Internships are often the door opener for starting a career or an essential stepping stone for a career change. But how do you present an internship in a Swiss CV so that it is not perceived as mere "taster work", but as valuable professional experience? In this article, we show you how to position your internship experiences so that they leave an impression on HR managers in Switzerland.
Why an internship is more than just making coffee
An internship can help you develop practical skills and learn about a field of work. The experience you gain depends on your actual tasks.
Depending on your tasks, you can describe the following in your CV:
- Learning: Which new topics did you work on?
- Practical experience: Which skills did you apply to specific tasks?
- Industry knowledge: Which work processes did you get to know?
Therefore, it is crucial that your internship does not just disappear into a subordinate clause in your CV, but gets the stage it deserves.
Internship in the CV: Where to put it?
The placement of your internship depends heavily on your current career stage.
For young professionals and students: If you are starting your career, it can make sense to include a relevant internship under "Professional Experience". State the dates, role and tasks, and use a consistent chronological order.
For career changers: If you completed an internship to change industries, you can include it under "Professional Experience". Describe the specific tasks or skills that are relevant to the role you are applying for.
For experienced professionals: If the internship was years ago and you have been in permanent employment since then, you can group it in a separate category such as "Previous activities" or "Internships" at the end of your professional experience. If it is no longer relevant for the desired position, you can even leave it out completely to make room for more relevant experience.
How to describe your internship optimally
No matter where you place the internship, the type of description is crucial. Avoid general phrasing and be concrete.
- Correct job title: State the exact position, for example "Intern in Online Marketing" instead of just "Internship".
- Tasks and successes: List your main tasks in 3-4 bullet points. What did you actually do? Which projects were you involved in? Did you implement or optimize something yourself?
- Tools used: Which software or tools did you use? (e.g. Salesforce, Adobe Premiere, SAP). This shows direct applicability.
Bad example:
Internship at Muster AG (Helping in the office, research)
Good example:
Digital Marketing Intern | Muster AG, Zurich
- Support in planning and implementing social media campaigns
- Independent research and creation of SEO-optimized blog posts
- Evaluation of monthly performance figures via Google Analytics
Present an internship honestly
An internship is most useful when it relates to the role you are applying for or demonstrates a specific skill. State the dates, role and tasks truthfully. If you are unsure, check with your former supervisor or use documents that can support the entry.
Source
- The Swiss careers guidance on work experience, internships and volunteering explains how these experiences can build skills and be shown in a CV.
Check one internship entry
Choose an internship from your CV and check the entry:
- Are the dates and role accurate?
- Do the bullet points describe what you did yourself?
- Is a task relevant to the target role explained clearly?
Revise one unclear point. Use the example above only as a structure and replace it with your actual experience.
