Cracking the Internship/FTE application process
Hi, I am Shubham Roy, currently pursuing my Master’s in Information Management and Systems from University of California, Berkeley.
Why I feel I could help?
Last summer, I interned with Microsoft Xbox as a Technical Product Manager and here’s how I approached my PM internship hunt for Summer 2023. This is not specific to product management and cuts across multiple domains, as I will focus only on the application process and NOT domain specific components (like resume, cover letters, interview prep, etc). That being said, these are just strategies that worked for me and are completely my personal opinions, with the hope that it could help someone in their current internship/job search process.
I was able to get internship interview calls and proceeded to either the offer stage/ late interview stages with the following companies. This is after a pool of at least 100+ applications from my end.
Here is how I approached the various steps.
Looking out for openings
This is one of the most critical steps and requires you to stay informed, quick. Based on my experience, applying early really helps. The best case is: early applications with a referral; there is a trade-off between applying early without a referral v/s applying late with a referral. I preferred applying early without a referral — it worked for me! If I was able to get a referral later on, I would check if I could apply with the referral through my other email address.
How do you optimize for “early applications with a referral”?
This is an area where you can do some preparation before-hand. I am calling this the-explicit-search method. I self-curated a list of companies that I wanted to apply to or the companies that I knew take interns.
Here is a screenshot of what my list looked like:
- Company Name
- Applied? Yes/No
- Connects (whom to reach out to whenever the opening goes live)
- Additional comments
A few of my colleagues used Teal to keep a track of their applications. I haven’t personally used it but might be worth your time.
Once I had this list, I was able to proactively search if the applications for these companies were out and also to network before-hand with folks in such companies to have a referral sorted for when the opening goes live.
Going beyond the-explicit-search method
You can not have a manageable list of all possible openings pre-curated. This is where I focused on exploring openings beyond the above list.
Here are the job boards that I checked on a daily basis, in the order of my preference.
Glassdoor
I feel that Glassdoor is really updated when it comes to the most recent openings. Further, the option to filter openings by ‘Last 24 hrs’/ ‘Last 3 days’ makes it easy to not miss any recent relevant opening.
Otta
This job board is a find that I absolutely take pride in. Excellent user interface with an indicator saying — “Be an early applicant” that further prompts you to act quick. BONUS: the CEO of Otta further shares their views on each company- culture, growth opportunities, etc.
APM List
This one is specific to product managers. Nevertheless, a good check point — if they are hiring for PM interns/FTEs, it is very likely they would also be hiring for data scientists, UI designers, SDEs, etc.
Ofcourse, you can’t skip LinkedIn. While I am not a big fan of their job recommendations (I found them slow as compared to Glassdoor/Otta in terms of showing the most recent openings), a strategy that worked for me here was following people who constantly aggregate and post about job openings (for instance, Mark Benliyan on LinkedIn).
Another LinkedIn trick that worked for me was the “Contact Info” option of hiring mangers in a company I was interested in and cold-mailing them on their personal mail addresses. This is more so for when people are not accepting your connection request or replying to your outreach on LinkedIn. That was how I secured my internship interview call at Branch.
Slack Workspaces
I was also a part of several PM-specific slack workspaces which mostly always had a channel on recent openings. Few that I used:
Operationalizing the actual application process
For any of this to work out, you need to keep applying, and apply to a LOT of companies because what will greet your inbox more often than not is a rejection email. Applying a lot is taxing. especially when companies ask you to fill a 10 step application form with the same details each time. This is where I religiously used Simplify. Simplify is a Chrome extension that auto-fills all your applications with your profile details in a single click. This makes the actual step of applying for an opening least stressful and you can focus on the other steps.
Additional steps that worked well for me
- Having a portfolio helps — particularly in reaching out to people. Based on my experience, folks were more likely to check my portfolio and then respond to my messages/ emails as compared to my resume/ cover letter. This is exactly how I secured a referral and consequent interview calls from Branch and Lucid Charts.
- Have regular mock interviews so that you are prepared to nail the interview as and when it comes. The ratio of number of applications to interview calls is pretty low and you need to be ready to grab whatever comes your way. It also helps you stay in the flow.
- Have a close friend-circle to share the journey with! The application process is taxing and it always helps to have folks you trust by your side. I had my internship offers rescinded from 3 companies given the economy and there is not a lot you could do in such a situation — a support system helps! :)
Hope this helps! I would love to hear your thoughts and hear the virtual medium-claps!
Shubham Roy
