I wanted to write this post after a series of conversations I found incredibly frustrating because they were regarding problems that were usually 100% avoidable. I am a senior at the University of Michigan, which is usually regarded as a great school - and I have often found myself in formal and informal advisor. I have seen many common patterns from students resulting from bad advice that they may have heard from others or even from the (potentially misleading) marketing a university pushes to get your kid to matriculate. I posted this in the Parents community because I feel like parents have a lot of influence in the approach their children take for career preparation. Feel free to move this thread, if you feel like it belongs somewhere else.
Here they are:
- I am a , and this university is known for great placements. I do not have to worry too much about employment.
This is wrong. The student needs to be sure to always be proactive about employment. A junior year internship is very important for at least finance, tech, and consulting (the industries I have played around in) - and I know it is important for others. These internships do not typically fall on your lap, even if you are in a “hot” field like software development. Furthermore, meaningful networking is a long process that needs to be started far ahead of the recruiting cycle you intend to leverage a contact for a professional opportunity.
- I applied to a dozen internships and have not had any luck yet. I do not think this is for me.
A dozen is usually too few. For example, the norm for software engineering candidates who successfully secure a internship placement is often 50+ applications. I personally applied to 100+ places for securing offers for my junior year internship.
- I do not have time to apply to so many places or attend so many networking events/information sessions. Classes are tough!
Yes, classes are tough. But, recruiting is usually concentrated in certain parts of the school year, with a few weeks in the fall semester usually being the bulk of it. You may need to put your classes on the backburner a few times if you want to secure something. Yes, this might mean missing class and taking a hit on your grades.
- I turned down the superday/onsite company visit/interviews because it makes me miss two days of class.
This is perhaps the most frustrating of them all. Superdays are usually the final step, and typically only the candidates that have made it through previous rounds successfully are invited. Companies may pretend to be forgiving for students who cannot make it to superday, but this is only partially true. People opting for a video interview in lieu of superday are disadvantaged since they are missing out on the more social side of networking (let’s be honest, a lot of the decision someone makes on a candidate is if they would want to spend time with that candidate). Also, missing two days of class is a pretty lame excuse, especially since everyone else attending that superday is probably missing class to be there.
- My LinkedIn profile is basically my resume. I do not really spend too much time with it. It does not really matter for me, because I am an engineer/.
A well-maintained LinkedIn profile is one of the easiest ways to impress. Many campus teams view your profile after applying, and many recruiters often scout candidates and then message them asking to apply before they have even applied. I get a couple of recruiters sending me these messages every week, even though I already know where I am going to be after I graduate.
- I did not follow up.
After attending an interview/networking session/superday, you NEED to follow-up. This is probably the easiest mistake to avoid. Send a thank you note specifically mentioning something in the conversation. This might be annoying to do if you are attending a big company session or superday, but it is necessary. For superdays I have attended, I have always taken the time to remember names and, whenever I get the opportunity, quickly jot them down in my notes along with something interesting I took away from the conversation. I then would find their email addresses (companies usually have a standard email format) or LinkedIn profiles and send them all a personalized note. My tech friends think this is a little extra, but this is standard practice for my friends in banking/consulting. It has always helped me out and allowed me to keep relationships even if I end up not working for that company.