The Student Room Group

Struggling to find a placement

Hi, im really struggling to find a placement, im currently doing undergraduate computer science at university. Been to only 4 interviews and got rejected. I have soffer made something close to 30 applications. Im quite deflated, feeling like giving up, anyone in the same boat as me, any advice and what would you do.
30 applications is not a lot. It took me probably double that over the space of two years (including speculative applications) to get a good internship and then a graduate job (albeit in banking) and I went to a target school.

I started getting more success when I stopped focusing on the things that didn't matter so much (see 80/20 rule). e.g. in my last 10 applications as an undergraduate I think I had four interviews and 2 offers as opposed to the first 60 applications where I had maybe 4 interviews and 0 offers.

Get a second and third opinion and make sure it's someone who has already achieved the things you're looking to achieve or similar (e.g. on your course, in the year above, in a relevant society, or a peer who is excelling.) If you aren't selective on who you get advice from you risk clouding your judgement, becoming confused by conflicting ideas and becoming even less efficient in churning out an application (again see 80/20 rule)

Seek feedback whenever you're unsuccessful. Do it in a humble way so they know you're genuinely looking to improve yourself. If there's a common theme then you'll know what you need to work on.

Good luck!
(edited 8 years ago)

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