It’s been almost 25 long years since I started my bachelor’s degree, some 17 years since I began my master’s degree, and around 15 years since I decided to leave a Ph.D. scholarship behind and go back to full-time professional work. Many things have changed, yet one thing has remained the same: the race among all senior students and new graduates to get hired by their favorite tech companies.
Almost every year around the same time, my inbox on any social media (and sometimes my business address) is flooded with emails from people looking for internship positions or entry-level jobs for fresh graduates. Some of the brightest people that the industry needs to grow and develop but many of them, unfortunately, are misguided either by other students or even their own universities about the process of achieving their goals. In fact, 90% of those messages are from people that have nothing to do with my area of expertise, have no knowledge about the hiring process, and, more importantly, have done zero research on what THEY have/will become after the completion of their education. “I have studied computer science” might mean a specific field in the academic world, but when it comes to large tech businesses, that translates into tens if not hundreds of different potential roles and positions. And one cannot be interested in all of them. Here, the word “interested” is intentionally used instead of “educated or trained” – for good reasons. Computer science these days is an umbrella term and you’re free to pursue many other field related to that.
This blog post is an attempt to shed some light to help the future generation, although our universities should develop such muscles to better navigate their students and graduates. But here goes my contribution, and I hope it helps even a small number of people by taking them beyond the basic advice of “network and contact people.”
Approaching a business for a job is not the same as approaching a college for admission
Traditionally to get admitted into any university (and mostly post-grad), one would have to take a couple of standardized tests, such as the SAT or GRE and then apply to as many universities as possible. People would also take an extra step and brute-force random professors’ mailboxes and ask them about their potential TA/RA positions or any scholarships. Some of those targeted faculties on the receiving side of this would go through hundreds of emails, handpick the ones they like most, and “pick up” their applications after an initial review by the admission office. I have heard from many new graduates and intern applicants that their universities had actually asked them to follow the same recipe with anyone with a “manager” title on LinkedIn. This is a bad piece of advice.
Most large businesses (if not all) have elaborate organizations responsible for handling internship and graduate opportunities. Every year, they work closely with applicants and sometimes colleges to absorb a number of students/grads they think they might need. I talk to many of my peers in other giant businesses across California. I have yet to meet anyone looking for interns on LinkedIn by bypassing their corporate recruitment processes. This might be true about hiring the “established” professionals, but recruitment of interns and new grads almost always involves a process that cannot be disturbed by individuals, including the hiring managers, via their personal Twitter or LinkedIn accounts. In many cases, for internship positions, believe it or not, they’re not even decision-makers.
Know the role of each person in the recruitment process
Not every tech company has the exact same hierarchy, but generally speaking, most companies have “sourcers” that are always seeking candidates by browsing social media such as LinkedIn. If you’re contacted by someone from a tech giant, chances are great the person is a sourcer. That’s their primary job. Then some recruiters are responsible for a number of candidates at any point in time until the offer is extended and the start date comes. Needless to say, during this process, the requisition (also called the req) is owned by a hiring manager whose organization has allocated the budget to open that position. This model works for those established professionals and maybe some graduate candidates if they’re seeking entry-level positions, but for internships, again, you must almost always refer to the company’s career website and follow the instructions provided there within a specific timeframe. Just to reiterate, many businesses have a well-defined process for choosing and absorbing their interns.
Understand exactly what you do and what they do
This might sound too obvious, but in most cases, I notice the new grads or people looking for entry-level jobs have no clear idea as to their general field of study and how it’s translated into the actual career paths. Every year, I am contacted by tens of software engineers with great coding skills, admittedly even skills that I have barely heard of. And they are looking for SWE positions. Besides the broken process, this tells me the person has not learned the difference between network engineering (my field) and software development. Well, does it matter when I am not the decision maker for the fresh graduate hiring or interns? It does; check out the next tip. But the main takeaway here is that in a four-year degree, the worst case scenario is that in the third year, you should make up your mind as to “what you want to be,” and besides carefully studying as many job postings as you can (and reading through the responsibilities sections of those) there are a couple of less-explored yet effective ways to achieve that.
What (some) people can provide is guidance, not a job offer, but it’s still priceless
If the hiring managers and senior-level engineers cannot get you a job or internship position, then why bother? That’s a valid question, but a community of us is willing to offer “guidance” (/mentorship) even for 1 hour, perhaps just via email, but still. Although it is not the job offer you’re looking for, quite often, this short session could give you a ton of information to help you toward your ultimate goal. Hence, let’s keep in mind while the process won’t allow anyone to hire interns or grads as they wish, they could still talk or exchange a few emails with you and guide you through your journey. Believe it or not, learning the professional writing style from their responses could be a valuable takeaway. I have no doubt several years down the road, you will deeply appreciate this point.
Track the job market and choose your elective courses wisely
Many universities offer elective courses, and many students (including myself back in the day) would pick the “easier” ones to cruise through the program as soon as possible. That’s a strategic mistake. Although studying some psychology as an elective might sound like a really cool idea, if “advanced operating systems” is an option, I’d take that one and learn about the Kernel in modern operating systems, develop a small one, and play around with system calls and other OS internals. How to decide between the electives? Do your market research by browsing tens of LinkedIn job postings and using your “mentorship” ticket, as explained above.
Start learning what’s not taught in the college
What if you are about to get your degree in tech, and after reviewing hundreds of job postings, you realize you lack knowledge in certain areas? And even worse, after looking into the mandatory and elective courses, you find out they’re not offered by your university or the ones you can take courses with? Self-study. The majority of fields in tech, especially IT, have ample self-study resources. Sometimes even they have practice labs, training videos, and live or recorded boot camps. Don’t be shy; ask for discounts, negotiate or even ask for payment plans. Ironically, they’re all cheaper than what you’ve paid to get your degree. Consider those and get yourself trained. At the end of the day, when you’re released into the ocean, the competition won’t slow down because one subject or another was missing from your college’s curriculum. And the interviewers probably won’t take them into account, either. For obvious reasons, someone else has always studied them and will get on the whiteboard and answer those questions. Invest in yourself. The next point has more on this.
Certifications go a long way (certs, volunteering, blog posts, git…)
The secret sauce of many more experienced applicants in many IT-related fields. It is an open secret that for over two decades, many job seekers decorated their resumes with certifications ranging from easier multiple-choice exams to 8-hour practical tests. While having the certification on any resume, including an intern or fresh graduate can help a lot, the knowledge you earn along the way is invaluable. How do I find out what certifications could help me? Either ask a mentor or study 100+ job postings related to your field of study and see what they ask for.
Build and expand your online footprint
While some bored sourcers, recruiters, and hiring managers might not go beyond your resume, a large community of them still care about you having a solid GitHub page, YouTube technical channel, regularly published blog posts, nicely done podcasts or other activities. Compare this to banal and classic statements like: “I am really excited about this job”, “I love IT”, “lifetime learner”, or “I have always loved coding/IT etc.”. This is solid evidence vs. potentially empty sentiments. Lastly, technical assets published on the Internet do not have to be all about rocket science topics; talk about what you know best. Data structures? Operating systems? Do you “love coding”? Instead of repeating that sentence, show me a rich GIT or even your scripting-for-kids YouTube channel. Bridge the gap between words and actions.
Don’t be afraid to look beyond the keyword “junior”
This applies to fresh graduates. Don’t be intimidated by the lack of the word “junior” in the job title. In other words, “junior” is not the best keyword if you’re searching a career website. Firstly, many companies do not use the word junior in their postings. Secondly, if a job requires only one-three years of experience, having a solid degree, set of certifications, and strong online footprint might help you stand a reasonable chance. You probably won’t get paid as much as someone with three years of work experience, but getting your foot in the door is all matters at this stage. That being said, I warn you against sending random resumes to unrelated positions when you don’t meet their qualifications at all in the hope they will waive their requirements. Not only does this not increase your chance realistically, but it also makes it hard for those qualified (yourself in four years) to be seen among 230 other resumes.
Recon the target company by checking out their senior-level job postings
Scouting matters. Why would I spend any time reading through company X’s senior-level job postings? I am not qualified, and they won’t hire me anyway. Kam just said that, right? Let’s assume you’re a fresh graduate in the field of network engineering/telecommunications looking for entry-level positions. Their entry-level job description is super basic and has some very high-level requirements such as “Familiar with network monitoring tools”, or “Intermediate knowledge of routing protocols.” That covers enormous ground that you can’t possibly master before your job interview. But if you scroll further down, they’re also hiring network architects and senior network engineers. That’s where their job ads read “Expert level knowledge with SNMPv3 and YANG data models” or “Hands-on and design experience with BGP and OSPF.” This clearly tells you how you can win their hearts and stand out while everybody else is talking about their university homework and mini-projects. Just imagine if an entry-level candidate walks into their interview room and knows SNMPv3 and OSPF inside out. I am sure they can pick up some BGP later as needed.
A single resume that fits all the job ads; NEVER.
Resumes need to be crafted carefully for each job you’re applying for. In rare cases, you might be able to use the same resume for more than one job, but it’s a wrong strategy to create one resume and spray it across 100 jobs and companies. You can even take this piece of advice to the next level by studying the company’s particular culture and highlighting relevant facts in your resume. For example, if a large tech company values the culture of “Fail Fast,” if your resume showcases some indications of you having such a mindset, that will go a long way. This could be you being curious, exploring many creative options in project X, giving them FINITE time and eventually picking option #7 as the most appropriate course of action. You could use the same approach in structuring your responses during your job interviews.
Learn the worst way to ask for a referral and avoid it
Up to this point, I hope you all know that, at least in large businesses, people don’t usually hire interns (or even fresh graduates) via Twitter or LinkedIn direct messaging. But, for certain positions and jobs, sometimes people agree to help and submit a referral for you. The referral process varies from company to company, but it commonly involves an existing employee visiting an internal portal and submitting another person’s resume. The worst referral requests in the world are the ones with a classic resume. The requester is asking a busy individual to “find a suitable opening” for them and then submit a recommendation for that position. This only works if the referral system does not require a job ID when the referral is submitted, which in many hiring systems is not the case. Hence, you need to do your research, find the req you’re interested in and meet its requirements, put together a relevant resume and message your point of contact. The last piece of advice, be honest. If you’ve been rejected for a role or you’ve already applied for a position, and you don’t share this with your contact, again, this is not the best representation of a genuine professional; needless to say, many internal systems will reject those entries as duplicates as soon as he or she tries to submit their referral.
Good luck and welcome to the tech community!
