Internship Application Experience

“Am I not good enough?”

“Where did I go wrong?”

Such were some of the thoughts that lingered in my head for the past 3 months, searching for my internship placement.

Back in May, I was initially pessimistic on whether I can manage to secure one on my own, given the difficult circumstances imposed by the on-going pandemic. But as the old adage goes, you never know unless you try.

And so I did. 

I spent hours researching on how to craft the perfect resume. Took a long time drafting just the right cover letter. Uploaded all my projects in GitHub. Even made this LinkedIn account and actively maintained it ever since.

After all that, I sent out my application, one company after another. For 14 companies in total.

To be honest, I thought it would be easier for me. 

Given my current academic status and portfolio so far, I figured that the whole internship application process would be a breeze and that I would secure a placement in no time.

However, after months of waiting, 3 rejections (others either ghosted or no replies at all) and multiple interviews later, I now admit that this is much, much harder than I thought it would be. 

I was on the verge of giving up. Began questioning my self-worth and thinking that I’m mediocre at best. Seeing my peers securing their’s made me feel far behind.

Yet Alhamdulilah, much to my disbelief, I got 3 offers altogether last Friday. 

There is much to take away from this humbling experience. Above all, I realised that one shouldn’t be too comfortable as there’s indeed much to learn, discover and improve.

This post isn’t enough for me to describe how much I learnt from this humbling experience. As I will start my internship early August, I would like to wish good luck to all peers for their internship. Finally, to those who are still struggling with their applications, I hope this sharing shines a light of optimism. 

Keep your chin up & hang in there!