How to keep your internship resume away from the trash can

Wednesday June 15, 2016 , 3 min Read

Every company you know of has a recruiter on their team. They come to the office in the morning, and on their desk is the mountain of resumes sent in the day before by you, me, and the rest of the world. On the floor next to that desk is a trash can. Or, as almost the entire stack of resumes will soon call it, home. At the end of the day, there’ll be a handful left sitting on the desk. What’s the difference?

More-than-bullet-points — Credits: Shutterstock

When we apply for internships, we really do want to make an impression, and this is all we got. Therefore, here are a few tips which need to be followed while making your internship resume.

Tricks (read: objective statement) don't work

Where a ton of wide-eyed applicants go wrong is right at the top: the objective statement. If we’re being realistic (and why wouldn’t we be?), objective statements are kind of like the Hindustan Ambassador - occasionally cute to look at, but ultimately a symbol of the past. The objective is obvious - you want the job! Why beat around the bush with some sugar coated nonsense? A good objective is not to have one.Objective statements are usually the opposite of what is perhaps the most essential quality of a worthy resume - being genuine. If you go into the resume process planning to trick the company into thinking that you’re something you aren’t, the battle is already lost. Like I said, it’s literally someone’s job to go through these things; don’t think they won’t sniff out lies. Stick to facts. Something that goes hand in hand with that is keeping it short and sweet. The absolute last thing anybody looking at a resume wants to see is a wall of text.

Let each point get in, do what it needs to do, and get out – done.

Stay on topic

Experience is the part of your resume that gets the most weight. Depending on the company and the internship, our friend, the recruiter might only be looking at the experience portion before deciding if you’re trash or not. It has to be more than simply listing off things you used to do - experience is about results. So instead of lazily telling the company that you “Assisted the regional manager”, show them how you “Helped with some of the manager's day to day tasks, including team email updates, payroll revision, and acclimation of new hires”. Furthermore, any experience you’re talking about had better relate to the position. If you’re applying to a software company, nobody cares that you spent a summer handing out parking slips at the mall. Highlight the coding language skills you developed in school instead.

Easy on the eyes

Visually, the goal should be to have a resume that grabs attention. First and foremost is the font - whatever you do, don’t use Times New Roman. Avoiding that immediately classifies you from the countless others. Your options are plentiful. In terms of layout, don’t be afraid to really get creative and experiment with different styles. In addition to the information you’re presenting, conveying your personality only adds to the overall package. At the end of the day, you’re selling yourself. Don’t let fear have you looking the same as everyone else, especially amongst a bunch of other younger people - where flare is extra important.