<p>I am graduating in December, and thinking of applying for jobs. I go to top 5 cs school.</p>
<p>So, when should I be applying to jobs? I heard that competition is less so it's actually
better for cs students. Is this correct?</p>
<p>Do top tier companies like Google, Microsoft hire in the fall(for january/december start date)?</p>
<p>You can always check your school’s career center and apply to companies otherwise.</p>
<p>But yes, most companies are willing to hire new graduates starting after fall semester.</p>
<p>Is fall semester too late? Am I competing against the spring graduates?</p>
<p>Most of the people I know who graduate in Fall just take the time and start working in summer. If you want to go to Microsoft or Google, apply, get an offer, and then ask if you can start in January. They’ll probably be able to work something out.</p>
<p>Typically recruiters travel to universities to interview CS students in Sept or early October. You can always attempt to land interviews independently (i.e., earlier) but the probability of success is probably lower. </p>
<p>Do you have any work experience? If not, your top 5 CS program credential is still nice but you will be competing against students from “lower” CS programs who have already been employed by your desired companies for 1-3 summers.</p>
<p>The short answer to your question is that yes companies do hire students to start at different times during the year. Work is year-round and companies have to have an influx of young talent to deal with attrition and promotion.</p>
<p>Get yourself over to your career center and start talking to them. Have you used them before for getting internships? Use their advice and feedback for resume writing, interview skills and company research. Upload your resume into their “job finder” system and start applying online through that. Find out when the next Career Fair is so you will be prepared.</p>
<p>Have you done internships before?</p>