From the Beginning…

Your resume serves as the cornerstone of your internship search and future career journey. Whether it’s called a curriculum vitae (CV), profile, or resume, this document is your primary professional marketing tool. Throughout this book, we’ll refer to it as a resume for consistency.

Think of your resume as a living document that grows and evolves alongside your professional development. As you gain new experiences, develop new skills, and achieve new accomplishments, your resume should reflect these changes. It’s not something you create once and file away, it’s a dynamic record of your professional journey.

When employers receive your application, your resume is typically the first document they review, even before reading your cover letter. This makes it your crucial first impression and your opportunity to showcase your potential value to the organisation. A well-crafted resume can open doors to interviews and opportunities, while a poorly constructed one might close them before you’ve had a chance to demonstrate your capabilities.

A strong resume combines several key elements: clear structure, relevant content, professional presentation, and evidence of your achievements. Each component, from your educational background to your work experience, from your technical skills to your extracurricular activities, plays a vital role in painting a comprehensive picture of your professional potential. When these elements work together effectively, your resume becomes a powerful tool for opening doors to professional opportunities.

Breaking Down Misconceptions

When creating your resume, you’ll likely encounter various “rules” that may limit your ability to showcase your potential effectively. Let’s examine some common misconceptions about resumes.

Rather than focusing on rigid rules, your energy is better spent on developing the key elements that make a resume truly effective. What matters most is creating a clear structure, including relevant content, maintaining a professional presentation, and providing evidence of your achievements. These components, from showcasing your educational journey to highlighting your work experiences, from demonstrating your technical capabilities to featuring your extracurricular involvement, work together to present a comprehensive picture of your professional potential. When thoughtfully crafted, these elements combine to create a powerful tool that opens doors to professional opportunities.

What Makes an Effective Resume?

The JCU Careers and Employability team offers sample graduate resumes for different study areas. These examples help students and recent graduates create strong job applications. By looking at the sample resumes for Engineering, Environmental Science, Information Technology, Marine Science and Science, we can see what makes a resume effective.

All examples use clear, simple formatting that works well with employer application systems. They avoid complex tables, fancy fonts or graphics that might cause problems. Each resume starts with professional contact details: name, city/state location, professional email and LinkedIn profile.

Education appears near the start of each resume, which works well for recent graduates. Each one shows academic achievements clearly, including course projects and strong results. When a student has a high GPA (above 6.0 out of 7.0), they include this information. Putting education early helps show core qualifications straight away.

All samples present practical experience well, whether from work placements, internships or part-time work. They use strong action words and clear examples rather than vague descriptions. The examples also show how to present useful skills from casual jobs, like showing how your customer service work built communication skills.

Professional development and technical skills sections match each field of study. The IT resume focuses on technical skills, while Environmental and Marine Science resumes highlight fieldwork and research abilities. All include relevant training and professional memberships.

The resumes also include community work and volunteering that relates to their career goals. This shows initiative beyond university requirements. Lastly, all resumes end with professional references from academics and industry contacts, rather than personal references.

Getting Feedback on Your Resume

It is always beneficial to have someone else review your resume before submitting it to potential employers. A fresh set of eyes can catch errors you may have missed and provide valuable suggestions for improvement. Making an appointment with a Career Development Professional is highly recommended, as they can offer expert guidance tailored to your field and career goals. Most universities, including JCU, have dedicated careers services where you can connect with qualified professionals who understand both academic and industry requirements.

While there is no substitute for personalised feedback from a trained professional, JCU students also have access to ResumeAI through the Big Interview platform. This AI-powered tool can provide quick, actionable feedback on your resume’s content, format, and overall presentation. ResumeAI analyses your resume against industry standards and offers specific suggestions for enhancement. Though it should not replace consultation with a Career Development Professional, it serves as a useful preliminary review tool that you can access at any time during your resume development process.

The Interview

Interview preparation is essential for making a strong impression on potential employers. Taking time to research, practice, and prepare helps build your confidence and demonstrates professionalism to interviewers. Before any interview, thoroughly research the organisation, understand the role requirements, and practice your responses to common questions.
Interviews can feel like daunting experiences, with anxiety often building in the days leading up to them. Your heart might race, your palms might sweat, and you might worry about forgetting everything you wanted to say. These feelings are entirely normal, even the most seasoned professionals experience interview nerves. However, it’s worth remembering that an interview is fundamentally a professional conversation, an opportunity to meet someone who could become an important mentor or connection in your career journey. Rather than viewing your interviewer as an adversary, consider them a potential ally in your professional development. They’re not there to catch you out but to discover if there’s a mutual fit between you and their organisation. With thorough preparation, including researching the company, practising your responses, and planning thoughtful questions, you can transform nervous energy into genuine enthusiasm. This preparation helps shift your mindset from seeing the interview as an interrogation to viewing it as your first professional conversation with someone who could become a valuable part of your career network.

Useful Resource: The Big Interview

JCU provides all students with free access to Big Interview, an online platform designed to help you master interview techniques and build confidence. This comprehensive resource offers virtual mock interviews across 20+ industries, thousands of practice questions with expert tips, and the ability to record and share your responses for feedback. You can access Big Interview using your JCU email address to begin strengthening your interview skills today.

When asked to “Tell us about yourself”, consider this your opportunity to create a compelling narrative that leads to your interest in this internship. Start by explaining what attracted you to this specific role and company, then connect this to your current career aspirations. From there, work backwards to discuss how your degree, major, and relevant coursework have prepared you for this opportunity. Include examples from your part-time work, volunteering, or university projects that demonstrate relevant skills and experiences. This approach helps the interviewer immediately understand your motivation and see the logical progression of your journey towards their organisation.

Interviewers asking, “Why do you want to intern here?” are looking for evidence that you’ve done your homework and have a genuine interest in their organisation. Before your interview, thoroughly research the company’s website, social media presence, and recent news. Make specific notes about projects, initiatives, or achievements that genuinely excite you. Pay particular attention to the company’s stated values and culture. How do these align with your own principles? Reference their industry reputation and market position, showing you understand their standing in the sector. Then, connect these observations directly to your studies and career aspirations. For example, if the company emphasises innovation and you’re studying engineering, discuss how their cutting-edge projects would help you apply your theoretical knowledge in real-world situations. This comprehensive approach demonstrates both your research effort and your ability to see yourself contributing to their organisation.

When discussing what you want to learn during the internship, present a balanced view of both professional growth and organisational contribution. Express your enthusiasm for experiencing teamwork in a professional Australian workplace setting. This is particularly valuable as it differs significantly from university group work. Emphasise your desire to gain industry-specific knowledge while contributing meaningfully to team projects and organisational goals. Share your interest in developing essential workplace capabilities such as professional communication, project management, and cross-functional collaboration. Importantly, highlight how this internship would provide you with relevant experience in an Australian business context, helping you understand workplace culture and professional expectations. Show genuine excitement about the opportunity to both learn from experienced professionals and contribute fresh perspectives to their teams. This demonstrates that you see the internship as a two-way relationship where both you and the organisation can benefit from the experience.

When discussing technical skills, maintain honest transparency while showcasing your experience through specific examples. Rather than simply listing software packages you’ve used, share brief stories about how you’ve applied these tools in real situations. For instance, instead of just mentioning Excel proficiency, describe how you used it to analyse data for a university project, creating pivot tables to identify key trends. When discussing design software, reference specific assignments where you’ve applied these skills to solve problems. Remember to describe your experience level accurately while highlighting your continuing efforts to develop your technical capabilities.

If the interviewer asks about software packages you haven’t used, don’t let this shake your confidence. Instead, emphasise your adaptability and enthusiasm for learning new technologies. You might say,

Effective preparation extends beyond practising your responses: it includes preparing thoughtful questions that help you evaluate if this organisation aligns with your career goals. Remember, an interview is a two-way conversation; while the company assesses your fit, you should also determine if the workplace culture and opportunities match your aspirations. Prepare questions that demonstrate your genuine interest while gathering valuable insights. Consider questions such as:

• What makes this a great place to work?
• How do you support professional development in this organisation?
• How would my supervisor describe their management style?
• What makes someone successful in this role?

Beyond these questions, thoroughly research the organisation’s website and recent news, review the internship description multiple times, and plan appropriate professional attire. Arrange to arrive early and bring spare copies of your resume and a notepad for notes.

Your internship search is a significant step in your professional journey. By taking a strategic approach to developing your resume, seeking feedback from Career Development Professionals, and preparing thoroughly for interviews, you position yourself for success. Remember that both your resume and interview preparation are ongoing processes and they require regular updates and refinement as you gain new experiences and skills. The resources available through JCU, including resume templates, Career Development Professionals, and the Big Interview platform, are valuable tools to support your professional development journey.

Most importantly, approach your internship search with authenticity and professionalism. While it might feel daunting at first, remember that employers are looking for enthusiastic learners who can contribute fresh perspectives to their organisations. By presenting yourself professionally through a well-crafted resume and demonstrating genuine interest and preparation during interviews, you create meaningful opportunities for your future career development. The skills you develop during this process, from crafting compelling professional documents to engaging in professional conversations, will serve you well throughout your career.