5 Engineering Intern Resume Examples & Guide for 2024

You dream of becoming an engineer. You’ve been studying hard, acing your exams, preparing for this day to come.

It’s time to land your first engineering internship, and get the real-world experience you need.

But first, you need to write a winning resume that will set you apart from the list of other candidates.

If you want to intern for the best companies, your resume needs to do three things:

• Prove your passion for the engineering industry
• Highlight your educational success
• Present your skills

What’s the best way to prove you have what it takes?

In this guide, we’re going to show you how to do just that. Follow along, step-by-step, creating your own resume using one of our templates.

Let’s get started.

This engineering intern resume guide will teach you

• 6 engineering intern examples and samples that prove passion for the industry
• How to show off your educational highlights and qualifications
• Ways to show your expertise without having direct experience
• How to include keywords from the engineering intern job description

Looking for related resumes?

• Engineering
• Entry Level Mechanical Engineer
• Software Engineer
• Chemical Engineer
• Mechanical Engineer

How to write an impressive engineering intern resume

What’s one of the best ways to learn engineering skills quickly and potentially secure a job after graduation?

Nailing an engineering internship with a great company.

Engineering interns get hands-on experience, applying the concepts they learned in university to real-world projects.

But the only way to land a career-building internship is by writing the perfect resume.

The top engineering intern applicants have resumes that combine both their educational highlights and their proven passion for the engineering industry. We cover all of these points in this guide.

Highlight the courses you’re taking, the grades you’re getting, and the projects you’re working on.

Talk about your knowledge of the technical skills required, and you’re openness to learning more.

Since you’re just starting out, recruiters won’t expect that you know the ins and outs of engineering just yet, but they do want to see that you have the soft skills necessary to excel.

Do you work well with people?

Do you have direct experience working in groups to prove this point?

Are you doing anything engineering-related in your personal time that shows your passion for the industry?

For example, if you’re studying to become a software engineer, have you made any apps, games or open-source projects in your spare time?

Most importantly, tailor your engineering intern resume to the job’s industry and to the job posting itself.

Are they in the automobile industry?

Or do they need someone with a working knowledge of Python and C++?

Are they only hiring candidates pursuing a degree in Chemical Engineering?

Take note of these details and make them the focus of your engineering intern resume.

How to choose the right engineering intern resume layout

What format should you use for your engineering intern resume?

Since you don’t have experience to show yet, you want your resume to highlight your education and skills.

The best format to achieve this goal is the functional resume layout. This format places the focus on your skills and abilities, rather than on work experience.

All of these engineering intern resume sections should prove to the recruiter that you have a genuine interest in engineering and the basic skills needed to excel in the role.

For more information on the best resume formats, read our guide: The Best Resume Formats You Need to Consider (5+ Examples Included).

Let’s start with the top of the resume - the header.

How to Write a Winning engineering intern Resume Header

You found the perfect engineering internship that you want to apply for. It’s time to create an impressive resume, starting with the header.

Here’s a basic header that most people start with:

This is fine… but it only includes the bare minimum.

Your header is your opportunity to make a great first impression with the hiring manager.

To stand out against other candidates, you should include links where the hiring manager can learn more about you. For example, you can input your LinkedIn profile. If you’re a software engineer, adding your Github profile where your projects are displayed is another bonus.

Let’s take a look at an example of a more compelling resume header.

Not only does this example include the university name, but it also lists the URLs of the candidate’s LinkedIn and Github profiles.

If you want more ideas for stand-out resume headers, read through our guide Perfecting Your Resume Header so You Get Noticed.

Engineering intern Summary resume example: prove you’re right for the job

An engineering intern resume should prove that you have both the basic technical knowledge to succeed, while also being open to learning more.

Since you’re just starting out with an internship, you won’t be expected to have years of engineering expertise, but you do need to show that you’re studying relevant courses.

Hiring managers also place a huge emphasis on soft skills, such as being open to learning and being able to work in teams, since these are the goals of completing an internship.

Use the keywords in the job description to get an idea of what they expect from the ideal candidate, and mirror that language in your resume summary.

Let’s walk through two resume summary examples. The first one is what most candidates start out with, but it needs some work. Here’s why.

This summary will not land you an interview. Why not?

• There’s no mention of what kind of engineer you’re training to be.
• It’s not personalized to the specific internship you’re applying for.
• It doesn’t say anything about how you are the ideal candidate over other people.

Here’s an example of a summary that will get you noticed:

Now this is a summary done well. It includes all the main points, including:

• A detailed description of who you are (incl. year of study, degree name and university name)
• Highlights your background experience working in a team dynamic on engineering projects
• Personally mentions the internship you’re applying for and lists why you are the perfect candidate for the role

For more tips on crafting an attention-grabbing resume summary, check out our guide Resume Summary: How-To Guide (30+ Examples You Need To See).

If you’re looking to craft a compelling resume objective instead, read our writing tips at 10 Resume Objective Examples You Need to Steal (How-to-Guide).

After you have your summary written, it’s time to move onto improving the experience section of your engineering intern resume.

Engineering intern resume experience: how to highlight it

Emphasize two main points when writing about your engineering experience: your problem-solving skills and your ability to work closely with a team.

Problem-solving is the biggest part of your job as an engineer.

You need to identify opportunities for improvement in current processes, and then work with a team to solve for them.

In an internship, you will be working closely alongside other people.

You’ll be following instructions from directors, working with project managers, and collaborating with your fellow interns.

You must have strong communication skills as an intern, and you must be able to work in a team dynamic.

How do you prove you have what it takes to be a successful intern that the team can count on?

Show off the success of your past projects and highlight any relevant team experience you have.

We’ll compare a few engineering intern resume examples for what works and what falls flat in the experience section.

Here’s a handy checklist to run through when writing the summary for every former project or role you were involved in:

• What was the goal of the project you completed?
• What were the quantitative results of your work?
• How did you collaborate with a team to achieve your results?

Here’s an example of an experience section that doesn’t hit the mark.

This description of the candidate’s research experience covers the basics, but there’s no details about how many people they worked with, the purpose of their research, and the soft skills they practiced.

This example displays real figures to show the magnitude of their research and how many people were on their team.

They also highlight their soft skills and their ability to comply with regulations, which is an essential factor of engineering success.

For more ideas on how to create an actionable resume experience section, check out our guide How to Describe Your Resume Work Experience.

Engineering intern resume education section: what to include in it

Since you’re currently a student or a recent graduate, the education section of your resume is the most important part to get right.

You don’t have the experience yet to boast about. You don’t yet have a track record of excellent results spanning over years.

Your biggest asset to highlight is your educational background.

Here are the five things you should include in your education section:

• The name of your university
• The degree you are currently studying or have gotten
• The date range of your studying
• Notable projects or coursework completed
• Your GPA

Including the name of your university, the degree you’re studying and the data range covers the essentials. Adding in your GPA will prove your success with your coursework.

Going above and beyond, adding in notable projects or coursework completed will show the recruiter how you can work hands-on with engineering, solving real-life problems and producing great results.

Let’s talk more in-depth about adding your projects to your resume in the next section.

Browse more essential tips on how to feature education on your resume, in our guide Perfecting the Education Section on Your Resume.

How to include projects on your engineering intern resume

Passion projects and university projects show the hiring manager that you have the skills, dedication and competence to solve engineering issues.

Whether you’re a software engineer building apps in your free time or a chemical engineer solving complex issues with dangerous chemicals at university, these are all impressive talking points for your resume.

While they can’t replace an engineering university degree, they do make a positive impact on your resume, since they show dedication to your industry.

Always list the certifications mentioned or required in a structural engineer job description first. Then, include other certifications you have.

When listing your projects, include a brief description of what you did and the impact of your results.

Include any relevant links if applicable (such as your Github profile for open-source projects).

The recruiter will appreciate seeing you go the extra mile, boosting your chances of getting selected.

Which skills do employers look for in an engineering intern resume?

Hiring managers are looking to see that you learned relevant technical concepts in your education.

They also want to see that you have the necessary soft skills to excel in an engineering role, working with a company.

To check both these boxes, you should list a mix of both technical and soft skills in your resume.

Depending on what kind of engineer you aspire to be, you should include technical skills that you have an understanding.

For example, if you’re a structural engineer, you should know how to do structure inspections and site visits.

If you’re a software engineer, your technical skills will be knowing different types of software and programming languages like Python and C++.

Aside from these technical skills, a huge component of being a reliable engineering intern is your ability to learn quickly, work with a team, and communicate your findings.

Since you’ll be working closely with the entire engineering team and the rest of the company staff, practicing your soft skills will go a long way in your career.

Tasks like producing helpful reports, problem-solving, managing budgets, and communicating issues during meetings are extremely important for the job.

Here is a complete list of both technical and soft skills to add to your resume.

We included technical skills from various types of engineering, so pick and choose the ones most relevant to you.

Are you still not sure what skills will win recruiters over? Check out our guide on How to Create A Resume Skills Section To Impress Recruiters (+10 Examples You Need to See).

Other sections to include on your resume

Depending on the company, job seniority level and your location, you may want to include more sections to your engineering intern resume:

• Language skills
• Hobbies and interests
• Projects
• Volunteer work
• Highlights
• References
• LinkedIn on Resume
• GPA
• Certifications

Best engineering intern resume: Takeaways

• Use a functional resume format to highlight your education more than your experience
• Include descriptions of your passion projects and university projects
• Prove you have the soft skills necessary to ace the internship
• Note the keywords used in the job description and use them in your resume text