<p>My husband spent the last several days reviewing resumes of college juniors for his company's summer intern program. These resumes came from two top universities, and were not pre-screened prior to his review. My husband works for a large, multi-national, Fortune 500 company with a significant intern program. After he was done, he and I looked over the resumes together. Here are some tips to keep in mind when writing your resume and cover letter for internships with large companies:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Your resume and cover letter likely will be reviewed by several people, some of whom will be HR professionals, and some of whom will be employees in the departments of the companies where you wish to intern. </p></li>
<li><p>If you fail to include your GPA, reviewers assume the worst about your GPA. Better to note your GPA than to have your resume rejected immediately for failure to include your GPA. </p></li>
<li><p>Attend the campus information sessions if you plan to apply for a job. Mention that you attended in your cover letter and describe something from that information session that made you want to work at the company. </p></li>
<li><p>Address your cover letter to the appropriate person rather than "To Whom It May Concern" if at all possible, whether you find out that name at the information session or by doing a bit of research at your career office or otherwise.</p></li>
<li><p>Find some way to show how your coursework, activities, and prior work experience are somehow relevant to the position you are seeking. If your resume describes accounting coursework, accounting activities and associations, and prior accounting positions, and yet you apply for an advertising internship, for example, you are not putting your best foot forward. There are skills you learn in everything that you do that can be applied to many situations. Find a way to describe that without stretching the truth. </p></li>
<li><p>Please don't use your cover letter to describe how much you know about a job, or your "acumen" (mentioned in at least a dozen of last weekend's resumes) in a professional area, or your "extensive experience". Professionals will laugh at you -- really. The reality is that what you learn in school or during your internships is just a small taste of what working is really like, and your experience is not extensive, nor do you develop acumen, until you are in the real world for quite a while. Of course, there are exceptions, but those are rare, and it is unlikely that you are one of the exceptions.</p></li>
<li><p>Proofread, proofread, proofread.</p></li>
<li><p>Spell check, spell check, spell check.</p></li>
<li><p>Proofread again, and then spell check again.</p></li>
<li><p>I know that this may be a generational thing, but don't describe how a job is perfect for you. Instead, describe how you are perfect for a job. No one reading your resume really cares about what is best for you when reading a resume. They care whether you will be good for the company. During the interview, later, if you get one, fit will become more important. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>I haven’t had to read a lot of intern or potential new hire resumes recently, but I’d like to see some indication of academic performance. Absence of GPA is a warning of poor GPA; listing “Dean’s List” might be sufficient to pass muster. “GPA in major” might indicate poor grades in electives. </p>
<h1>7, 8, and 9 cannot be over-emphasized. Have someone else, preerably someone WHO WRITES WELL (better yet, EDITS WELL) review your resume for spelling, grammer, format, and content. All the other points are excellent as well.</h1>
<p>To me, at least, Dean’s List is a proxy for good grades only if the resume somehow indicates that the student made Dean’s List every semester. Right or wrong, if there is no GPA on the resume, many reviewers assume the worst. Of course, if you are required to submit a transcript with the resume, than you need not indicate your GPA on the resume. </p>
<p>I will tell you that it is not necessarily the students with the highest GPAs who are being granted interviews after this particular resume review. Instead, it is the students with the best combination of indicated interest (knows about the company), work experience/coursework (has shown how these apply to the particular job applied for), well written cover letter and resume, and then, grades, who have been granted interviews. Once the candidates reach the interview stage, it is all about fit and personality, and much less about GPA and other resume items, though those will be discussed in the interview as a basis for conversation. </p>
<p>I can not emphasize strongly enough that prior work experience, whether on a student journal where the student actually had authority over a budget and managerial responsibilities, summer jobs, and part time school year jobs is incredibly important in landing many internships. Don’t hesitate to take that job at McDonald’s or mowing lawns or delivering newspapers if that is the work you can find. Many of the professionals reading resumes also did those jobs (or similar ones) when they were young, and they understand how much dedication it takes to get to work on time all the time and do your assigned tasks well. Potential employers are risk averse, and if you have already proven that you can work, you are that much less of a risk.</p>
<p>Having been a hiring manager and read through hundreds, maybe thousands of resumes, I agree with the other posters. If I don’t see a GPA, I assume it is probably not good.</p>
<p>Applying for jobs is not time to be modest. It is very competitive. Everything counts. As salllyawp pointed out, it is not the highest GPA that will get the interview, it is the whole package. Not having GPA is a missing piece in the package.</p>
<p>Of course, if you have years of exprience (probably at least 5 years), then GPA is not as important.</p>
<p>I was specifically told by someone who screens resumes to take my GPA off my resume because it was unnecessary. I’ve also gotten multiple very competitive (some with thousands of applicants and at least one that took less than 1% of the applicants) internship offers without displaying my GPA. Some of them did require a transcript after though to make sure I met the minimum requirements. So, the GPA rule is not hard and fast. My internships are with the government and think tanks. I agree GPA should generally be included for the private sector though.</p>