Landing an internship as a FIRST YEAR

Internships. Like a full-time job for the summer, they're one of the best ways to get a taste of the life of your dream profession. In addition to that, it also gives you the opportunity to explore companies and work locations.

Beyond another section to add to the resume or a way to spend the summer -it is a growing opportunity.

Overview

In this article I will be sharing:

• Common assumptions to getting internships as a first-year
• Advice I received and personally would like to share
• Internship application process
• Personal tips for the application process

Common Assumptions

Looking into internships for the first time, you might come across numerous forms online. These forms might convey the message that “First-year students don't have enough background to land internships”, “there's not enough on the resume yet”, “you won't have enough experience to pass the interviews…that is if you get one”.

Trust me, I’ve seen my share of those messages too.

However, within those messages, I have also heard of countless success stories of students who have not only landed internships but also made it at top companies that you’ve probably dreamed of. And I know what you’re thinking, they must have been “programming lords coding way before I have” but many of these people in fact are just like you! A first-time college student, a beginner coder, with not that much experience on your resume!

Just go for it

Apply, Apply, Apply!

Put yourself out there and go for it!

Even if you don’t think you will be getting an offer or passing their interview rounds, put yourself out there!

By experiencing the application process now, you’ll be prepared for the coming years when you are looking for part-time jobs, full-time jobs, etc! It saves you from stress down the line as you will be familiar with the application process from applying in previous years.

Remember it's an online application! All you’re putting out is a little bit of time from your day.

Internship Process

So you want to apply for an internship. What’s next?

Generally, the internship process includes:

1. Online application where you fill out your personal information and submit a resume
2. If the company decides you could be a potential fit you will move on to the next steps which may include:

a. Technical Interview: This is where you will receive coding prompts and be asked to answer them within a certain amount of time. These interviews may be conducted online using platforms like HackerRank or done live with a recruiter (whiteboarding).

b. Behavioral Interview: Here you will be asked a few interview questions so the recruiter can learn more about you beyond your resume. Typically these interviews are conducted so that recruiters can learn about your work ethics and how you may fit on a team or with their work environment. This process may be either done online through a platform such as HireVue or you could be connected to a recruiter for a phone call.

Note: Depending on the company, the order of the different interviews as well as how many there are will differ.

3. Offer: Congratulations! You made it and got the internship! Your next steps are to review the offer letter and decide whether or not you want to take on the role within the given deadline. However, if you have other conflicts for example if you are in the middle of interviewing with another company or you have issues with the start or end date — make sure to share this information with your recruiter! Recruiters are more than willing to extend your offer deadline and make accommodations. In regards to the other companies you are in the process of interviewing for, share with their recruiters as well that you have a deadline to meet so they can try their best to speed up your interview process.

Personal Tips:

Resume

• One-page resume. Recruiters typically spend less than a minute viewing resumes (it's a quick skim). Thus they want the most relevant information related to the position you are applying for. If you are having trouble with keeping everything within the page, play around with spacing, text size, and margins!
• Easily parsable. When applying to companies with many applicants, often times the companies have programs that see your resume before human eyes do. With that said, it is important that your resume can be easily read by programs. Some ways this can be done include making sure that there are no tables used in your resume and utilizing commas.
• Simple formatting. Remember the main point of the resume is so that anyone who views it is able to easily see content in relation to your experience and qualifications. Although aesthetic formatting appeals to the eyes, it can also disturb the reader and thus might take more time to read through.
• Purpose. This resume is about you. When writing bullet points, make sure you tell your reader the impact you had whether it be towards the team, community, etc. through your work. Work done by your team although impressive can be left out since it doesn't show your personal skills and achievements.
• Action verbs. By using action verbs not only does it enhance the writing on your resume, but it also helps those reading your resume have a better idea of what you accomplished in your work.
• Quantifying. It is important the use numbers to quantify your actions. By quantifying your work, you are about to better help recruiters picture the impact you made.
• One line. Remember to keep your bullet points within a line. If it is shorter than a line, add in more action verbs and more detail to convey the full message. If it is longer than one line on your paper, consider splitting that thought into two. By making sure your bullet points are all one line long, you are able to utilize the most amount of space to tell your story with a sufficient amount of details.
• Education at top. After your name and information, have a section for your education. Putting your education on the paper first, helps recruiters know that you are currently a student and quickly identify what you are seeking.
• High school experience is OK. As a first-year college student, it is expected that you haven't had much time to engage in college activities. Thus, if you have high school experience on your resume, it is totally fine and recruiters understand. As you get more experience over the years, you can slowly remove your high school experience from your paper.
• Tailor your resume. If you are applying for different positions, make sure to tailor your resume so that you can list the most relevant experiences for that particular position. This may be a tip for later on but you can also keep a master resume of all the experience you have (yes over one page) so you can copy and paste your most relevant experiences to your resume as you apply for different jobs in the coming years.
• Side projects, work, clubs. Your resume does not have to strictly pertain to only work and leadership experiences. You can mention side projects, hackathons, class projects, and other activities if they are able to demonstrate traits that would help vouch for your skills whether it be hard or soft skills.
• For more examples and details, see: https://www.careercup.com/resume
• If you would like a resume review, ACM offers resume reviews to students: https://acmucr.org/resume

Technical Interviews:

• The best way to prepare for these interviews would be through Leetcode. Leetcode is a free platform with an endless amount of coding challenges ranging in difficulty to help you prepare for your interview. You don't need a premium account as there are already plenty of problems out there for you. Another platform that also offers free coding challenges would be HackerRank.
• If your technical interview is over the phone, make sure you convey your thoughts to a recruiter. Even if you are stuck and don't know how to go about the problem. Aside from knowing to code, being able to effectively communicate with your team is an important aspect of any job. Thus, it is important to share any thoughts you have and be transparent with your recruiter so they know what working on a team with you is like.

“There are tons of smart coders out there that companies could choose to hire. But they chose you because you are able to not only code but communicate”

Behavioral Interviews:

• STAR Method. When answering a question, practice using the STAR method (Situation Task Action Result) to share your full story. These questions are asked to see how you would or did deal with a situation that could potentially occur in a work setting.
• Prepare for prompts. When personally preparing for interviews, I looked up common behavioral questions online to prepare for different scenarios that could be asked. This helped me better prepare my responses during the interview since I did not have to think too much on the spot.
• Have encountered this situation. If you are asked an interview question that you have never experienced, don’t say that you have not experienced this scenario. These responses can be in relation to courses, personal matters, clubs, work, etc! Of the many options, there should be no reason you cannot respond to a certain question.

Other

• Rejection letters. Don't get too hung up on these! They happen all the time and more often than you think. You are not unfit for the job, but rather there are better companies out there that are a better match for you.
• Apply to many. Out of the 100 I applied to last year, I would say I only heard back from roughly 20% of the companies. And of those, I only moved forward with a handful. By applying to more companies, you open yourself to more opportunities!
• Referrals. If you know someone at the company you are interested in applying for try asking for a referral! By getting a referral you are typically put in a smaller pool with other referral applicants. However, if you are not able to get referrals don't worry about it. In the end, it is a strong resume and skills that make it through.
• Cover letter. There are different opinions about these. Personally, I would say, have one cover letter that you can recycle and use. The reason I say this is because larger companies with a big pool of applicants generally won’t have the time to read through your letters. However, smaller companies may or may not read them depending on the situation so having a general one prepared would save you from having to write a new one each time you are asked to submit them.

Conclusion

Go for it! Put yourself out there! Rather than focusing on landing a position, focus on gaining the application experience -if you land a position, that's an extra plus! Remember that the application process is a “number game” don't lose hope and face it headstrong.