainly does. Just like 83% of hiring managers who admit that a candidate’s cover letter is an important factor when making a hiring decision.
Double your impact with a matching resume and cover letter combo. Use our cover letter generator and make your application documents pop out.
Want to try a different look? There's 21 more. A single click will give your document a total makeover. Pick a cover letter template here.
Here’s how to write your resume work experience section right:
All check? Keep your phone charged and ready. You’re in for some job interviews!
Questions? Concerns? I’m here to listen and answer. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll get back to you right away.
Wondering how to put your college experience on a resume for an internship? Read our guide and see proven internship resume examples that will show you how to do it like a pro.
Learn how to email a resume the right way and start getting more job offers. See a proven resume email sample and learn how to write one yourself.
Wondering what good skills to put on your resume? Wonder no more! This guide will show you a list of great skills you can put on your resume, regardless of your job or experience.