How I Landed a Marketing Internship at Shopify in Less than 24 Hours.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I landed a marketing internship with Shopify in under 24 hours with just one video.

A University of Waterloo student has put a unique spin on selling herself in the hunt for a fall internship. Julia Fedorin shared a video on social media in hopes of landing a gig with e-commerce platform Shopify.

I just finished my going away run. I have a freaking interview with Shopify tomorrow. What the frick? Oh my gosh, guys, guess freaking what? I'm prepping for a Shopify interview right now. Hey guys, it is the morning. It's 5:30 right now.

I have my interview in an hour.

I'm not trying to get too excited yet though because nothing's confirmed.

Okay, I'm Allie. I'm a recruiter at Shopify. Hi, I'm Christine Casseis. I lead the social team here at Shopify and I'm so excited to be connected with you. Let's keep going.

I don't know what's happening right now. I don't know what's happening.

Posted your video at 5:43 yesterday. Yesterday we have got you from video post to a fully realized job offer in like 20.5 hours.

Oh my God. 24. 5 hours.

Let's rewind back to November 2024. This is when I was filming my interview series called Asking Strangers for Job Search Advice, and I was at a coworking space, and coincidentally, I ended up interviewing someone who works at Shopify. His name is Jesse. He was the previous director of engineering, and after that video, I ended up staying in touch, and in February of 2025, I ended up reaching out to ask him about marketing communication roles at Shopify. Back then, I didn't really have Shopify as like a top company on my radar. I was just kind of really curious about Shopify and if they even hired anyone within my field. And, um, turns out they actually don't. They only hire engineers and data interns. So marketing was very like very unusual. And like Jesse mentioned through text, it's not the norm. It's not a normal path. So after that conver— like little quick conversation, I sent him my resume. Said he'll ask around, but he couldn't promise anything. And that's like, that was the end of the conversation. And then in April, when I was pretty much finishing up my third co-op, I needed to start actively applying for jobs again just because I knew my last co-op term was coming up. I need to get ahead. I need to start early because gosh, it's really, it's, it's just getting so much harder to find a job. And I was really nervous. I was really scared. I was honestly really desperate because I didn't know what I wanted to do. I didn't know what company I wanted to apply to or what company would even want to hire me. And especially for top companies, It's very hard to get a role at a very good established company nowadays, just because there's, you know, you're, you're one of the hundreds and thousands of people who are applying to these jobs. And so I knew I had to really stand out. Applying to hundreds of roles just wasn't working for me. I really needed to think of a new strategy and a new way to do this. And so I wanted to make my job search a little bit more personal, and I wanted to kind of find a way to combine my passions for documenting life, for, you know, sharing my journey, building in public into this job search. Process. So I had this idea of doing this job search in public series, which I started talking about kind of how my process is looking like. I'd give tips, I'd go on virtual coffee chats, and I also decided to start doing these personalized videos because I knew that just sending in a cover letter resume was not making me stand out from the crowd. I needed to find a way to, to be very unique, and especially because I was looking for social media marketing roles, I really thought that creating a video would really showcase those skills. And so the first video I ended up creating was for Adobe. And I ended up applying to their, their communications intern position that was open. And I also posted that video on LinkedIn just because, you know, I wanted, you know, other people to see what I was doing. And then after Adobe came Microsoft. I saw that they had a marketing internship open at Microsoft, so I was like, I'm gonna do the same thing. I'm gonna be a little bit more personal in my cover letter, and I'm gonna create a video for them. So I created a video talking about why I think they should hire me. But those two videos are very simple. And then Shopify came around. I saw that Shopify had engineering and data intern roles open. I didn't see anything for marketing and communications, which was such a bummer for me because I've been like learning more about Shopify. I've been seeing Shopify a lot more often everywhere, and I started seeing how good of a company it was, how much it aligned with what I was, you know, with my passions, with my value and vision of like dreaming big and everything. And I knew I had to make it so much better than the rest just because they didn't have a marketing intern role open. If I wanted to convince them, I had to go big. And so I created this video. I spent a day filming, 2 days full— 2 full days editing. I ended up posting on LinkedIn and Twitter. After just a few minutes of posting, I started getting so much amazing feedback right away. My engagement was up there, which is so crazy because I genuinely didn't think many people would find this video. I had such low expectations for all this just because I knew how challenging it was to stand out, and so I didn't really want to get my hopes up too much. I also ended up sending the video to Ali, the technical recruiter at Shopify. She ended up flagging it— my battery just died— but what I was saying is I sent the video also to Ali, so more people at Shopify started recognizing this video. And I think So a big thing that really helped was Brennan. He's the director of brand right now, and he was the first marketing intern ever, I found out, to be hired. He was actually the one to also flag this video to the CEO, Tobi, and he's like, you know, I think we should take a gamble. And Tobi was like, yeah.

So Tobi was the CEO. Tobi was down for this.

And then after that, I started getting messages from the COO, Kaz. He was like, you're hired. And then the president of Shopify, Harley, also saw it. So all the top execs in Shopify, they knew about this video. They knew about what I did. And that really, really helped. Ali ended up messaging me in the evening and saying, are you free to go on a call the next day?

And then she was like, Julia, things are happening.

I was still so in shock. Like, I was so in shock. I didn't even have an emotion. I didn't even want to tell my parents this yet just because I didn't want to jinx it. Usually my parents are like the first ones to know about everything, but I wanted to be like, okay, I'll wait. I'll do the interview first and then, and then we'll you know, I'll like surprise them with this. So I did the interview with Ali. Before that, I was actually prepping lots for it. Even though she said it was very casual chat, I still really wanted to bring my best self to it. So I was reading a lot about Shopify. She sent me like resources, and I was like really just diving deep into Shopify, really trying to understand why it is I want to work at Shopify. So I was doing that. Next morning, the interview was set for 6:30 AM. I woke up at 5, got myself ready, and they just took a few deep breaths and just told myself like, yeah, whatever happens, you should be proud of yourself for even getting to the spot of getting an interview at Shopify. Like, that is already a huge win in my books. And then I had another call with the director of social media and marketing, had a chat with her. She was so, so lovely. I guess I really convinced her.

I guess I pitched her well because after that she was like, yep, you're on the team.

And then I had another chat with Allie and then she was like, you want to work at Shopify this fall?

She gave me the great news. She gave me the good news. She told me that I was, I was hired. In fall 2025, I'm going to be a marketing intern at Shopify! Guys, this is so insane. I genuinely thought I'd be looking for a job all through summer, but I already found one and can't stop, got to keep building. Thanks so much, Shopify.

This one video ended up hitting 1 million views. I ended up getting so many new followers and supporters.

Y'all, I'm recording on my camera because my iPhone storage is full, but guys, my Twitter is freaking blowing up. My, like, socials are just flooding with likes and support and comments how we did it.

But it wasn't just about going viral. It was about being strategic, showing up differently, and showing to Shopify and everyone else what kind of value I could bring to them. Shopify didn't just hire me. They created a freaking role for me, and it all started because I stopped waiting for permission and just pitched myself. So if you're watching this and you're like me who doesn't have any patience, just go for it.

Don't wait.

Give it all you have. No matter what, it's going to be for the better. Create your own door and show what you can do. And also document your journey. Keep posting stuff, keep building your brand. And just don't be afraid to share your uniqueness with the world because I know it can be really tough to put yourself out there. You know, this overthinking like, "Oh my gosh, it's not perfect. You know, maybe I could, you know, work on this a little longer." You really have to forget about all that and just create.

Just post.

Because eventually, the more you post, the more progress you'll see and the more chances something big will happen. So I guess this marks the start of this new journey. I'm gonna keep encouraging all of you guys to build in the open, and I'm really excited to share this whole Shopify journey with you because it's only the beginning.

I'll see you guys soon. Bye! You got this!