How to Get Fewer Rejections
Overcoming recruiting rejections
Summary:
The easier it is to apply, the harder it is to get the job.
Apply to programs designed for you, rather than mass-apply
Develop your talent stack early and show it off often
In today's job climate, it's really simple to apply to jobs. If you’re in the middle of a job hunt, chances are you’ve filled out dozens of applications with the hope of getting lucky. And it's also likely that many others did the same—making it difficult for your application to be reviewed or stand-out.
Recruiters know which channels lead to successful candidates. When you answer the "how did you hear about this job?" question, it serves as a data point they can use to find where accepted applicants came from. If the majority of those applicants found out about the role from one or two specific channels (like through employee-referral or college fairs), then that's the first place recruiters will go to in future recruiting cycles.
With all this data, there’s a big chance they won’t be looking for their next interviewee within cold applications on LinkedIn Jobs.
What can you do?
Find people who've had the role you're going after
Try to figure out if there are any commonalities between them (i.e. same school, majors, programs, etc). The sooner you do this, the better since it gives you a chance to obtain those same skills and experiences. Make sure to reach out to them and ask questions about how they got the job, including any actionable advice or contacts.
Apply for programs designed for you
As a freshman and sophomore, I applied to every single role I came across. But after a while, I realized that these roles were specifically looking for juniors, which probably explains why I received so many rejections.
If you're a freshman or sophomore, try applying to programs that are available to you. Here’s a list of some of the most popular programs:
Freshman/Sophomore Specific Internships
Google STEP Internship
Microsoft Explore
Facebook University
UberSTAR
Microsoft New Technologists
Amazon Future Engineer Internship
Bank of America Global Technology
Programs Known to Accept Freshmen/Sophomore
Booz-Allen Summer Games Internship
Amazon SDE Internship
Fidelity Investments
Civic Digital Fellowship
Prudential Software Development
Mitre Student Development Program
Johns Hopkins APL College Summer Intern Program
IBM Extreme Blue Technical Leadership Program
PlayStation
Google Summer of Code
Develop your talent stack
One thing we often emphasize is that talent development is extremely important, not just for recruiting, but for overall career success. Knowing which skills to develop early on can accelerate your rate of growth and make you incredibly valuable as a candidate.
One way to approach developing your unique talent stack is to find good paradoxical and rarely found skills and start working on them slowly.
Working on personal projects is a great way to do this. If you struggle with following through with your projects, consider posting them on LinkedIn or subreddits to ask for feedback or getting more people involved. That simple accountability could go a long way.
Some examples of paradoxical and rarely found skills:
Coding x storytelling
Data analysis x design instincts
Business principles x coding
Finance x coding
Getting rejected isn't the end of the world, but it’s important to consider how you can improve and become somebody recruiters would be fools to overlook.
Resources of the Week
Early College Internships - You can find more common freshman/sophomore internship programs here
Republic’s Venture Fellow and Associate Program - A venture capital program for undergrads and MBAs
Internships of the Week
Twilio- Lifecycle Marketing Intern (Denver)
Sony - Associate Program Manager Intern (SF)
Unity - Social Impact Partnerships Intern (Remote)
Plaid - New Business Associate Intern (SF)