A resume for a college student seeking internship opportunities is similar to a professional resume. Your resume for an internship should communicate your experience and your soft skills. If you have a lot of work experience or have done a ton of volunteer work, then select only things that are relevant to the internship.
The real key, for a college student’s resume for an internship, is to stand out from the crowd.
A college student's summer internship resume should include some standard material. That material is explained in a resume format, but how you put that format together can be as unique as you are. You will want to write an internship resume with these objectives in mind, optimizing it for the opportunity you are pursuing.
It's often helpful to start with a resume template to help with formatting, but don't be afraid to personalize things a bit. You may even be able to find college internship resume examples or an online resume builder that can help you finesse your resume for free.
So what should a resume for an internship look like? That’s largely up to you.
Remember, there’s no single “right” way to build a resume for an internship. Pick and choose the sections in your resume to best highlight your qualifications, but always be honest with what's on there. Employers will check your references. A few popular examples of college internship resume sections include:
An internship resume summary concisely showcases your qualifications and career goals. It highlights your most relevant skills, experiences, and education, tailored to the specific role. This overview sets the tone for the rest of your internship resume and helps grab attention. Use active voice in this section to demonstrate what you can bring to the table as a candidate.
Every college internship resume should include a section for your education. Include things like where you are studying currently, your current GPA, and any other pertinent information like your work on a Nobel Prize-winning lab experiment. You may also include information from high school if that will help you. If you had a 4.0 GPA and a 32 on your ACT, that’s good to include in your education section!
Another thing that is great to include on your college internship resume is a breakdown of any awards you may have received. These include scholarships, grants, fellowships, or any other forms of recognition from high school onwards.
If you don’t have awards, omit this section. If you have a lot, then include those that may be relevant to the internship you are applying to.
Next, discuss any work experience you have. Highlight jobs you have had that may be relevant or demonstrate relevant skills. If you have been on the college tech support help desk, for example, make sure this goes in your work experience section.
Sometimes a student's resume for a college internship is a little bit bare in this section. When you are applying for internships, hiring managers expect this. Don’t be dishonest, and don’t claim experience or skills that you don’t have.
If you have volunteer experience, include it in your college internship resume. Examples might include community service that shows your soft skills, or leadership experience in the aeronautics club in high school.
Finally, your college internship resume should include any activities you participate in that are relevant to the Space Industry.
Remember that the resume’s objective is to demonstrate who you are and what you have to offer the employer. Sports can show leadership skills and teamwork. Arts can show attention to detail and adherence to deadlines. Music can show precision.
A resume doesn’t have to include everything you’ve ever done in your life. It’s your job to help the hiring manager to understand how you can solve their needs while they are helping you grow.
Follow these internship resume best practices so you can writing that highlights your skills and makes you stand out:
To get you started in your internship or fellowship search, here’s a list of a few of our favorites.
Offering great opportunities for women, “The Brooke Owens Fellowship is designed to serve both as an inspiration and as a career boost to capable young women and other gender minorities who, like Brooke, aspire to explore our sky and stars, to shake up the aerospace industry, and to help their fellow people here on planet Earth.”
Specifically for those from underprivileged backgrounds, “The Zed Factor Fellowship will include pairing fellows with industry mentors, placing them in paid summer internships, and providing opportunities for them to build a community (via a summit and other gatherings, in person and virtual, throughout and after the summer program).”
For those who are passionate about space flight, “The Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship is an internship, mentorship, and networking opportunity awarded to exceptional college juniors, seniors, and graduate students pursuing careers in the commercial spaceflight industry.”
Black Aerospace undergrads may want to apply for the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship. The Patti Grace Smith Fellowship has a mission “to provide a meaningful, effective pathway into successful aerospace careers and future aerospace industry leadership to people whose race and ethnicity has made them the subject of systemic bias.
Blue Origin has internships that give “students the opportunity to work on real engineering projects related to the development, construction, and testing of human spaceflight systems. They specify that this internship is for “Undergraduate or Graduate Students with at Least One Semester Remaining After Internships”
Looking specifically for younger students (high school students and undergraduates), “Redwire interns work with highly experienced teams which facilitates valuable mentorship, job skills training, and real-world insights.”
At Space Talent, we wish you the best of luck on your Space Industry internship application. Then it’s time to hit the job market, we hope we can help you then, too!
