How to write a resume for an internship

I’ve been on both sides of internships. I’ve puffed up a skinny resume to look more interesting, and I’ve scanned through resumes looking for a candidate. Here’s some tips:

  • Emphasize coursework. Don’t just list your major. Talk about what you’ve done in various courses and what you liked. Describe interesting stuff you studied.
  • Don’t mention your crappy high school jobs. I don’t care if you managed a Taco Bell. In fact, I will hold it against you because Taco Bell is disgusting.
  • Mention any leadership positions in volunteer organizations. Coaching little league, running an Amnesty International chapter, or anything like that all show you know how to interact politely.
  • Help me figure out what the hell to do with you. Do you want to publish an article? Do you want to go on lots of sales calls? Do you want to learn how to program? If you don’t tell me what you want to do, then I have to guess. Or maybe I won’t guess, and I’ll give you a bunch of tedious work instead.

5 thoughts on “How to write a resume for an internship

  1. Also, put together a table in word of the specific courses that are relevant to the position. Especially if they ask for a “quantitative” background, list all of the math and stats classes you have taken, and where and when that you took them.

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