I started applying for internships during my freshman year and I got rejected so many times that I created a folder in my email and labeled it “Companies that missed out on me” just to remind myself that one day, during my speech at the awards ceremony for my Alan Turing award in computer science, I would know who I’m referring to when I say, “To those that didn’t believe in me…” and “I got rejected X times but never gave up…” this kind of story. 

Getting rejected hurt. I was confused. I lay in bed wondering, is anyone ever going to hire me? Is computer science for me if I can’t even get a callback? Some companies wouldn’t even reply with a rejection, I would just never hear back. Some days, I told myself that I wasn’t doing enough so I started doing “cold introductions” on linked in. I would send people messages saying, “Hey Mr. / Mrs. X, I see you work at Company Z,  if you need an intern, I’m available… Attached is my resume.”. For some reason, I had it in my head that if I didn’t get an internship during my summer breaks, I was failing and incompetent – this couldn’t be further from the truth, not having an internship doesn’t mean you are incompetent. 

At that time, I was desperate. Desperate freshman (freshwoman?). For some of the rejection letters I got, I started responding to them and asking, “Why did you reject me?” For the most part, I never got replies. Some did reply though. Among the ones that did, one told me “well, we are looking for a candidate that is local and you aren’t” another said, “You are not a US citizen so you don’t meet the minimum criteria” another said, “Your skills don’t align with what we are looking for right now.” From these responses, I realized that for some of these applications, there is nothing I could have done differently to change the outcome. 

This was lesson number 1: Sometimes, the reason why you get rejected has nothing to do with you, so don’t let rejection define you.

This is why you should not let a rejection demotivate you from continuing to apply to other places. Furthermore, don’t call yourself a failure because you didn’t get that opportunity. If it was out of your control, then you can’t blame yourself for not getting it. Move on and look for the next opportunity.  

On another occasion, one particular response I got was, “Your resume doesn’t highlight your skills well enough in a way that I would be able to match them to our requirements. Re-organise how you present them, good luck with your search”. 

Lesson number 2: Get as many people to proof-read your resume and receive as much feedback as you can on how to improve it’s presentation. 

Sometimes, the way you sell your skills might be selling yourself short. Meet with guidance counselors, compare your resume to your peers that you know are getting interviews and callbacks. Ask anyone and everyone you know that you feel might give you beneficial feedback. (Hint: Some of your professors would be happy to look at your resume and give you feedback. Ask them for 3 mins of their time and most likely, they won’t say no. They are happy to help)

During another period of many rejections in my sophomore year, I stumbled upon this website for a startup that did “Blind hiring for interns”. Essentially, you had to remove your personal details and any self-identifying information and submit your resume to this start-up. After, they would present your resume to companies that had signed up with them that needed interns for the summer. The idea behind this program was that they recognized that a lot of bias could have played a role in the reason as to why some people didn’t get hired.  When I submitted my resume, I got over 10 callbacks from different companies. From 0 to over 10 callbacks. 

This taught me something: To ignore the fact that race, gender, nationality, and people’s personal bias can play a role in why you aren’t called back would be unjust. But don’t let this make you give up or stop you from applying to other places. There are still employers that want people like you, but you won’t find them if you give up too soon. So KEEP APPLYING.

It’s important for you to realise that there is so much more to who you are as a candidate than how some people may perceive you. This should also encourage you to look into company culture and reputation as you choose the companies that you apply to.

For my freshman year, I ended up working at an unpaid internship for the summer and because I did, I had something to add on my resume when applying for my sophomore year summer internship (including personal projects I was working on). That year,  the job hunt was a little easier but still many rejections. Junior year might have been the most interesting time. Because I had 3 past internships (2 during the summer and 1 during the school year) and personal projects I worked on, I got so many interview requests for summer internships that I ended up not responding to half of them. These requests were from both Big N companies and small start-ups. Sometimes I looked at my inbox and it felt like a dream. It didn’t stop there though, even before I started my senior year, I had big N companies, hand pick my resume for full-time roles post graduation. 

Here’s my point: Start applying for internships NOW regardless of what year you are in. In the beginning, getting rejected is so normal and it happens to everyone. So, don’t give up. If you feel like you are further along but never had an internship, there’s a popular Chinese proverb that says “The best time to plant a tree was yesterday. The second best time is now.” Start applying to as many places as you can. For seniors that have never had an internship, maybe consider graduating a semester later (if you can) and possibly find an internship that you can add to your resume to make the job hunt post-graduation much easier? If you can’t, that’s okay, do as many personal projects as you can now. The way to get hired is to show your prospective employer that there’s something you bring to the table. Your experience is what gets you noticed. Good luck with the job hunt! As always, if you have any feedback you want to share, please write to me at nekesame@buffalo.edu

Links to some sites that might help with the job search and interview prep:

American Red Cross Communications Paid Internship

HBO 2019 Fall Intern: Business Affairs – Film Programming

https://www.techinternship.io/discover

https://www.pramp.com/dashboard#/

https://triplebyte.com/