Accounting Intern Resume Sample, Template & Writing Guide for 2024
Are you finishing up your accounting degree and looking for an internship to gain experience? Whether this is your first internship or your fourth, getting your resume right can make all the difference in whether you get the job. Taking the time to learn some valuable tips will help you guarantee that your accounting intern resume hits the mark and lands you the interview.
We know what you’re thinking: How do you write a resume without work experience? Isn’t that the whole point of a resume? Actually, a resume is a document that presents your professional expertise, experience, and education. Therefore, even if you don’t have any work experience yet, you still have a lot of tools to create a powerful resume.
It might seem like a huge undertaking, but you’re not alone. In this guide, we’ll provide you with all the tips and insights that you need to get your resume noticed. Plus, we’ll include a resume example that puts our suggestions into practice so you can see what it looks like when it all comes together.
As you read on, we’ll discuss all of the different sections of your resume, including which ones deserve the most focus and how to list them, as well as how to relate your education and life experience as skills that you can use in your accounting career so you can stand out among other applicants.
Accounting intern resume writing guide: Where to start?
The first step in any successful resume is taking stock and making a plan. You can’t stand out from the rest of the applicants unless your resume really shines. The best way to approach your accounting intern resume is to divide the process into two steps. We’ll take a look at each in the sections below, including tips and ideas to help. In no time, you’ll be confident and ready to craft your own!
Master accounting intern resume
One big secret to standing out with accounting student resumes is to make sure that you highlight the best elements of your education, experience, and expertise. Before you can do that, you’ll want to compile them all in one place. This is known as your master resume, and it will be helpful for the rest of your career.
A master resume for an accounting internship isn’t going to have a lot of job experience on it. However, you should list any jobs that you’ve held, as well as volunteer work, memberships and committee positions, and so forth. This is a document that you’ll use as a reference to build your resumes moving forward.
We aren’t going to spend a lot of time on this because you don’t have much to work with, but take the time to jot down your skills, experiences, education, and other assets that might make you a good candidate for internships. Write down other skills and experience that may be useful. Whatever it is, it can go here.
There’s no formatting required or special work involved with a master resume. It’s for your eyes only. Just make sure that you update it regularly so that you don’t forget anything or get dates confused, for example. Now that you have everything in one place, you can move on to crafting a resume unique to each internship you apply to.
Job-specific resumes for accounting interns
Again, you probably don’t have much job experience to list on your accounting resume. That’s okay because you can make up for it with skills and experience. Look at all the things you put down on your master resume. Those are the items that are going to get the attention of hiring managers and internship coordinators.
Internships are highly competitive. If yours doesn’t stand out with a specific, tailored approach, you aren’t going to stand a chance. This is a good place to use the job listing. Scan it for keywords and must-have skills or education that are listed. Then, you can highlight those elements in your own resume.
This does two things. It shows employers that you took the time to read the internship posting thoroughly and tailor your resume to their needs. It also ensures that your resume will get past applicant tracking systems that are often used to filter applications before they reach a human being.
Where you lack professional work experience, a little extra research in crafting a specific resume for an accounting internship will do wonders. Besides, employers already know that you’re short on experience because it’s an internship, not a job posting, so that shouldn’t be a huge issue when you highlight your strengths.
Sample accounting intern resume
Above, you’ll see one of our accounting intern resume samples. The applicant doesn’t have a lot of work experience, so they highlight their education and other skills that fit the position. It’s also done in a PDF format, which looks more professional and renders the same on any device. This can give you an idea of what your completed resume should look like.
How to write a successful accounting student's resume? Writing tips and examples
Remember the internship description we mentioned? Hold onto it moving forward. It will help you in completing all the sections of your resume. It’s time to take a closer look at the individual sections of an accounting student resume for an internship. You have to do more than just list your skills and experience. Learn how to make a lasting impression by selling yourself.
Highlighting your skills on an accounting intern resume
Accounting skills are going to be a huge part of accounting internship resumes. Because you don’t have a ton of work experience to this point, it’s a good idea to highlight skills that are relevant to the position you seek. This can include both soft skills and hard skills, so long as they are going to be useful in the role.
Your own skills and abilities should influence the list that you create. However, you will notice when looking at our accounting intern resume example (and others) that some common skills are shared among people with your education and background.
This is the first part of the process that you are going to customize. Look at what the internship wants in terms of skills and capabilities and use that to make your list. Perhaps one internship is designed for a specialty like corporate finance, for example, while another is a more generalized internship. Taking the time to tweak your skills for each internship opportunity will set you apart.
You’ll want to list about five or 10 different items here. This gives you room to list everything important without going overboard. If you find more are needed, that’s fine, too. Here is a short list that can help you get started.
- Communication skills
- Attention to detail
- Accounting software competencies
- Data entry
- Financial reporting
- Financial analysis
- Accounts receivable/accounts payable
- Invoicing
- Tax preparation
- Business administration
- Document preparation
- Organizational skills
- Critical thinking and decision-making
How to write a resume for accounting internship with no experience
Believe it or not, you can write an accounting internship resume with no experience. In fact, even if you haven’t worked at all in your life, you can still craft a stellar resume to land the accounting internship you want. For starters, many accounting internships don’t expect applicants to have a lot of work experience. If yours is limited, don’t be discouraged.
Instead, focus on highlighting what you have done in the accounting realm. This can include your skills, which we just covered. It can also include all of the details of your education. When you apply for higher-level jobs in the future, you might just list your degree and the dates of attendance, and that will be sufficient.
Now, however, is when you can capitalize on that education to highlight the ways you have experienced working in the accounting world even without a real accounting job. If you have volunteered at all, this is a great time to take advantage of that, too. Consider clubs you belonged to, classes you’ve taken, and other ways you can showcase your capabilities.
How to share your education on an accounting intern resume
This is your second chance to shine on your resume for accounting internships. Showcase your education, all the way back to high school if it’s relevant. Start by listing your diplomas and any degrees you’ve obtained. List the years of attendance and the type of degree or diploma earned.
You’ll also want to give the name and location of the school. If you have more degrees and certifications to your name at this point, list them all. It’s best to do this in chronological order so that hiring managers and internship coordinators can follow your education track clearly.
If you belonged to organizations, clubs, or professional associations during your time in school, or currently belong to any, make sure to list those, as well. Even being the treasurer for your college class can point toward your actuarial and money-handling skills. Highlight as much as you can here that’s relevant and helps convey that you are the best candidate for the internship.
Nail the accounting intern resume objective
While the resume objective is found at the top of the document, it’s usually best to write it last. That way, you’ll have a clear, current idea of your achievements and assets, as well as how to wrap it all up in a concise statement. Your accounting internship resume objective should be one to four sentences that briefly describe who you are and what you bring to the table.
This essentially is the introduction header of your resume and it needs to stand out if the hiring manager is going to keep reading. The shorter and more to the point, the better. Use action verbs and descriptors, such as what accomplishments you’ve achieved in your education or how you’ve affected change in your professional development.
Think about two or three things from the internship listing that match up with your skills and experience. Look over all the information you’ve gathered on your resume thus far. Then, collect the highlights and make your statement. Feel free to try a few different options or check out other accounting internship resume examples
Now that you’ve learned all about the most important sections of an internship resume, it’s time to create yours. CVMaker can assist you with the process. You can explore our accounting internship resume sample templates to add professional style and a touch of flair.
Key takeaways on building accounting intern resumes
This guide covers a lot of information, but with it, you will have the tools you need to craft the perfect OJT resume for accounting students. You will be able to show you can handle financial reporting and analysis, tax and accounting software, and all the basic office tasks associated with accounting. To make the process even simpler, consider using our handy resume builder. It’s a quick, straightforward way to get your application submitted and noticed. Best of luck!
Additional tips for success with creating your accounting internship resume
You’re so close to the finish line. You have taken a job description for an accounting internship and used it to share why you’re the ideal person for the position. Before you send your application along, though, make sure that you do a final review. These tips can help.
- After you’ve written the resume, go back through and perfect the details. Check for (and fix) typos and errors. Consider using Grammarly and other tools to help you identify issues and make adjustments. Just remember these are aids, and the suggestions may not always be accurate, so use them as a guide, not the final law.
- Prioritize anything that relates to the internship. If that means putting your skills first, do that. If your education shines, list that first. You don’t have to list everything in the same order as everyone else.
- Share additional information if you feel that it’s relevant and can help you land the internship that you want. For example, if you have a photographic memory and an uncanny ability to memorize numbers, that could help in the accounting world.
- Keep everything professional, but don’t rely on jargon and big words. That’s only going to get confusing. Use keywords to highlight important experiences and avoid casual language. Even a “fun” internship wants a professional resume from applicants.
- Take a few minutes to read your resume out loud and get a feel for the flow. Sometimes, you can catch mistakes or awkward phrasing better when you read it aloud than just scanning it with your eyes.
- Remember that while a resume can do wonders, you need more than that to get that dream internship. Take the time to craft a compelling cover letter, too, and include that with your application.
Next steps?
You have spent countless hours in accounting classes. You’ve mastered the financial software that’s out there and you’ve got organizational skills and math skills that will impress even the best companies offering internships. But can you relay that information in a way that gets their attention? With our Resume Writing Service, you can get expert help to craft a resume that you’ll be proud to share. Reach out now to get started on yours.
FAQs
How do I write an accounting intern resume with no work experience?
Internships are primarily designed for people with less experience. However, it can still be daunting to figure out how to create a resume when you haven’t worked in the field. Remember to utilize the internship description to help you pull skills and experience from your own life.
While you might not have actually done people’s taxes or helped settle corporate financial records at the end of the quarter, you can put your education and skills at the top of your resume and leave work experience out. Alternatively, if you’ve volunteered at all, you can add that instead of paid work experience. Other internships, if you’ve done them, can be listed as work experience, by the way.
How long should my accounting internship resume be?
Typically, resumes for accounting internships shouldn’t be more than one page long. At this point in your career, you don’t have enough experience to warrant going beyond that. If you were a seasoned accountant with a decades-long career behind you, a two-page resume might not be unheard of. For now, though, one page is fine.
Try to use bullet points and short sentences to break up the page and keep the reader’s eyes focused on the highlights. Don’t write paragraphs about what you’ve done. Simple one-liners are fine. Don’t use a bigger font or add words to try to fill the page, either. If it’s a bit short, leave it short.
Internships are highly competitive, which means that managers have hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of applications to go through. They don’t want to read a pages-long saga. They just need the highlights. Give them that and the length will feel natural.
What skills should I highlight on an accounting intern resume?
There are several different skills that you may already have, whether you realize it or not. As an intern, you’ll want to highlight soft skills like organizational abilities, interpersonal skills, time management, and multitasking capabilities. These show that you can handle the basic environment of an office and the duties of the job.
In addition, you should highlight any industry-specific skills that you have, such as preparing financial documents, maintaining books and records, running reports, advising clients, language skills, and other accounting skills and competencies.
What keywords should I use for an accounting intern resume?
This is where you will want to lean into the description for the accounting internship for which you are applying. That will usually give you a good idea of the keywords that hiring managers and applicant tracking systems are looking for.
Common keywords include finance, data entry, reporting, analysis, accounting, account management, asset management, invoicing, tax preparation, reconciliation, administration, etc. Do not list skills or keywords that you don’t have competency in, though, because that can come back to haunt you when they start asking questions.
Also, don’t overdo it by cramming as many keywords in as you can. Not only does that look unprofessional, but it’s usually a clear sign that someone’s just trying to check all the boxes.
Does an accounting intern resume have a specific format?
There is no one format for an accounting intern resume. However, because of the lack of experience, it doesn’t usually follow the layout of more experienced jobs. Typically, you will list your contact information at the top, followed by the resume objective. Then, you can choose to list either your skills or education first, depending on which category is stronger.
Follow with the rest of your information and place experience last on the list. If you have absolutely no work experience, you can leave that off the resume, but be sure to explain it in your cover letter or replace it with volunteer activities, school clubs and groups, and other proof that you’re capable.
When you download and submit your accounting internship resume, it should be in PDF format. This can be viewed on any device and it looks more professional than submitting a document in another format.
Is there anything I should leave off of my accounting internship resume?
If it isn’t relevant, don’t list it. That’s a good rule of thumb for any resume in your career, including internships. The exception here is work experience. If the only job you’ve had is as a part-time restaurant waiter during school, you should list that to show that you have experience in the working world.
Your other skills, classes, and experiences that aren’t relevant to accounting and finance are not important here. You may end up discussing them at the interview or finding ways to include them. However, your resume should only include skills, experience, and education related to the internship.
Now you have all the examples and tips that you need to build an accounting intern resume that gets you the best internships for your career. However, you’ve got to make sure that your resume stands out. A good design can do that and more. Check out the selection at CVMaker and select the accounting intern resume template that fits your needs. It could be just what you need to land that interview.