I just started working in industry, want to change my company. But I find it particularly hard getting any interviews or referrals. I didn’t socialize much in college, so don’t have good connections. What has worked for me so far to get referrals is cold messages on LinkedIn. I tailor messages according to the person and background, still have about 5% success rate at best. Also, the jobs I apply for ML/Soft. Engineering ones. Mostly entry level. Please let me know better approaches. :) Background: Graduated from top 10 US University with MS in CS, I also have a first author NIPS paper. I have <1yr industrial experience at a small startup.
That’s why Blind community exists. Or you can take a look at rooftopslushie.com if you want 1:1 mentorship
Thanks for the reply! Can you explain how does blind help in this?
I’m pretty sure you can get referrals by posting on Blind.
Where have you been applying ?
Facebook, google, amazon, Airbnb, Apple, Lyft, Uber, openai, Twitter are the ones I am trying for.
Amazon didn’t give you a call back?
You just started. Get experience first, and you’ll get them eventually. Entry level or not, they still want to see more than a year experience.
Does experience at a small startup given less weightage than bigger FAANG company?
With a top 10 MS it should be a breeze getting interviews. Getting phone interviews should be ~100% success rate. If not, then find what the problem is.
The only thing I can think of is the Resume, I am working on it again. Though I have already got reviewed by multiple people. I have decent gpa 3.8/4.0 if that matters. I don't have much connections in industry, so referrals are hard to come by. I am not sure. Is there any other way I can what the problem is.
Is your startup incredibly small or something? Sorta weird you’re not getting spammed at least occasionally by recruiters on LinkedIn
Yeah, my startup is pretty small. Just about, 7 people.
Go to university campus recruitment. I am pretty sure most of the universities allow anyone to register for their campus job fairs. You definitely get interviews at least a phone interview like that
I live in CA, and my university is in New York.
Neurips paper and no interview?? What???
I don't know why. When I recently talked with Facebook recruiter he told ML roles require about 3-4 years experience atleast. I received a similar answer from Google's recruiter. A lot other ML roles like Spotify etc don't even give me a callback. I am not sure if there is any other way to break into these ML role without significant experience. Let me know what you think. :)
You need more yoe and possibly something else wrong with your resume.
I see, those are good points. I did get resume evaluated a few times, I am working on it again. What about the referrals part, any good strategies?
Start off at a small company, get yoe