Creating your Best Resume

How to Make Your Internship Sound Great on Your Resume!

Here are some ways to maximize the work you did for your internship, and make it sound the best that it can.

Make a list
Put together everything you did while at your internship, the work you were doing. (If you are doing your internship for college credit this is something that you will be required to do) You should be doing this while you are doing your internship so it is fresh in your mind.

Most Important
Employers want to see the most important information at the top of your resume, and since your internship is most likely you’re most recent, and most important, start with your internship. You should put your position and the company that you worked for as well as their information followed by the date you worked there. (See the bottom of the page for sample resume set up)

Formatting
Make sure you use the same format and style as the rest of your resume. According to the Duke University's Career Center, you should make use of caps, italics and bold, but remember not to over do it.

Action Verbs
try to avoid using "worked with" and "assisted" to describe what you did. If you need help action verbs to use, try googling "action words, resume".

Skills
Make list of the skills that you used while interning, what makes what you did at your internship the most "sellable" to your future employers.

Space
Most employers will not look past the first page of your resume, so do yourself a favor and keep it to a single page. You can do this by grouping your skills together (again don’t forget to show your skills as an action). Show your employer that you worked on skills that will be valuable to them. Another great way to save space is to avoid redundancies. Do not use phrases like "Duties include" or "Responsible for". Get right to the point

Proofread

Not only proofread your internship section, but your whole resume. Take it to people who are in the industry that you are interested in and have them look over it. Find as many people as you can to proof it, what one person misses another can spot.

-Meg

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GETTING STARTED

Creating your first resume can be difficult. It is a very important document that can make or break your chances at getting into the college you really want or landing that perfect job. We are hoping these tips will help organize your resume and what belongs on it.

From our personal experience, creating our first resume was discouraging. Many high school seniors feel as if they do not have the experience behind them to attract a future employer or college. You would be surprised at how much you can include when you do a little background digging. I (Heather) thought no one would give my resume a chance. Nothing on it really seemed to stand out. This is your chance to really talk yourself up and brag about what it is you have accomplished.

First, brainstorm everything that would be included in categories such as: education and important classes taken, you may want to include your GPA if your applying for college, work experience, volunteer experience,hobbies or skills if they relate or are necessary, accomplishments/awards etc. You don't have a lot of time to get someone's attention so make sure all the information you include is the most important. Include dates for everything you mention doing.

As far as the template of your resume, you want to make it distinguishable. The layout isn't as important as long as your name is in larger bold print at the top. You can also include contact information here as well. Everything has to look presentable and easy to follow. Use bullets to organize your lists and indent when necessary (ie. after headings). According to the U.S. News and World Report it is important to, "highlight key points, emphasize accomplishments, use numbers, focus on key terms, don't exaggerate and leave something for the interview."

For your resume you must make sure the most important or relevant information goes first. For example, if you are trying to get a job as a journalist, including a summer job as a lifeguard may not be necessary.

Be sure to include examples of your work, website links to anything created online,and recommendations. Make sure to keep your resume updated as well.

Never be satisfied with your resume, there is always room for improvement. We hope this helps in getting you started on your resume.

-Heather
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SAMPLE RESUME

Hi all!

I have spent the last two years writing and re-writing my resume. I have shown it to my employers at my internship, professors as well as people in my line of work. Taking all of their criticism and pointers, this is what I have come up with;

  Meghan B. Graf
133 Perkins Street Melrose, MA 02176
         GrafM@FranklinPierce.edu
Cell: 339-224-1402

INTERNSHIPS:

WHDH TV 7 News Boston, Massachusetts (Summer 2010): Supported producers with research, phones, and assignment desk clerical support. Assisted correspondents with research for stories. Wrote and uploaded news and sports stories with picture/video. (Trained in iNews and WorldNow)

New England Cable News Newton, Massachusetts (Summer 2010): Supported producers with writing and sorting scripts, running teleprompter and any other tasks requested by producers. Shadowed reporters out in the field, and preformed research for both anchors and reporters. (Trained with ENPS)

MEDIA EXPERIENCE:

Reporter The Exchange, (2008-present): Report for the school's online newspaper.

Associate Producer of the News Franklin Pierce Television, (2009-Present): Produce stories both on and off campus. Write scripts and develop packages for the evening news.

Anchor and Reporter Franklin Pierce Television and Newscast, Rindge, NH (2009-present): Anchor the news and report on entertainment, weather and sports segments for a weekly, thirty-minute program. Conduct interviews, research stories and shoot footage.

Producer/Host Tuesday Briefing, Franklin Pierce Television, Rindge, NH (2010-present): A public affairs television program webcast live from the Fitzwater Center television studios. Features media, government, political, civic and business leaders discussing the leading issues of the day.

Camera Operator FPTV 25, Franklin Pierce Television, Rindge, NH (2009-present)

The 48 Hour Film Project Rindge, NH (October, 2010): Participated in writing a script, filming and editing in 48 hours.

Sports Broadcasting Workshop (2009): Joe Castiglione, "The Voice of the Red Sox"

Crewed on an interview with Andrew Sherr, Hollywood co-executive producer of The Doctors on CBS (2009).

WORK EXPERIENCE:
Student Ambassador- Franklin Pierce University Rindge, New Hampshire (2010-present)
Head Lifeguard- Bellevue Golf Club Melrose, Massachusetts (2004-present)
Waitress- Mount Hood Golf Course Melrose, Massachusetts (2009-present)

EDUCATION:

September 2007 - Present FRANKLIN PIERCE UNIVERSITY
     Rindge, New Hampshire
     Major in Mass Communications, Broadcast Journalism

September 2002 - May 2007 OUR LADY OF NAZARETH ACADEMY
    Wakefield, MA
    Graduated May 2007

For the same reason, put your most important information at the top. GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT TO SEE RIGHT AWAY!

The big thing I changed on my resume was moving my education information to the bottom and moving my related information to the job I want to the top.


One of the big things I learned was if your resume goes over a page, you might as well be just throwing out the second page. Your interviewer is busy and isn’t going to take the time to read anything more than a page.

-Meg :)