How to write a CV for an internship

Who this guide is for

It is written for university and college students looking for a compulsory or voluntary placement, for learners on vocational programmes, and for recent graduates hoping to land a first role. What they share is little or no paid employment to list, but plenty of coursework, group assignments, society roles or part-time jobs.

The aim is not to inflate that record. It is to present it in an order that serves the application, in precise words, so that the reader quickly understands what you can already do and what you hope to learn during the internship.

Put your education first

For an internship, education is usually your strongest section, so place it straight after your name, title and profile. Start with the course you are on now: its exact title, the institution, the town and the year you expect to finish. Then add your previous qualification, without going further back than you need to.

Under each qualification, a line or two is enough to show what matters to the employer: your specialism, the modules that relate to the role, or a dissertation or final-year project. Mention a grade or a ranking only if it is accurate and easy to check.

• Your current year and programme, followed by your specialism.
• Modules directly linked to the internship, rather than the whole syllabus.
• The topic of your dissertation or supervised project, in one clear sentence.

Projects, placements, volunteering and societies

Everything you have done outside lectures counts, provided you describe it like a job: a title, a place, the dates, then a few bullet points that open with an action verb. A work-shadowing week, a group project carried through to the end, the treasurer’s role in a student society or a volunteering stint already shows qualities employers look for.

For each line, say what you did yourself and what came of it. “Ran the society’s book drive and kept the record of donations” tells the reader far more than “active member”. If a result can be measured, keep it simple and verifiable.

If you have many projects, group them in a section of their own, called “Projects” or “Volunteering” for instance. That keeps the Experience section for internships and jobs, however short.

Skills that someone can check

Keep the skills section short and concrete. List the software, programming languages and tools you can genuinely use, and your languages with an honest level. Personal qualities are more convincing when a line in your education or projects already shows them in action.

Read the internship advert again and reuse its wording where it truly describes you: the reader will find what they are looking for more easily. Do not make anything up, because the interview will often come back to exactly those lines.

One full, well-organised page

For an internship application, a single A4 page is generally enough. If you run out of space, trim the older descriptions before you shrink the text. If the page looks thin, expand your projects rather than adding hobbies that have nothing to do with the role.

At the top, a title naming the internship you want and a profile of two or three lines guide the reader. Use a professional email address and a phone number on which you can actually be reached. If you are applying abroad, our guide to the difference between a resume and a CV explains which word and which length to expect.

Building this CV in PixeCV

Pick a design from the 24 CV templates in the gallery, then fill in the sections one by one: the preview shows the layout as you type. You can reorder the sections so that Education comes before Experience, and hide any that remain empty.

Projects and volunteering fit under Other sections, where you choose the section title yourself. The free preview lets you check that everything fits on one page and that nothing spills over.