As an intern, you’ll play more of an assisting role than a leadership one: You’ll help the human resources team carry out daily tasks while learning how the profession works. You may scan employee documents and files for accuracy, organize job ads, and check for policy compliance.
But you might still wonder how to show off your qualifications on your resume. How should it look? What experience points should you include?
I’ve been helping people find dream jobs in HR for years, so we’ve got this. Check out these 3 human resources intern resume templates and advice to get started!
What Matters Most: Your Skills Section & Experience
Your resume skills section is extremely important, because it shows what you can do independently from your experience. So if you have a limited history of relevant professional experience, you’ll want to get extra serious about your skills!
Recruiters want to see that you have all the tools that it’ll take to ace your human resources internship, no matter what experiences you’ve had. You might not have racked up much related job experience yet–but if you still know how to conduct data analysis and use Google Suite, the potential is there.
Which brings me to my next point: Be specific. The best thing you can do for your skills section is to avoid generic terms like “HR software” or “communication”. Instead, hone your skills and name any programs you use.
Here’s what I mean:
9 Most Popular Human Resources Intern Skills
- Employee Recruitment
- Retention Strategies
- Data Analysis
- Conflict Resolution
- Google Suite
- MS Excel/Word
- Asana
- SAP SucessFactors
- Paycor
Sample Human Resources Intern Work Experience Bullet Points
Okay, here’s where your resume needs to get extra personalized. Everyone has a different professional background, so look critically at your experience to see what you can spin to your advantage.
Your experience section is for showcasing how you’ve put your skills into practice and left a positive impact. If you’re a new graduate, then this extends to degree projects and even volunteer initiatives where you used skills relevant to HR.
If you have a job history and are simply switching fields, just look for areas where you used skills that also bolster your qualifications for a human resources internship. And always measure your success in numbers!
Here are a few samples:
- Reviewed patient documentation and insurance information before submission, reducing database entry errors by 74%
- Operated as sole social media campaign lead for university project, attaining 164 subscribers on YouTube and 1.3M followers on Instagram
- Utilized data-driven techniques to analyze social media algorithms and prioritized top posts, performing better than 96% of competitors’ campaigns
- Developed automated system for ordering office supplies, reducing manual inventory review time by 186+ hours annually
- Created outlines for all meetings, increasing attendance rates by 62%
Top 5 Tips For Your Human Resources Intern Resume
- Metrics are key!
- More on metrics: As you saw in my examples, numbers can really set off your achievements. Use percentages, improvement rates, and impressive project milestones that relate to the internship you’re aiming for.
- Stay sleek
- You might feel tempted to ramble a bit just to fill the space, but try to avoid it. Keep your experiences concise and put more focus on metrics.
- Context helps!
- If you’re struggling with how to really tie your history in with the human resources internship you want, then give your achievements some context. Briefly allude to how your actions helped your team and drove results.
- Stand out more with relevant experiences
- And it’s easier than you think to find, in most cases! If you worked on a social media outreach project, that could be related to employee acquisition. If you presented stats after an ad campaign, that shows that you can compile and analyze data.
- Go modern!
- When picking a resume template, go for something streamlined that places your best accomplishments at the focal point. Avoid loud colors or distracting, unusual fonts. Recruiters prefer high readability.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Do I have to fill the page?
- You don’t have to, no. It’s more important to stay under one page than it is to fill it. And if you start pulling in random points that don’t relate to the role you’re seeking, you run the risk of seeming like you’re scrambling for qualifying material. It’s better to stick with your strongest points!
- What software should I include?
- It’s understandable to not have tons of experience with the exact HR programs in the job description if you’re applying for an internship. Just list a couple of programs that carry over well to the HR profession and demonstrate an eagerness to learn.
- Should I customize my resume for the job every time?
- Absolutely, but it isn’t as daunting as some people fear! Refer back to the job ad for the internship’s core requirements and look for any good buzzwords or skills that you can switch out and reflect in your resume.
