Career Coach

💡 Meet Samuel and Aliko. They are first year students studying Data Science, and applying for internships. Below is their experience.

Samuel: The Overthinker

Samuel, a statistics whiz, yearns for an internship. Every listing feels like a perfect fit, aligning with his passion for uncovering insights from numbers. But applications? They petrify him. He spends hours dissecting descriptions, fixating on "preferred skills" like a specific machine learning library he hasn't touched. "What if they ask about that in the interview?" he worries, closing many draft applications. Fear of missteps and the pressure to present his "best" self make hitting submit feel paralyzing. As weeks go by, his impressive coding skills and analytical mind remain hidden, and applications gather dust in drafts.

Aliko: The Overconfident

Aliko, a self-proclaimed data guru, blazes through the data science internship hunt. Every listing sparks her excitement, and applications zoom out, each a quick copy-paste with minor tweaks. hile her enthusiasm is commendable, speed trumps accuracy. Typos pepper her cover letters, hastily written project descriptions lack specifics, and she occassionally puts the wrong company names in writing. She's proud of herself for having the courage to apply, and overlooks small typos or lack of polish. While sheer volume lands her a few interviews, inconsistencies raise red flags, sending her application to the rejection pile more often than she realizes.

Coach Samuel and Aliko

Samuel and Aliko are navigating the application process with different approaches, yet both face challenges. Reflect honestly on your own tendencies. When it comes to applying, are you more likely to behave like Samuel and Aliko? If you had to give each just one tip for success, what would it be?