Why am I not getting an internship? Seeking advice desperately...
7 comments
>> I have been waiting for almost 2 weeks, but I am not getting any email or phone call. This is exhausting and dismal...
Man, I know this feeling well. I just ended a job search a few weeks ago after two months of looking. I'm hoping I can share a couple thoughts that might be helpful. While I was looking for a full time position, and I have a couple years of experience under my belt, I think these insights still apply.
First of all, how many new contacts are you making every day? When I first started, I felt pretty good about the fact that I was emailing two or three people about positions every day. When I told this to a friend who has been very successful he said that when he's searching for a new position, he tries to contact upwards of 25 people every day. While I was never able to get up to that many contacts in one day, I did get up to around 15 per day. His specific advice: "You should be emailing so many people, that when someone responds you need to look back in your notes to remember what they do." This helped me a lot.
Second, I'd like to know what exactly you're sending people. I didn't really have any success when I would just send my resume over email or submit it to a website. I found that my best results came when I emailed a person directly, told them why I liked their company, included three sentences about myself, and asked them if they had any positions available and could share some information about them. I didn't even include my resume, and I only passed it along if they asked for it. My goal was to make it as easy as possible for them to get back to me, and take the conversation from there. It's much more encouraging when you're getting a lot of small emails.
I'll admit that the process was soul sucking. But, with those two ideas in mind, in the last two weeks of my job search I sent emails to around 50 people, got around 25 responses, 10 first interviews, 5 second interviews and two job offers. I would be surprised if you couldn't do similarly well. Your resume certainly isn't your barrier. Your approach may be though.
To sum up my advice: Lots of emails that are easy to respond to. You can do it.
Man, I know this feeling well. I just ended a job search a few weeks ago after two months of looking. I'm hoping I can share a couple thoughts that might be helpful. While I was looking for a full time position, and I have a couple years of experience under my belt, I think these insights still apply.
First of all, how many new contacts are you making every day? When I first started, I felt pretty good about the fact that I was emailing two or three people about positions every day. When I told this to a friend who has been very successful he said that when he's searching for a new position, he tries to contact upwards of 25 people every day. While I was never able to get up to that many contacts in one day, I did get up to around 15 per day. His specific advice: "You should be emailing so many people, that when someone responds you need to look back in your notes to remember what they do." This helped me a lot.
Second, I'd like to know what exactly you're sending people. I didn't really have any success when I would just send my resume over email or submit it to a website. I found that my best results came when I emailed a person directly, told them why I liked their company, included three sentences about myself, and asked them if they had any positions available and could share some information about them. I didn't even include my resume, and I only passed it along if they asked for it. My goal was to make it as easy as possible for them to get back to me, and take the conversation from there. It's much more encouraging when you're getting a lot of small emails.
I'll admit that the process was soul sucking. But, with those two ideas in mind, in the last two weeks of my job search I sent emails to around 50 people, got around 25 responses, 10 first interviews, 5 second interviews and two job offers. I would be surprised if you couldn't do similarly well. Your resume certainly isn't your barrier. Your approach may be though.
To sum up my advice: Lots of emails that are easy to respond to. You can do it.
Everyone gave extremely valuable pieces of advice, but your advice the strategy is going to be really really helpful.
I am going to follow what you suggested, but if you could answer some of my further questions, that would be great.
I have not been making contacts to much people. I did not even apply to positions in a daily basis. I just occasionally spent 3~4 hours applying to a bunch of companies on their career websites from either Google search or LinkedIn/Monster/Indeed etc.
I just copied and pasted almost identical cover letters always with my resume for every application (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e8rx0JiEGlpwxTa2--7rQvla...), as writing in English was very time-consuming for me, and I was busy, and mostly, I knew they would not give a damn about my cover letter attached to the application even if I had put much effort on it. Thus far I had two (one on-campus and one phone) interviews, each with a good company, but neither of them were through a web application.(I got rejected from both, though..)
I did not care too much about the applications, and I kind of messed them up. One relief is that I have not applied to companies I prefer the most, which are start-ups and mid-sized companies in NYC, and I went to NYC to attend Columbia University Engineering job fair 2 weeks ago. I talked to people there, handed my resume(the original one that did not look very good), and got business cards from 7 people from different companies. Of those 7, I had memorable conversations with two, esp. with an entry-level engineer about my Rwanda project(he would at least vaguely remember me. but they only use web languages, so I may not fit..). There were quite many good companies based in NYC in the job fair, and I have some 'stories' to talk about when I contact them.
I would like to focus on the companies I want to go to, and I want to do well this time. Of course I will have to apply for 'safety' companies, too but I will put my time and effort in applying to 40~50 companies in NYC and Silicon Valley.
Here are some of my questions. First of all, you said you contacted people in the companies. Whom did you contact (HR? Engineer? Sr. Engineer? CEO? or someone else?), and how did you find their contact info?
Second, what do you think I should include in the three sentences about myself? Language(Java/C++)? Experience? or other soft skills and characteristics? Could you show me an example?
Lastly, although you made "it as easy as possible for them to get back to me, and take the conversation from there", it is not easy for a non-native like me to write a letter that is easy and simple. Particularly what made your letter easy for them to get back to you, not compromising the amount of necessary information?
Thank you so much.
I am going to follow what you suggested, but if you could answer some of my further questions, that would be great.
I have not been making contacts to much people. I did not even apply to positions in a daily basis. I just occasionally spent 3~4 hours applying to a bunch of companies on their career websites from either Google search or LinkedIn/Monster/Indeed etc.
I just copied and pasted almost identical cover letters always with my resume for every application (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e8rx0JiEGlpwxTa2--7rQvla...), as writing in English was very time-consuming for me, and I was busy, and mostly, I knew they would not give a damn about my cover letter attached to the application even if I had put much effort on it. Thus far I had two (one on-campus and one phone) interviews, each with a good company, but neither of them were through a web application.(I got rejected from both, though..)
I did not care too much about the applications, and I kind of messed them up. One relief is that I have not applied to companies I prefer the most, which are start-ups and mid-sized companies in NYC, and I went to NYC to attend Columbia University Engineering job fair 2 weeks ago. I talked to people there, handed my resume(the original one that did not look very good), and got business cards from 7 people from different companies. Of those 7, I had memorable conversations with two, esp. with an entry-level engineer about my Rwanda project(he would at least vaguely remember me. but they only use web languages, so I may not fit..). There were quite many good companies based in NYC in the job fair, and I have some 'stories' to talk about when I contact them.
I would like to focus on the companies I want to go to, and I want to do well this time. Of course I will have to apply for 'safety' companies, too but I will put my time and effort in applying to 40~50 companies in NYC and Silicon Valley.
Here are some of my questions. First of all, you said you contacted people in the companies. Whom did you contact (HR? Engineer? Sr. Engineer? CEO? or someone else?), and how did you find their contact info?
Second, what do you think I should include in the three sentences about myself? Language(Java/C++)? Experience? or other soft skills and characteristics? Could you show me an example?
Lastly, although you made "it as easy as possible for them to get back to me, and take the conversation from there", it is not easy for a non-native like me to write a letter that is easy and simple. Particularly what made your letter easy for them to get back to you, not compromising the amount of necessary information?
Thank you so much.
Sure, I can answer some of those questions. I'll start off by saying that you're right that the process will be more difficult as a non-native English speaker. But, after you've sent the first few email, you should be able to see patterns between them, and you'll end up with a standard opening email and a standard set of responses. Also, it helps to have a friend glance over the email. I'm a native speaker and I still used my friends to occasionally proof read my work.
As for who to contact in the company, I would say that you try to contact the person who would be your direct supervisor in your new position. They're going to be the person who is best able to evaluate whether you are a good fit for the job, and if they decide they want to hire you, they'll make it much easier to go through all the paperwork. If you don't know who your supervisor would be and it's a large company, try to find a senior engineer at the company. If it's a small company you could contact the CEO. These people at least will have a decent idea of what positions are available and who you'll need to contact to talk about them. Avoid HR at all costs. Also, since most "[email protected]" email addresses go straight to HR, try to avoid those as well. Finding the email addresses can sometimes be tricky, but I was usually able to find something by googling peoples names/positions/companies.
When I say "make it as easy as possible for them to get back to me" it's less that I'm trying to write a simple letter, and more that I'm only asking them for a small thing. Asking someone for a job is a large thing to ask for. Even asking for an interview is a large time commitment. You simply want to ask them for information about the positions they have available. After you've received that first email it is much easier to turn around and propose a time to talk on the phone.
I'll give you an example, from start to finish of what this conversation could look like. I've written the first email such that you could fill in the blanks and send it off. I've structured it such that the person reading could read the first paragraph and immediately respond (the phrase "what follows is a brief description of a recent project" tells them that if they want to skip that paragraph and just email you back they can). The project is probably the best way to do three sentences about yourself, but if you wanted to change it to highlight more soft skills you could.
------------------------------------------
First email to a company:
------------------------------------------
Subject: What's happening at <Company Name>?
Hi <Contact Name>,
My name is Hyunwoona and I'm a Computer Science student at <College Name>, with a focus on <Technical Skill relevant to the job>. I've been looking for internships, and came across <company name>. I was particularly interested in <specific thing the company is doing>. I'm hoping you could tell me more about the work happening at <Company name> and about the positions you have available.
What follows is a brief description of one of my recent projects:
As a project for <company || open source project || personal reason || class name> I worked on creating a <what you crated> using <language>. My focus with this project was to <description of why the project was worth doing (like: it's never been done before, needed do it faster, or make it clearer)>. I particularly enjoyed getting to see <specific technical aspect of the project> up and running. <If possible, add a sentence with a link to the code>.
Best, Hyunwoona
------------------------------------------
Response from company:
------------------------------------------
Hi Hyunwoona,
The work we're doing at <Company Name> involves a lot of <stuff> and <other stuff> right now we're working on <some broad vision>. We are looking to hire interns in the coming <time period>
We're currently looking for interns for the following positions:
1) <Job Title A> -- This position involves <Something related to what you're capable of doing>
2) <Job Title B> -- This position involves <Something unrelated to what you're capable of doing>
If either of these are something you're interested in, we should discuss further.
Best, <Contact Name>
------------------------------------------
Follow Up email:
------------------------------------------
Hi <Contact Name>,
Thanks for the response. I think I would be a good fit for the <Job Title A> position and I'd love to talk more about it. Can we set up a time for a phone call? I'm available <times when you're available>.
Best, Hyunwoona
---------------------------
Of the emails that I sent that led to interviews, more than 2/3 went almost exactly like that. Occasionally, I would have sent it to someone who would pass my email along to a colleague, but from that point forward the response I would get would still be pretty similar. I hope this helps. Let me know if I was unclear about anything.
As for who to contact in the company, I would say that you try to contact the person who would be your direct supervisor in your new position. They're going to be the person who is best able to evaluate whether you are a good fit for the job, and if they decide they want to hire you, they'll make it much easier to go through all the paperwork. If you don't know who your supervisor would be and it's a large company, try to find a senior engineer at the company. If it's a small company you could contact the CEO. These people at least will have a decent idea of what positions are available and who you'll need to contact to talk about them. Avoid HR at all costs. Also, since most "[email protected]" email addresses go straight to HR, try to avoid those as well. Finding the email addresses can sometimes be tricky, but I was usually able to find something by googling peoples names/positions/companies.
When I say "make it as easy as possible for them to get back to me" it's less that I'm trying to write a simple letter, and more that I'm only asking them for a small thing. Asking someone for a job is a large thing to ask for. Even asking for an interview is a large time commitment. You simply want to ask them for information about the positions they have available. After you've received that first email it is much easier to turn around and propose a time to talk on the phone.
I'll give you an example, from start to finish of what this conversation could look like. I've written the first email such that you could fill in the blanks and send it off. I've structured it such that the person reading could read the first paragraph and immediately respond (the phrase "what follows is a brief description of a recent project" tells them that if they want to skip that paragraph and just email you back they can). The project is probably the best way to do three sentences about yourself, but if you wanted to change it to highlight more soft skills you could.
------------------------------------------
First email to a company:
------------------------------------------
Subject: What's happening at <Company Name>?
Hi <Contact Name>,
My name is Hyunwoona and I'm a Computer Science student at <College Name>, with a focus on <Technical Skill relevant to the job>. I've been looking for internships, and came across <company name>. I was particularly interested in <specific thing the company is doing>. I'm hoping you could tell me more about the work happening at <Company name> and about the positions you have available.
What follows is a brief description of one of my recent projects:
As a project for <company || open source project || personal reason || class name> I worked on creating a <what you crated> using <language>. My focus with this project was to <description of why the project was worth doing (like: it's never been done before, needed do it faster, or make it clearer)>. I particularly enjoyed getting to see <specific technical aspect of the project> up and running. <If possible, add a sentence with a link to the code>.
Best, Hyunwoona
------------------------------------------
Response from company:
------------------------------------------
Hi Hyunwoona,
The work we're doing at <Company Name> involves a lot of <stuff> and <other stuff> right now we're working on <some broad vision>. We are looking to hire interns in the coming <time period>
We're currently looking for interns for the following positions:
1) <Job Title A> -- This position involves <Something related to what you're capable of doing>
2) <Job Title B> -- This position involves <Something unrelated to what you're capable of doing>
If either of these are something you're interested in, we should discuss further.
Best, <Contact Name>
------------------------------------------
Follow Up email:
------------------------------------------
Hi <Contact Name>,
Thanks for the response. I think I would be a good fit for the <Job Title A> position and I'd love to talk more about it. Can we set up a time for a phone call? I'm available <times when you're available>.
Best, Hyunwoona
---------------------------
Of the emails that I sent that led to interviews, more than 2/3 went almost exactly like that. Occasionally, I would have sent it to someone who would pass my email along to a colleague, but from that point forward the response I would get would still be pretty similar. I hope this helps. Let me know if I was unclear about anything.
When you don't have a way of making an impression by talking to someone or meeting them face to face, your resume becomes critically important.
What I would like to say is that you do not know the audience that you are presenting this to and sometimes your name will make a bigger impression than anything on your resume.
It's unfortunate that these things still make a difference but it is what it is.
Looking at a resume such as your's and being somewhat jaded, I might think the following:
- This is likely an immigrant. - They may not speak English well and may have had their resume written for them. - I'd rather hire someone who I can identify with rather this person who could be from a foreign culture.
Now, I do not know if you are an immigrant or whether you speak or write English well. The point is that with your name and without explicitly giving the opposite impression, this is what a reviewer of your resume may think. Choosing you versus someone named "John Smith" becomes much more simpler (ie. you don't get chosen).
So how do you counteract some of this? Well, for starters, you could use a nickname for your first name. Remember this is to just get you through the door. Secondly, if you did go to school here before University, you could list your high school. Basically, anything you could put that would let someone know that your verbal and written English is great would be good.
I am not saying that this is what is stopping you from getting an interview, but there are many employers who have become very jaded by having someone come in for an interview who was the perfect candidate on paper but couldn't sling a complete sentence together due to language issues. These types of employers would rather just not take the risk, especially for an internship type position when they could just as easily pick someone else that looks more safe.
What I would like to say is that you do not know the audience that you are presenting this to and sometimes your name will make a bigger impression than anything on your resume.
It's unfortunate that these things still make a difference but it is what it is.
Looking at a resume such as your's and being somewhat jaded, I might think the following:
- This is likely an immigrant. - They may not speak English well and may have had their resume written for them. - I'd rather hire someone who I can identify with rather this person who could be from a foreign culture.
Now, I do not know if you are an immigrant or whether you speak or write English well. The point is that with your name and without explicitly giving the opposite impression, this is what a reviewer of your resume may think. Choosing you versus someone named "John Smith" becomes much more simpler (ie. you don't get chosen).
So how do you counteract some of this? Well, for starters, you could use a nickname for your first name. Remember this is to just get you through the door. Secondly, if you did go to school here before University, you could list your high school. Basically, anything you could put that would let someone know that your verbal and written English is great would be good.
I am not saying that this is what is stopping you from getting an interview, but there are many employers who have become very jaded by having someone come in for an interview who was the perfect candidate on paper but couldn't sling a complete sentence together due to language issues. These types of employers would rather just not take the risk, especially for an internship type position when they could just as easily pick someone else that looks more safe.
I've never thought this way. Thank you so much.
I considered so many names in two days, and finally decided to pick Eric(after Eric Schmidt and Sony-Ericsson).
I am even considering changing my name spelling from Na to Naa or Rah. They will know I'm Korean anyway from my work experience in Korean Army, but because of the first impression.
I went to high school in Korea, so your second suggestion does not apply.
Thank you!
I went to high school in Korea, so your second suggestion does not apply.
Thank you!
>> The pdf version of my resume is : https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7tZUA6L0bdtSGlVQXRMYVFFdEk....
That's a lot easier to "consume" for me. The formatting/etc on the text file is just a bit much. When I try to "review" someone's resume, I find it almost impossible to only review for content. Presentation is so much a part of a resume that I don't think you can separate the layers into "content" and "presentation layer".
Couple of things (all superficial):
1) It doesn't say that you are authorized to work. The spelling of your name is the first thing people see - and their first thought is, "Is he a US citizen, on a visa, or what?" You need to be clear about what you are seeking rather than making people guess.
2) Why are you seeking an internship? Many people seek an internship b/c they hope it turns into full-time work. If that's you, then you might want to find a way to shoehorn something in that makes it clear that you really like this company.
3) The GPA - I'd flip it around so that the 4.0/4.0 is listed first
4) Better filename - include your name. resume.pdf in all lower case shows me that you weren't really thinking very deeply about me once I get your resume.
5) "Software engineering" is such a broad term - you want an internship in "software engineering". Is there a way to make that more specific, possibly for each company's specific needs?
6) Cover letters and targeted responses matter - the resume is only a part of the entire process
Good luck!
That's a lot easier to "consume" for me. The formatting/etc on the text file is just a bit much. When I try to "review" someone's resume, I find it almost impossible to only review for content. Presentation is so much a part of a resume that I don't think you can separate the layers into "content" and "presentation layer".
Couple of things (all superficial):
1) It doesn't say that you are authorized to work. The spelling of your name is the first thing people see - and their first thought is, "Is he a US citizen, on a visa, or what?" You need to be clear about what you are seeking rather than making people guess.
2) Why are you seeking an internship? Many people seek an internship b/c they hope it turns into full-time work. If that's you, then you might want to find a way to shoehorn something in that makes it clear that you really like this company.
3) The GPA - I'd flip it around so that the 4.0/4.0 is listed first
4) Better filename - include your name. resume.pdf in all lower case shows me that you weren't really thinking very deeply about me once I get your resume.
5) "Software engineering" is such a broad term - you want an internship in "software engineering". Is there a way to make that more specific, possibly for each company's specific needs?
6) Cover letters and targeted responses matter - the resume is only a part of the entire process
Good luck!
Thank you.
The reason I put the resume in a shared text was to hide my name and identity.
For 1, I think it is a good idea, but I do not find the spot to put it. Also, should I write "legally authorized to work during semesters and vacations", or "F-1 Visa OPT/CPT work authorization"?
I did 3, 4, definitely should spend more time to do 2, 5, 6. (All the items are very pertinent. Thank you.)
For 1, I think it is a good idea, but I do not find the spot to put it. Also, should I write "legally authorized to work during semesters and vacations", or "F-1 Visa OPT/CPT work authorization"?
I did 3, 4, definitely should spend more time to do 2, 5, 6. (All the items are very pertinent. Thank you.)
I changed my research part to the following. Does this look better?
NSF-funded research Research Programmer January 2013 - December 2013 Buffalo, NY
• Automated an experiment process of searching for a case to increase the known lower bound for required number of colors in a graph theory problem
• Emulated functions in Python modules(numpy and Sage) into C++ to run on systems without Python, leading to approximately a 40% speed improvement
• Wrote C++ and Python programs with my team that randomly generated hundreds of a special kind of matrices in a minute, with forced conditions to avoid repetition in an equivalent class
• Implemented edge coloring problem in C++/CPLEX by formalizing it in constraint programming, enabling hundreds of matrices to be tested for coloring per minute
• The paper is selected for presentation at MCURCSM 2013 conference on November
NSF-funded research Research Programmer January 2013 - December 2013 Buffalo, NY
• Automated an experiment process of searching for a case to increase the known lower bound for required number of colors in a graph theory problem
• Emulated functions in Python modules(numpy and Sage) into C++ to run on systems without Python, leading to approximately a 40% speed improvement
• Wrote C++ and Python programs with my team that randomly generated hundreds of a special kind of matrices in a minute, with forced conditions to avoid repetition in an equivalent class
• Implemented edge coloring problem in C++/CPLEX by formalizing it in constraint programming, enabling hundreds of matrices to be tested for coloring per minute
• The paper is selected for presentation at MCURCSM 2013 conference on November
Don't seem to me like there's anything wrong with your background. It's maybe a little "classical" for a job in Silicon Valley, but, especially with internships, they don't usually give too much of a crap about specific skills, you'll be able to pick those up on the job.
I suspect it is the way you present yourself. Judging from your post, you seem pretty desperate. Don't be, there's plenty of jobs and people will literally try to hire you off the street when you graduate. Your accomplishments certainly seem better than mine, and I got a full time job pretty quickly. I'm also a foreigner, that's a little pay cut, but no deal breaker.
Try to tailor your CV to the company you're interviewing at. They'll know and appreciate that you spent the time and know what they actually do. Try to get a phone or personal meeting early. They might be worried about your English if you're a foreigner, and if they can talk to you in person and see that your English is fantastic, that's one problem out of the way.
Oh yea, are you in Korea, trying to get a job in the US? That can be pretty tough, as it's just so much easier when you're local. If you can, go to San Francisco on a tourist visa. You're not legally allowed to apply for jobs on that visa, but everybody and their mom does it. Just lie to to the border control guy. As soon as you land, get involved in hackathons, meetups (meetup.com, search for your favorite programming languages and topics there) and so on. Do couchsurfing if you don't have money to rent a room.
All in all, there's lots of jobs here for anyone even remotely interested in writing code. Even as a foreigner you'll be very well received and offered internships and jobs. People are wary of "remote hiring" though, because you just never know just from a sheet of paper. A lot in Silicon Valley depends on your relationships with the people you know, and it's hard to get to know someone from a CV.
I suspect it is the way you present yourself. Judging from your post, you seem pretty desperate. Don't be, there's plenty of jobs and people will literally try to hire you off the street when you graduate. Your accomplishments certainly seem better than mine, and I got a full time job pretty quickly. I'm also a foreigner, that's a little pay cut, but no deal breaker.
Try to tailor your CV to the company you're interviewing at. They'll know and appreciate that you spent the time and know what they actually do. Try to get a phone or personal meeting early. They might be worried about your English if you're a foreigner, and if they can talk to you in person and see that your English is fantastic, that's one problem out of the way.
Oh yea, are you in Korea, trying to get a job in the US? That can be pretty tough, as it's just so much easier when you're local. If you can, go to San Francisco on a tourist visa. You're not legally allowed to apply for jobs on that visa, but everybody and their mom does it. Just lie to to the border control guy. As soon as you land, get involved in hackathons, meetups (meetup.com, search for your favorite programming languages and topics there) and so on. Do couchsurfing if you don't have money to rent a room.
All in all, there's lots of jobs here for anyone even remotely interested in writing code. Even as a foreigner you'll be very well received and offered internships and jobs. People are wary of "remote hiring" though, because you just never know just from a sheet of paper. A lot in Silicon Valley depends on your relationships with the people you know, and it's hard to get to know someone from a CV.
Thank you for your response.
I am attending a college in U.S. on F-1, and I can legally authorized to work during the semester or vacation using CPT or OPT.
I am considering flying to Silicon Valley this winter, but I am not sure if this is worth the cost. I don't think I can meet many people there if I do not have a network.
I have been waiting for almost 2 weeks, but I am not getting any email or phone call. This is exhausting and dismal...
I have been waiting for almost 2 weeks, but I am not getting any email or phone call. This is exhausting and dismal...
Also did you send your CV to places that work on free software? I remember reading recently about how nice it was to work with Mozilla for your internship.
I haven't consider doing so. I just looked up on Mozilla website, but they are only looking for students with web knowledge. I also visited Free Software Foundation's internship, but they only have unpaid internship. I am so desperate that I am considering this option, but my family would not be able to let me do this. Their HQ is in Boston.
Some superficial and not-so superficial thoughts:
Superficial things (not that big of a deal, but still things I noticed):
1. Post a pdf so we can check whether you might have a problem with the format of your resume (because I hope your resume isn't formatted like in the Google doc)
2. Some of those courses you list are ones that nobody is going to care about (Econ, for example)
3. Move your Honors section to the bottom, either before or after Leadership Activities. Your education is most important, followed by experience. You should move Technical Skills above Leadership Activities, and below Projects. This isn't a set-in-stone rule - it's just that in this case, your leadership activities aren't that impressive, so the Technical Skills section is more important. The guidelines is that the most impressive and important things go first.
4. Shorten the summary for your NSF Researcher position. 5 bullets is too much IMO. Also, 99% of people will have no idea what the first two bullets are even talking about - find better ways of phrasing what you are saying. When I read about " the Chung-Ross conjecture on a Clos network by simulating different possibilities of data sizes," my brain just glosses over that. Ignore this advice if you're confident that people at the firm you're applying to will know what you're talking about.
5. You use a lot of vague action words like "Worked on," "Collaborated," and "Participated." Find better ways of saying exactly what you did.
6. There are some minor grammar mistakes you need to fix.
7. Ideally you should have your projects on something like Github, and then have a link to your Github profile at the top of your resume, under your contact info
8. Your resume should be 1 page maximum. (One page, one side).
Some not-so-superficial things to consider:
1. Have you thought about getting a personal website? You can put a blog on there (with technical blog posts), and you can put a portfolio there too. The blog posts don't even have to be that impressive - a well-written tutorial of a technology you just learned can get passed around over the Internet. I had an engineer at a really hot startup reach out to me because of my website and blog. I've had engineers at a big tech firm (rhymes with Godzilla) follow me on Twitter because of a blog post I wrote. This can be time consuming, though, so I think it's more important to have projects than it is to have a personal blog (see #2).
2. Also, it's hard for us to suggest things for you to learn because we don't know what you're looking for. When I look at your resume it looks like you have mostly a systems development background; is that what you're looking for? For example, I know I want to work in application development - so I focus mostly on web and mobile (iOS) development. What do you want to focus on?
Superficial things (not that big of a deal, but still things I noticed):
1. Post a pdf so we can check whether you might have a problem with the format of your resume (because I hope your resume isn't formatted like in the Google doc)
2. Some of those courses you list are ones that nobody is going to care about (Econ, for example)
3. Move your Honors section to the bottom, either before or after Leadership Activities. Your education is most important, followed by experience. You should move Technical Skills above Leadership Activities, and below Projects. This isn't a set-in-stone rule - it's just that in this case, your leadership activities aren't that impressive, so the Technical Skills section is more important. The guidelines is that the most impressive and important things go first.
4. Shorten the summary for your NSF Researcher position. 5 bullets is too much IMO. Also, 99% of people will have no idea what the first two bullets are even talking about - find better ways of phrasing what you are saying. When I read about " the Chung-Ross conjecture on a Clos network by simulating different possibilities of data sizes," my brain just glosses over that. Ignore this advice if you're confident that people at the firm you're applying to will know what you're talking about.
5. You use a lot of vague action words like "Worked on," "Collaborated," and "Participated." Find better ways of saying exactly what you did.
6. There are some minor grammar mistakes you need to fix.
7. Ideally you should have your projects on something like Github, and then have a link to your Github profile at the top of your resume, under your contact info
8. Your resume should be 1 page maximum. (One page, one side).
Some not-so-superficial things to consider:
1. Have you thought about getting a personal website? You can put a blog on there (with technical blog posts), and you can put a portfolio there too. The blog posts don't even have to be that impressive - a well-written tutorial of a technology you just learned can get passed around over the Internet. I had an engineer at a really hot startup reach out to me because of my website and blog. I've had engineers at a big tech firm (rhymes with Godzilla) follow me on Twitter because of a blog post I wrote. This can be time consuming, though, so I think it's more important to have projects than it is to have a personal blog (see #2).
2. Also, it's hard for us to suggest things for you to learn because we don't know what you're looking for. When I look at your resume it looks like you have mostly a systems development background; is that what you're looking for? For example, I know I want to work in application development - so I focus mostly on web and mobile (iOS) development. What do you want to focus on?
Thank you for your advice.
The pdf version of my resume is :
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7tZUA6L0bdtSGlVQXRMYVFFdEk...
I find 4, 5 especially helpful.
For the first not-so-superficial, I know that would be helpful, but it is not urgent. I will create and manage a personal website once I start an internship.
For the second, I am kind of open to do anything depending on what position I get, but I want to focus on Java(maybe C++). Additionally, I don't think I have much time left to start learning and become good at a new language(especially web.)
I find 4, 5 especially helpful.
For the first not-so-superficial, I know that would be helpful, but it is not urgent. I will create and manage a personal website once I start an internship.
For the second, I am kind of open to do anything depending on what position I get, but I want to focus on Java(maybe C++). Additionally, I don't think I have much time left to start learning and become good at a new language(especially web.)
[deleted]
You have a decent resume (content-wise) but it can be vastly improved in terms of structure/presentation. I suggest you Google around for some good looking resumes.
Add English to your list of fluent languages. Normally, you don't need to since you are at a US school. In your case, due to your extensive International experience, people might incorrectly assume you don't speak English. I was hesitant to make this suggestion since it is not politically correct. But I'd rather help you than risk not being PC.
Put your technical skills at the very front. The first project you have talks about some theoretical work. Minimize the technical jargon. I work in research but even I thought you were "one of those math people". I realized you had programming chops when I saw Python and that you implemented a board game in Java. Those should be up front and highlighted.
If you can become a committer on a famous open source project that would really help. This is a lot of work so don't worry if you can't do this.
Basic HTML and PHP can be learned in a weekend. Frankly, I assume every tech person knows these things at a basic level or can learn them fast.
Maybe talk about SQL/Database knowledge. Learn if you don't have those skills. Mention git or some other source code control system.
Best of luck! Keep at it ... you are a contender!
Add English to your list of fluent languages. Normally, you don't need to since you are at a US school. In your case, due to your extensive International experience, people might incorrectly assume you don't speak English. I was hesitant to make this suggestion since it is not politically correct. But I'd rather help you than risk not being PC.
Put your technical skills at the very front. The first project you have talks about some theoretical work. Minimize the technical jargon. I work in research but even I thought you were "one of those math people". I realized you had programming chops when I saw Python and that you implemented a board game in Java. Those should be up front and highlighted.
If you can become a committer on a famous open source project that would really help. This is a lot of work so don't worry if you can't do this.
Basic HTML and PHP can be learned in a weekend. Frankly, I assume every tech person knows these things at a basic level or can learn them fast.
Maybe talk about SQL/Database knowledge. Learn if you don't have those skills. Mention git or some other source code control system.
Best of luck! Keep at it ... you are a contender!
Thank you.
You said I have a decent resume content-wise, but is it possible that I am not getting an email from a single company because the resume is formatted or presented poorly?
Is it just the wording and the order of contents, or also the format(template) that need(s) to be improved?
Do you think it would look better if I change the name of the position from Researcher to Research Programmer, and focus as much as I could on the programming side(though there is not much)?
I guess it is a major flaw that I do not know Java related technologies, like Spring, (maybe) Android, and Hibernate.
I don't know about database. I haven't taken any course on database yet.
What do you think is the most urgent for me to learn and do during the 6-week winter break?
Also, if I have two options for my project: part-time contribution for one of Free Software Foundation(GNU) projects vs part-time developing an inventory management software for Rwanda and Tanzania, what do you think looks better?
Thanks!
You said I have a decent resume content-wise, but is it possible that I am not getting an email from a single company because the resume is formatted or presented poorly?
Is it just the wording and the order of contents, or also the format(template) that need(s) to be improved?
Do you think it would look better if I change the name of the position from Researcher to Research Programmer, and focus as much as I could on the programming side(though there is not much)?
I guess it is a major flaw that I do not know Java related technologies, like Spring, (maybe) Android, and Hibernate.
I don't know about database. I haven't taken any course on database yet.
What do you think is the most urgent for me to learn and do during the 6-week winter break?
Also, if I have two options for my project: part-time contribution for one of Free Software Foundation(GNU) projects vs part-time developing an inventory management software for Rwanda and Tanzania, what do you think looks better?
Thanks!
When I say content, I mean you have done some interesting work and would get called for an interview if you presented it well. Looks like another comment below said the same thing ... your resume ordering is not reasonable at the moment. The same commenter said you should strive for 1 page and I agree with that. You should get rid of your courses as well and just focus on technical skills and work experience.
If you know nothing about databases, then I would say that this is the most important thing to learn. Setup MySQL, create a bunch of tables. Do this by hand as well as with GUI tools like SequelPro. Write some SQL. That should take you a week. The next two to three weeks, learn about concurrent access/locks. Learn how to use a cloud computing environment as well. E.g. Amazon web services. They give micro vms for free btw.
Regarding researcher vs research programmer, think about what job you are applying for. Since you want to apply for a programmer position, it makes sense to sell that aspect of the work as much as possible :-)
If you are really getting desperate, I'll make two more suggestions:
1) Go to meetups/hackathons in your area and network with people. I have a very strong CV and a few degrees from some top schools but even I get called for 1 out of 3 positions that I apply for "in the cold". Networking just means talk to people in a position to hire you or people who know people who can hire you.
2) This is a controversial suggestion so take it with a grain of salt. Consider getting some certifications in an area you want to focus in. I did these when I was younger and it definitely helped. Don't waste money taking classes IMHO. Your 6 week break is enough to get certified in one thing ... be it Java or databases or whatever.
If you know nothing about databases, then I would say that this is the most important thing to learn. Setup MySQL, create a bunch of tables. Do this by hand as well as with GUI tools like SequelPro. Write some SQL. That should take you a week. The next two to three weeks, learn about concurrent access/locks. Learn how to use a cloud computing environment as well. E.g. Amazon web services. They give micro vms for free btw.
Regarding researcher vs research programmer, think about what job you are applying for. Since you want to apply for a programmer position, it makes sense to sell that aspect of the work as much as possible :-)
If you are really getting desperate, I'll make two more suggestions:
1) Go to meetups/hackathons in your area and network with people. I have a very strong CV and a few degrees from some top schools but even I get called for 1 out of 3 positions that I apply for "in the cold". Networking just means talk to people in a position to hire you or people who know people who can hire you.
2) This is a controversial suggestion so take it with a grain of salt. Consider getting some certifications in an area you want to focus in. I did these when I was younger and it definitely helped. Don't waste money taking classes IMHO. Your 6 week break is enough to get certified in one thing ... be it Java or databases or whatever.
I really want to believe that I will have much better chance if I present it well. I am revising my resume according to the advice given here.
I think it was an excellent choice to change the title from researcher to research programmer.
I have heard database is important, and studying it is now one of the things I am planning to do during the winter. Thanks for the advice. I will get a certificate in either database or system, but after I start working as an intern. The reason is that I need to practice more algorithm to do well on the interview and putting more time developing something or doing coding competition will be more helpful.
Instead of going to meetups/hackathons in my area(I already missed hackathon and I did not find any tech group in meetup in my area that I can go without a car), what do you think of the option of going to Silicon Valley during the winter, taking the expensive cost into account?
Thank you so much for spending your time to give valuable advice.
I think it was an excellent choice to change the title from researcher to research programmer.
I have heard database is important, and studying it is now one of the things I am planning to do during the winter. Thanks for the advice. I will get a certificate in either database or system, but after I start working as an intern. The reason is that I need to practice more algorithm to do well on the interview and putting more time developing something or doing coding competition will be more helpful.
Instead of going to meetups/hackathons in my area(I already missed hackathon and I did not find any tech group in meetup in my area that I can go without a car), what do you think of the option of going to Silicon Valley during the winter, taking the expensive cost into account?
Thank you so much for spending your time to give valuable advice.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EIc0Q8LGD1C762qKVN_sKVLG80wvKufaEAoUcZxXQ7E/edit?usp=sharing