hi everyone. This is my first time posting so apologies if I incorrectly put it in the incorrect location.
I’ve been actively searching for and applying to internships - I’ve applied to at least 150. However, I haven’t had much success. I want to say my resume is pretty strong (lots of experience, have created my own national organizations, several awards, etc.) yet I’m still not getting as many internships. I am a sophomore btw.
Yet, ironically, my friend who imo and others have agreed has a much weaker resume (and a gpa sub 3.0) has gotten interviews with the largest tech companies, banks, and institutions in the countries (and no he’s not a tech major as well). He’s a sophomore as well so that’s not the problem. I don’t know if diversity plays a role in the process, but if it makes a diff I’m an ORM and he classifies himself as an URM.
I genuinely don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I want to be happy for him, but it’s really disheartening b/c I’m not even getting one call back for an interview. I’ve gone to my schools career services but they aren’t as helpful as well.
Has someone at the career center read over your resume? If there are a few typos, a lot of companies will use that as an excuse to throw it out, especially with positions with lots of applicants.
There’s either something really big missing here, or it may just be bad luck. I’d be willing to look over your resume if you want to message me privately, just to be sure.
Yeah - but my fellow peers are sophomores/freshmans getting these gigs - the same exact gigs I’m applying for.
I know juniors get precedence for positions, but this isn’t that situation since I’m seeing it happen in front of me, unfortunately.
@PengsPhils Thanks for the offer. Unfortunately, I’m paranoid about privacy, b/c again, some of the activities I do are high profiled about. I’m going to say it’s just my bad luck, but at the same time I’m genuinely not sure.
You say some of your activities are high profile. In what way? Is it something that a hiring manager could view negatively? Is it political? There are some things that are best left off of resumes.
@me29034 no - not political at all - very service oriented. should an employer search my name on google, press articles would come up about me, awards, etc.,
marketing/advertising arent really “hit demands”. Internships can be kinda hard to find and I agree career centers are useless… they give the most generic advice and hardly wanna learn about you. You can work in a bank if you can’t find an internship…
It could be bad luck. Have you asked a professor to look over your resume? Someone who will give you some feedback. More than one review would be helpful.
Do any of these internship applications require an in-person interview or a skype interview? Simple things like how are you are dressed, posture, confidence, grooming, excess piercings/tattoos, diction/voice, background of room when you skype.
Since you want to go into advertising/marketing, can you “look” at your resume from the position of someone else? Can you mentally pretend you are someone from a company/agency? Would you hire them?
Also, have you seen any resumes your peers have submitted? You could see how it’s formatted, what they mentioned, length, even font size/style.
Ok. I just saw that you mentioned not even getting an interview. Are some of the resume submittals being done at a job fair type setting? Where they see you in person to receive your application/resume and informally chit-chat. Once again, how do you act, dress, present your paperwork? Are others putting the paperwork in a folder? Using a cover sheet? Using a clear report cover?
Is there a profession organization for your major on campus? Are you a student member or attend meetings/activities?
Also, @“aunt bea” asked if you were allowed to work in the US. Are you?
It must be something wrong with your resume. I don’t believe you being ORM has anything to do with it. Do you send cover letter along with your resume? Do you have a LinkedIn profile?
Update: I’ve gotten interviews and stuff but now I am in a predicament. For one company, I did two rounds of interview and the recruiter said he would later let me know of my status. I emailed once following up after the interview (never heard back), then about 3-4 weeks later I emailed again asking for an update on my application status as he originally mentioned that i would know pretty quickly thereafter. About this time, I just randomly received a call from him one day but unfortunately it went to my missed call. I tried calling back but there was no response and then I also emailed him again asking if I should call back at a later time. Again no response.
What the heck do I do? I have no clue whether this is just a nice formal rejection call or a we are still interested in call because this HR guy literally is terrible at responding.