Advices on Internship Applications

GENERAL REMARKS

• Your Resume/Cover Letter = your “API” ☺
  
  • Your Resume & Cover Letter are the only things that the potential Employer sees of you, it is your whole image in her eyes
    
  • PROBLEM: Any mistake will be generalized to your whole personality ☹
    
  • SOLUTIONS: Both Resume & Cover Letter must be perfect! Take time to proof-read them multiple times & by various people.
    
  • See Situation02 and Situation03 and Situation05 and Situation06
    
• Resume & Cover Letter target different objectives. That’s why you always must submit both!
  
  • Goal of Resume = introduce yourself & show you have experience (in most of the required areas of the offer)
    
    • Resume is just for teasing, to get access to an interview, where the important decision will occur
      
      • PROBLEM: Employer gets 100s of Resumes to review. Help her find important information fast!
        
      • SOLUTIONS
        
        • Go straight to the point. Avoid putting long sentences that make the Resume dense and difficult to read
          • At your stage (1\(^{rst}\) job/internship), Resume should span 1 page
        • Do not put all the details of each positions, just put bullet points/keywords and make them easily spotable
          • Describe the added value you brought to the company / your results, not the list of tasks you did/your calendar when at the position
          • Start with action verbs, not passive tense
          • Use numbers, to quantify the importance of your work for the company
          • Limit the list of experiences to those useful for the position you are applying to
          • Keep a consistent structure over all the experiences
        • Experiences (only relevant ones!) will be detailed in the Cover Letter (that’s why you always need one!)
        • Facilitate the job of the Employer: match your keywords with hers (remember people that read your documents are not always familiar with the domain)
          • e.g. If the Employer seeks “Unsupervised Learning”, do no use “Clustering”, even if it’s similar, a HR person might not see it
  • Goal of Cover Letter = show how you fit the position / are better than the other candidates
    
    • SOLUTION: typical outline of a cover letter = “You/Me/Us”
      
      • 1) YOU: Talk a little bit about the company
        
        • You have to get information about the company/department/teams/people & show you are genuinely interested in joining it!
        • Do not repeat blindly their website. Select elements you will reuse in 3)
          • e.g. it is a big international company & you want to have a first experience in a big company, you can cite this fact
      • 2) ME: Talk a little bit about you
        
        • Do not repeat your Resume, select only elements that illustrate how you fit the position
          • (e.g. detail elements of your last internship – e.g. softs skills: team management/project planning – that were not in CV but related to the offer)
        • Do not answer item-by-item what the proposal asks of the candidate
          • Use examples (e.g. details of last internship/personal activities) that will both detail your Resume & show Employer keywords that match her needs
          • If you do not have a required skill, do not fake it, ignore it and be prepared to answer why you don’t have it during the interview
        • Do not address the Employer directly (e.g. no “You are looking for someone that…”)
        • Avoid starting all your sentences by “I …”
        • Think about hard/technical & softs skills
        • Do not talk negatively about yourself/a previous employer/position
      • 3) US: Wrap everything by showing how you fit the position
        
        • Try to match (only here!): your skills + the company’s general needs + the specific position’s needs
        • The employer is the one that decides ⇒ Do not say things like “That’s why I think I fit the position perfectly”
          • Employer does not care about your opinion
          • Nobody likes to be told how to do one’s job and here you would encroach on her job
        • You’re welcome to talk about skills (e.g. personal) that were not specifically asked by Employer, but only if that will bring some added value to the Employer. This will help distinguish you from other candidates & show you’re interested in the company
          • e.g. you are an international student in a foreign country ⇒ you might fit more easily in an international team/company
  • See Situation01 and Situation04 and Situation07 and Situation08 and Situation09
    
• NOTE about the format: Most of the companies now use automated software as a ⇒ MAKE YOUR Resume MACHINE-READABLE
  
  • Do not use bars/stars to indicate your level of proficiency in some domains, use numbers!
  • Do not use icons (or keep the equivalent in text on its side)

INTERVIEWS

• WHY / WHAT TO ASK AT THE END OF AN INTERVIEW
  
  • This is an opportunity, you should take it. Do think before/during the interview of what questions you could ask! Don’t hesitate to ask if you can take note during the interview
    
    • That’s one reason why you MUST get data about the company BEFORE applying/being interviewed
      
    • Your first questions SHOULD NOT be materialistic (salary, what type of computer you will have, remote work…)
      
  • Your questions SHOULD be an opportunity to demonstrate that you listened carefully, and you are interested in the domain in the company & general domain & position
    
    • Examples:
      
      • “You said I would be working in a squad of 4-5, could you tell me a bit more about the role of each member?” → it shows you project yourself in the company and you try to know more about your coworkers
      • “The project I would work on is pretty clear to me, thanks for explaining. Could you detail a bit more some aspect?” → it shows you listened carefully and want to know more about the project
      • “I saw on the website of your company that another service works on some project or software. Could you tell me a bit more about it?” → it shows you investigated about the company, and you have a general interest in the company
  • ONLY THEN, if there is time left, you may ask something like “If you think it may be appropriate to talk about it now, I would also like to know what is the company’s policy in terms of this or that” → leave them the opportunity to say “no”.
    
    • Examples:
      
      • The compensation range and the perspectives of evolution
      • The policy in terms of remote work / working hours
      • Facilities available to employees (lunch places, sports, etc.)

Situation 01

• CONTEXT
  
  • Employer asks for Resume and Cover Letter (and/or Recommendation and/or Grades) & You send only Resume
• INTERPRETATION BY EMPLOYER
  
  • Candidate hides something / is not able to answer a simple question / does not care about me/the company/the offer
• EXAMPLE
  
  • More than 50% of applications I received were not respecting the application instructions correctly. I’ll interview some of the candidates that did not respect the rules, but I’ve rated them below others. Apart if they positively surprise me during the interview, there’s less chances they get the job than others ☹
• SOLUTION
  
  • Proof-read the application instructions & follow them strictly
    
    • It’s important to carefully review the application instructions and follow them exactly. This demonstrates your attention to detail and ability to follow instructions, both of which are important qualities in any employee.
  • Cover letter is an official document with title/date/subject/closure salutation/signature…, not a few lines in the email accompanying the Resume!
    

Situation 02

• CONTEXT
  
  • You send a Resume with typos/grammar (even just a few dots in the middle of nowhere)
• INTERPRETATION BY EMPLOYER
  
  • Candidate does not care about her reader/the position enough to take 5 minutes to proof-read her document before sending it ⇒ Resume will be dropped
• EXAMPLE
  
  • I received a CV with someone saying one of her qualities was being “bosseur” (French slang, which was particularly emphasized by the fact the candidate says she is fluent/native in French)
• SOLUTION
  
  • Make other people proof-read your Resume/Cover Letter/… & Look for typos/grammar
    
    • find people that already have experience in hiring (teachers, parents, coaches…)
      
      • These individuals can provide valuable insights into what employers are looking for and help you present yourself in the best possible light.
    • find people that know the language of the country in which the hiring takes place
      
    • find people that know the *culture*/hiring rules of the country in which the hiring takes place
      
      • there are slight cultural differences, showing that you know them may get you up many positions in the pile of applications
        

Situation 03

• CONTEXT
  
  • You send a Resume with inconsistencies (e.g.: overlapping dates, or even just graphical dots at the end of only some sentences not all)
• INTERPRETATION BY EMPLOYER
  
  • You are inconsistent/unreliable yourself / You do not care about your reader enough to proof-read
• EXAMPLE
  
  • I received a Resume where the candidate use font changes to mark some similar elements, but did not put every semantically similar items in similar fonts
• SOLUTION
  
  • Make someone else proof-read your Resume
    
    • find someone that is very fussy / a good spotter
      

Situation 04

• CONTEXT
  
  • Cover letter only talks about you
• INTERPRETATION BY EMPLOYER
  
  • You don’t care about the company/position / You are narcissistic
• EXAMPLE
  
  • I received cover letters where most of the sentences started by “I did…” / “I want…”
    • This is useless because Employer want to know why you are fitted to the job/why you are better than the other candidates
    • This is useless because Employer already knows your skills/background/personality (if you provided a good Resume)
    • ⇒ you wasted your time, you wasted Employer’s time, you’ve just succeeded making Employer angry…

Other situations

• Cover Letter with title “Cover Letter” in font size 36
  
  • INTERPRETATION: Candidate is trying to waste space by using large fonts so that she does not need to write too much text in the Cover Letter
  • SOLUTION: Cover Letter does not need a title, particularly if you name your files correctly
• Use of “fancy” fonts (types or sizes) or “funny” picture
  
  • EXAMPLE: Use of “Comic Sans MS” font or “Tinder/Instagram”-like picture with “butterfly” filter
  • INTERPRETATION: Candidate thinks applying to a job is a game / is trying to waste space
  • SOLUTION:
    • Stick to standard/formal fonts: Arial, Cambria, Calibri, Garamond, Helvetica, Times, Verdana
    • Stick to standard/formal sizes: 10.5, 11, 12
    • Stick to formal picture (think ID card, but with a smile)
• Use of incorrect company name / institution type
  
  • EXAMPLE: use of “your company” in a Cover Letter for an application in an academic lab
  • INTERPRETATION: Candidate is using generic cover letters / Candidate makes stupid mistakes / Candidate did not take 5 min to proof-read / Candidate is not serious
    • No one want colleagues/employees like that ⇒ Application is dropped immediately
  • SOLUTION: Proof-read, Proof-read, Proof-read…
• Use of generic cover letters
  
  • EXAMPLE:
    • Using useless overly-generic expressions like: “your company is prestigious”
    • Saying you are very good at X and want to specialize in X when applying to a job which domain is Y
  • INTERPRETATION: Candidate is using generic Cover Letters: she is lazy / She is bad at writing (unable to write a few line by herself!) / She does not care about the Employer/Company
    • No one want colleagues/employees like that ⇒ Application is dropped immediately
  • SOLUTION:
    • DO NOT use generic Cover Letters, it’s just a waste of time for everyone, you’ll simply angry you reader
    • ChatGPT & friends can help you write a letter that is taylored to you particular situation
      • They can even teach you how to write such a letter by yourself instead of doing the job for you
    • Get & cite precise information specific to the company/department/team you want to join
• Use of generic hobbies
  
  • EXAMPLE: “reading”, “travel”
  • INTERPRETATION:
    • Candidate is trying to fool me with personal traits that she does not actually have / Candidate is trying to hide her actual personal traits
  • SOLUTION:
    • Remember: if hobbies (=strongly personal stuff) are included in a Resume (=strongly professional stuff) it’s because they reflect personal traits that might be of interest to the Employer
    • Everything in the Resume must be precise, about you, but show something useful to the Employer
    • If you want the Employer to understand what you want to illustrate with each hobby, make it explicit/precise/measurable e.g.:
      • Replace “Football” by “Team Sports (football, etc.)”
      • Replace “Travel” by “Foreign languages & cultures (Spanish, German, etc.)”

Additional remarks

RESOURCES

• English
  
  • Brian Tracy’s advices
  • Mohammad Faisal
• French
  
  • YouTube Channel of Yves GAUTHIER, “Coach emploi” (in French but with subtitles)
  • Eyrolles’ Book “Le CV, la lettre, l’e-mail et l’entretien” (in French)

Let’s have Fun