<p>Its not life threatening or anything, but I sure could use some support from my CC friends.</p>
<p>DS, a college junior, is interviewing for summer internships in his field. The way it works is that the students post their resume online, and then they choose the companies where they would like an interview. DS requested 11 interviews and was chosen to interview with all 11 companies which means that his resume was very strong.</p>
<p>So far he has 7 rejections and 4 no word (but not looking good based on student scuttlebutt). He had another interview (phone) with a company that was not recruiting on campus and they flew up to their HQ for a full day of interviews. He was told he was the only student from his school that was being flown in and that 19 had applied. During his time at HQ he was told things like, hes smart, hes ambitious, lets just hire him now. Three days after he got back he got a rejection email.</p>
<p>To say that he is devastated and confused would be a great understatement. Of course the problem with the interview process is at no one will every give you feedback after they reject you (HR you know) so us pretty much at a loss. He mock interviewed, went to information sessions, dressed well, followed up contacts with thank yous, etc, etc We are taking steps to try and figure this out including sending him to a professional career counselor to get interview help but its probably too late for the internship cycle.</p>
<p>He went to the department head, explained what happened and asked for help. Prof told DS that DS can come off as overly analytical and wants to really delve into the why's of issues, but they he finds DS "very refreshing" and "I would hire you." Prof is going to try and make some calls on his behalf.</p>
<p>Were just sad. He said to me on the phone last night, Why doesnt anyone like me?</p>
<p>I have no helpful advice but want to give you a (((hug))) and point out that if he has a 1-in-19 chance then it’s like getting into the Ivies all over. I think times are just tough all over.</p>
<p>I think the only avenue right now to finding out the problem is the professor that knows him. Maybe he can ask the prof to elaborate on the “being overly analytical”. Also, maybe all of the mock interviews, career counselors, etc. may be holding him back from being who he truly is at these interviews. Alot of the interviewing process is about your personality and how you “click” with the interviewer. Also, maybe none of the companies were a good fit for him. Maybe he needs to look for a company that is ultra conservative where his overly analytical nature is the norm. I feel awful for you and your son. These are just my opinions and I hope they may help a little. Good luck and I wish the best for you both. Hang in there.</p>
<p>I think that anyone would be devastated by this string of rejections, especially after promising signs. It may be that he is doing something “wrong” in the interviews, but I think that this is unlikely, given that he had such positive feedback at the HQ that he visited. It’s to his credit that he is willing to consider the possibility that he needs to improve his interview skills, and is looking for help with this. </p>
<p>I’m not sure what is meant by “overly analytical” - to me, this is like saying “overly beautiful.” Maybe the professor can find out something for him. But the most likely explanation is that times are tough.</p>
<p>^Yes, your son may be very qualified for the position which is why he got an interview but “fit” really comes into play afterward. There is a place for him somewhere - I agree with ohiomom2. It pays to do a little research of the culture of the companies that interest him. </p>
<p>Stay positive! One door closes, another opens!</p>
<p>You must tell him it’s not him. Companies reject people for all sorts of reasons. It is not uncommon for companies to open up req’s just to show signs of growth. Sometimes they realized they aren’t in a position to hire after they’ve interviewed the applicants. It is a tough situation out there.</p>
<p>That happened to me my senior year of college. It was a bad job market then as well which made it tough. I did 7 interviews and none led to a job.</p>
<p>What I realized later is that:</p>
<p>1) Some of the companies were hiring 1 position but interviewed on a ton of campuses, meaning they probably interviewed 500 people for the 1 job.</p>
<p>2) Some of the companies weren’t actually hiring, but did on campus interviews to keep up relations with the university.</p>
<p>3) On campus interviews were a high stress interview environment and not to my liking.</p>
<p>Revenue dries up often just when a serious placement is being considered. I doubt this is personal. This is the world right now.</p>
<p>Getting all those interviews is awesome. Something will open up someday.</p>
<p>DD send out 200 applications for jobs and got 2 nibbles. Neither would pay enough to support her.</p>
<p>She moved to Atlanta, is employed (underemployed, it’s true), has an awesome internship and is coming back to NY for law school. She had to live NYC to put anything together.</p>
<p>Ohh…I am so sorry. I think it’s a good idea for the professor to make some calls on his behalf. My daughter just went through 2-3 days on intense interview process at her school. We were able to refine her technique with each interview. She out right bombed her first one, and we had to regroup, but she got better with more practice. Prior to her interviews, she downloaded a list of potential questions they could ask, we then went through one to make sure she wouldn’t say anything inappropriate.</p>
<p>I am not a professional when it comes to interview, but I do a lot of interviewing for work. During any interview, it is important to show your technical skills, but it is also important to show your soft skills. Once they get comfortable with your ability to do the job, next thing is to make them feel you are a good guy to have a drink/lunch with. It is important to make people feel like you are a team player, you are not just “all about you.” Sometimes when a person is too smart, he comes across as too arrogant. I wasn’t there at your son’s interview so it’s hard to know for sure. </p>
<p>When my daughter interviewed with senior people, she would ask what else she could do to strengthen her resume. With younger people her closer to age, she asked them about their trip to her school, was it nice to be back on campus again, what other courses she should take at her school. When she didn’t know the answer to their questions, she would say so, sometimes they would even show her how to work through those problems. She wasn’t defensive about not having answer to every question.</p>
<p>This is still early. I hear many employers are still recruiting right up to March. I would suggest for your son to do few more mock interviews with people he doesn’t know. Hug to your son.</p>
<p>I really feel for him (and you). It is just a horrible job market. My son tells me a lot of the Wharton kids have not gotten jobs (for full-time jobs) and are really discouraged. These are kids who expected to have their pick of offers and big $$$.<br>
Tell him to keep plugging away and not to take it personally. Please keep us updated.</p>
<p>It could be a regional thing…some areas just can’t hire…they’ll interview and then find out the funding is gone.</p>
<p>What region is this?</p>
<p>My H thought his company would give our son a summer internship, but then internship $$ was taken away. Thankfully, he got one with the US Army as a student engineer. Pays quite well, and they are very flexible. They even let him work for 2 weeks at Christmas - work 6 days, get paid for 10…LOL Yes, they paid him for Christmas Eve, Christmas, New years eve, and New years, even though obviously he didn’t work those days.</p>
<p>A question for you - and I’m not being facetious in the slightest.</p>
<p>How do you research “culture”? For instance, his prof told him that he is an “out of the box” thinker and that while large organizations give lipservice to wanting those people in their ranks, the interview process results in a homogenous pool of employees. </p>
<p>I’m in business, worked for a Fortune 50 business out of college and a Big Four accounting firm after that, so I am not unfamiar with the interview process at large organizations. From my perspective, although not overtly, companies weed our applicants based on who says or does the “wrong” thing and those that played it safe typically win out in the end. JMO</p>
<p>Could the professor find out how the other rec letters look? I had a relative once who earned a brilliant Ph.D. in an arcane field that would only lead to a career as professor. Only a handful of starting positions were available nationwide each year in that field (imagine his field along these lines: Philosophy, Classics…) Three profs told him they’d written positive LOR’s for him.</p>
<p>Longstory short: one of his “positive Rec letters” that he’d never seen (of course) included a clear “headsup warning” against him, coded and phrased in a way guaranteed to tank him. He didn’t learn of this for 9 months. all the while he was interviewing with all his effort and getting no offers. </p>
<p>Helpful prof contacted coding prof and was told exactly this: Coding prof was pushing for his own favorite advisee; believed he needed to clear away the best competition (my relative), so purposely wrote such a letter. </p>
<p>Helpful prof told my relative all this, plucked the bad letter out of the packet, and had my relative procure another letter from a different prof. </p>
<p>In addition to coaching your S on interview techniques, I’d ahve Helpful Prof also read the other prof’s letters. There might be someone who dropped enough hints about your S’s healthy debate style to imply he’d be argumentative/intrusive in a company’s work culture, when in fact he might enhance it.</p>
<p>Your son sounds like he has a lot going for him. Most college kids aren’t even getting interviews for internships–they’ll be flipping burgers, lifeguarding, mowing lawns. . .or looking and finding nothing this summer.</p>
<p>Rejection hurts. But all those interviews are a learning experience–and show that there is something appealing on his resume. Unless he has obvious interviewing problems to work on (communication issues, personality issues, grooming/hygiene issues. . .) there is not much you can do but reassure him that people DO like him, but the competition is extremely tough.
Talk about plan B–what to do if he doesn’t get an internship.</p>
<p>I feel horribly for you and your son. It is so hard to not be able to give your kid a big fat hug when he so rightfully is in need of one. I have no good advice but just wanted to offer a virtual (((hug))). It’s so hard, made even harder by the economics and politics of the work place.</p>
<p>Wow, how utterly frustrating for your S & you! It IS a tough market out there & kudos to him for being selected as the ONLY student to be sent to HQ. So sorry they didn’t actually hire.</p>
<p>Glad he has a prof who is willing to help. The steps set forth above sound VERY helpful. </p>
<p>My S has had several interviews. At the last oen he went to, on-site, while he was there, they were calling around & trying to cobble together funding to hire him! Never got a final word form him whether they were able to & extend him a job offer since, but he felt very weird there listening to it all going on.</p>
<p>Good luck–with the helpful prof’s assistance, it sounds like things should improve!</p>
<p>Here’s another one… Jr S has done everything he could think of for internships this summer. He has an unusual skill set and background and geared his applications toward those organizations. So far, one interview only and nothing else. He was willing to relocate for the summer, he was willing to go salary-free. It is not only disheartening but a little scary as we look forward to next year. When he comes home for spring break, he will apply for his old hauling garbage job which while not a resume builder, can earn him some $$$. This is the only silver lining that we can come up with… bleh.</p>
<p>DS had this problem 2008-2009 for a job, post-masters and internships at premier engineering firm (offered positions but HR stood firm on hiring freeze). Used headhunters, job fairs (fairs even paid for his air and room), schools’ network, conferences. He asks undergrad advisor/mentor for an updated LOR. Prof thinks about it and instead offers DS a position on her staff at her new university. DS and prof begin a startup with money from a grant that DS wins. </p>
<p>DS is within easy driving distance of home. In a high activity area. He’s happy. M&D are happy. </p>
<p>That’s good. If he revisits where S has already gone, he might pick up on what the problem is (if any) and funnel that back to your S. If he goes to new places on your S’s behalf, he has the benefit of being able to advocate in advance on your S’s upside strengths.</p>
<p>I also recognize how hard it is to get anything in this economy, but it sounds like the OP feels something amiss in having his S promoted up to a point, then hits a wall.</p>
<p>I’m guessing a big part of it is the economy, that money for internships isn’t as available this year and there is a lot more competition for the spots that are being offered/funded. It’s taking a lot longer and lot more looking for jobseekers to find positions, and I am guessing the same is true of internships.</p>
<p>Talking to the department head about this showed lots on initiative on the student’s part, and hopefully if there is an underlying issue/problem (which I doubt there is), this will bring it to light.</p>
<p>Tell your S to keep his head up and to keep looking.</p>