Hey guys, I'm Jenna Rein. And this is The Intern Hustle's YouTube channel.
I share new videos every Monday to help you flex your initiative muscle and take control of your future. In today's video
I'm sharing a few tips on how you can make your resume stand out for internships.
Now if you're new here, you may be thinking cool Jenna -- Who are you and why do you know about this?
Well, if you want my full story you can head over to theinternhustle.com and check it out,
but the short story is I had four internships in college (a couple of which were extremely
competitive to get my foot in the door at)
And so I know a thing or two about how to get yourself the best shot at the internship by putting together a solid resume.
Hey there, I'm Jenna Rein from theinternhustle.com and this is Initiative Muscle
Monday, helping you to start each week with an intentional step toward a successful future.
Let's do this! Now before I go into the tips, I want to start by saying...
Set aside the time to work on your resume, and then do it.
Your resume always takes more time than you think it will and if you want to do it
right, you need to plan ahead and give yourself the time to do a quality job.
Okay,
Let's break down the tips. Start by gathering
relevant experiences as early as you can. If you're still in high school or early in your college years,
what jobs can you get now that will help you stand out when you're applying for internships
you want later? For example, in high school I really already had an interest in training athletes.
And so no, I hadn't applied to my major yet or taken any classes to test my interest,
but it was an interest of mine and I decided to pay attention to it.
I decided to find a job in high school that would translate into relevant experience later.
I ended up getting a fitness floor position at a reputable health club. Was it glamorous?
No. I wiped sweat off weight machines as part of my job.
But what high school job really is that glamorous?
Definitely an upgrade from changing diapers while babysitting I will tell you that. But it did give me hands-on experience in a training
setting, and more importantly in the future when I was applying for internships,
it showed companies that I was intentional from an early age.
I wasn't just trying to check a box and get an internship.
I had previous experience in this field and I was willing to put in the work.
So as you work to gather this relevant experience start to create inventory of it.
Keep a journal about things you learn on the job. Hard skills, like new softwares (or maybe you learned Adobe Photoshop), machine operations,
or training certifications you've obtained. And soft skills you've developed like, communication, or time management,
problem-solving. Next, be sure to capture specific volunteer or extracurricular experience you have as well --
specific things you've done in college that
showcase the skills and interests that you have. And if you haven't been documenting your experience as you go and you're just now playing catch-up,
go ahead and follow this exercise:
I want you to set a timer for twenty to thirty minutes and
write down any and all experience that comes to mind. Just get your juices flowing.
Nothing's stupid. This is just for your reference.
You will be amazed with how much comes up as you start brainstorming and putting pen to paper. Okay. Got your experience inventory? Great!
We will come back to this in a minute. Now this next point you're gonna hear a lot, but it's because it's important... Imagine that?
Make sure that you tailor your resume to each and every internship position that you're applying for.
Why?
Because recruiters are receiving A LOT of resumes, and on average
they're only scanning your resume for about six seconds
before deciding if they're gonna move it forward to next steps or put it in the trash can. So if you fail to speak to
what a recruiter is looking for on your resume,
then you can pretty much guarantee your resumes going into the trash can.
Now I know if you're applying to a lot of internships this can seem like a lot of work.
Unique resumes for every application?
But that's
exactly why you should take the extra time to do it. Because most of your peers aren't. Spend a little bit more time upfront and
gift yourself the wonderful benefit of out-shining your competition.
Now the best way to do this is to pull up the job description for the internships you're applying for, and
the details about the company values and culture. Then pull up your experience inventory and start connecting the dots.
Not all of it has to be a pure hard skill connection to what they're looking for.
You can also draw attention to other experience you have -- volunteer,
extracurriculars, ties into their company culture -- look for parallels and craft your resume accordingly. Be interesting and show your personality.
Always start your bullet points on your resume with the most relevant
accomplishments first. Now notice I said accomplishments and not responsibilities.
That's because no one cares what you were responsible for.
How are they supposed to know that you actually did what you are responsible for?
They want to know what you accomplished and the best way to show someone what you accomplished is by giving them concrete examples and
showing them the numbers.
Quantify wherever you can. So back to my high school job as a fitness floor trainer...
Maybe instead of just saying, instructed members on proper use of weightlifting machines.
I could say, led an average of 15, 30-minute introduction to weightlifting sessions
with club members each week. So when it comes to tailoring your resume, and creating stand out
quantifiable accomplishments, I know you can do it.
You just have to put in a little effort. No matter how little experience you have, it is possible
So give it a try and tailor your experience. And then try harder. And
if you find you want some help,
I happen to be pretty good at this...
just sayin'. You can sign up for a one on one resume review session with me and I will show you how it's done.
I'll link to that in the description below if you're interested, and you can check it out after this video.
I will be back in future videos with common resume mistakes to avoid and all the tips
you need to format your resume like a boss. If you feel like getting a head start on the formatting part,
I do have a comprehensive resume review checklist that you can download for free now and be well on your way.
I'll link to that in the description below. Finally,
if you found this video helpful, and you want to see more like it,
please give it a like and share it with a friend or two. And then subscribe to this channel so that you're in the loop
when the next resume review videos are released. This is a new channel, so all of the love helps. Thanks guys,
I will see you back here next Monday with another video.