Internship Search Diaries Ep. 2 | applying to 100 companies, getting my first job offer, etc.

It's like I'm like a robot just like trying to apply to jobs and like not really resting. I don't think it went that well, but hey, at least I got it over with, so yeah. Hey everyone, welcome back to another week in my life, internship search edition, because finding a job is one of my top priorities these next few months. I think that's what's getting me really excited for 2025, is being able to start a new job, hopefully in a new location, being able to learn new skills in a role I've never done before. I think that's what I'm really looking forward to the most. But of course, that won't come unless I put in the work. So I'm definitely trying to make sure to get as much applying as I can without burning myself out, which can be a challenge because when I really want to achieve something, it tends to take over everything I do, and then I neglect other parts of my life, which is not good. Hey guys, so as you can see, a little change of plans. Instead of going on campus, I decided to go to a coffee shop and do some work here, and it's actually really nice here. It's nice because last week I went to Midnight Run, this week I'm in Coffee Culture, so I'm pretty much testing out all these different cafes around Waterloo. But I got a matcha latte and and we're going to begin the day with, again, co-op search. As I said, I want to apply to 100 companies this week, and I'm at 50. If I want to hit my goal, then I need to apply to 10 companies a day. So this week in particular, I was focusing a lot on applying through company websites. My initial goal was to apply to over 100 companies. I think I'm around 90 so far. I wonder how much more scrolling I need to do to find my job. So I've applied to one job so far. That took me a while, but guys, I just realized WaterlooWorks opened up. WaterlooWorks is a job board that's connected to our school. You can find jobs through there, but the thing is, I don't really like WaterlooWorks at all, but it's another great option if you can't find a job outside of WaterlooWorks, so I'm going to be using WaterlooWorks too, just to maximize my efforts. Hey guys, so I am still at the cafe right now. I've been here for— I started— I came here at 9 and I've been here for I've been here for pretty much 5 hours and I've just been continuing to apply. I took a little break from applying just because I've already applied to pretty much 20 companies, guys, which is crazy. But I took a little break and I'm now working on the new initiative I'm starting with another person. But I've been working on that and setting up things for that. And then I'm also writing a LinkedIn post for this community and for like the launch of this community. So I was just writing a LinkedIn post and while I was writing, I got a email saying that I've been invited to complete a video interview for 2025 internship program marketing, brands and sales role that I applied for at Bell. So that is really big news, guys. I'm finally seeing some progress and it's only been the second week. I mean, yes, it's not a company in the US or it's not in California, but it's still better than nothing. And Bell is a really good company. So I'm really excited. I don't know if they've just sent this email to everyone, but this is such great news, and I'm so, so, like, I'm so happy. Good morning guys, first day of classes here we come! So this is what I'm wearing for the fit, just wearing these jeans and this dress shirt. I was gonna wear, um, the skirt, but this outfit is also good for the first day, I'm sure. But yeah, I'm about to head out to campus with my sister. We're gonna drive there and then I have my first class at 8:30. It's a psychology class. It's organizational psychology, which I'm actually pretty excited about. So hopefully that's gonna be a really fun class. And then after that, right after that, I have another class right on the other side of campus, so I'm gonna have to run there, but it's a communication class. And then after that, I have a break for like 2 hours, and then my last class is gonna be another communication class, and then that ends at 4. So I'm gonna be wrapping up my school day at 4, and then after that, I'll have some time to work on my things before 5 PM. When my sister finishes her work, so yeah. Whenever someone asks me how my classes are going, I usually end up saying they're pretty boring and how my program is not the best, but it's really what you make of it. If I didn't have lots of side projects going on, then I probably would be putting more effort into school, but because I feel like my extracurriculars and networking are going to bring me further in life, I choose to prioritize that a little bit more than excelling in my degree. Though I do think my classes this term are a little bit more useful. For instance, I'm taking an organizational psychology course which is teaching me how people think and act in a workplace environment, which is super important since for my next internship I'll be working in a company. And then I'm also taking this conflict management course where I'm reading and learning about how to best navigate conflict. And even though I can learn all of this on my own, these classes are providing me with more structure and accountability. So are my classes boring? To some extent, yes, but they're still teaching me something. Hey guys, so it is the next day. A little bit embarrassing, it's 3 PM and I'm only now officially starting my day. I haven't even opened up my computer yet, but I went to bed at 2 AM last night, or last morning, just like applying for interview or internships. And then I woke up later, and then after that I was like, okay, I want to do a workout. And then I ended up shuffle dancing, which by the way is a new hobby that I found. This is week 2 of me practicing shuffle dancing, and I've been enjoying it so much. I am finally seeing some progress, and it's just so, like, so liberating and so fun to just dance with the music. It's just such a fun time, and I'm really proud of myself for sticking with this hobby because a lot of times I start hobbies and I just drop them, like, instantly. And I feel like with this one, I'm actually in it for the long term with this hobby. So hopefully I can keep practicing. And then after that, I went on a run, and, and I just quickly showered. I'm waiting for my hair to dry, and I'm also wearing this dress shirt because, guys, I need to do my Belle digital interview today. I'm gonna go run it one more time, just like practice the answers, and then after that I will just record myself doing it because it's gonna be due— it's due tomorrow, but I just want to get it over with today because tomorrow is just super busy. Okay guys, so I did some good practice. I think I'm just gonna, just gonna start recording it. Really nervous because again, I only have a limited time to answer and I don't know if the questions are going to be what I'm practiced. But the questions I practiced is the first one is why I want to work at Bell. Next one is what interests you about marketing, brand, and sales. And then next one would be just describe a marketing campaign that impressed you and why. And then how do you approach problem solving in marketing? Give examples of time you worked on team and what role did you play? And then how did you stay up to date with marketing trends? And then how would you handle multiple deadlines? What are your long-term goals and how is this role going to help you? What's your understanding of Bell's brand and target market? So these are very like general questions that every interview is probably going to ask, so I kind of practice those. And yeah, so let's just do this interview, guys. I'm gonna go and open it up. I'm so nervous. Tip 1: If you're using an ex— Hi, so I'm excited about the opportunity to launch my career at a technology company like Bell because I really appreciate your purpose of helping Canadians connect with each other and the world. Oh God, I think it was okay, but I just, I feel like I could answer— I could have I feel like I could have done it way more better. Like, I feel like I could have done it perfectly, but I didn't do it perfectly. I don't know how I feel. I don't think it went that well, but hey, at least I got it over with. So yeah, yay, yay! I've officially applied to 75 companies. I'm almost at 100. I will get to 100 in this video, guys, I will. And then also yesterday I was complaining on my Instagram stories how I love job search, but the one thing that's really annoying is having having to manually put in your information for each application you submit, it just takes so much time. And two of my friends actually reached out and told me to try out something called Simplify. Simplify is pretty much a Chrome extension where you can get personalized job recommendations, you can craft tailored resumes, and then you can also autofill and track your job applications. So the autofill feature works like magic. I applied to a company with this feature and it's just— it just literally took like seconds for me to fill out everything. And I definitely recommend you guys check out Simplify for a speedier job, job search. Like, I wish I knew about it sooner. Hey guys, so a few updates. I was initially going to end this video, but I do have some updates to share before I just end and move on to episode 3. So today is going to be a really cool day because today I am having a coffee chat with Kyla. She's a VC from San Francisco. So I'm gonna meet up with her and she's coming like all the way straight from SF to Waterloo for this like huge Hack the North event. And she pretty much like mentioned that she's meeting up with students to like chat about co-ops, about startups and everything. And of course I jumped onto the opportunity because I really want to ask her questions about co-ops at SF. And I'm gonna actually make a list of questions to prepare myself for this little coffee chat. So I'm I'm gonna do that right now. And today is also going to be another just day of applying. With school and like classes, things have been a little bit more busier, so I've been having trouble applying to lots of companies every single day, but I'm still trying to keep the momentum going. And actually, I've applied to a few on WaterlooWorks already because WaterlooWorks opened up officially. There's like 2,000 jobs, but pretty much all of them are like for engineering, so I'm not seeing a lot of jobs for like what I'm interested in, but I did apply to a job in Victoria, BC, and it's this internal communications role. I know I said that I want to do SF, but like, BC is also cool. Like, BC, like, I feel like in terms of like Canada, like British Columbia really excites me. So if there's anywhere I want to go in Canada, it's going to be— it's going to have to be BC, and then if not, then US, like California. I reached out to someone who worked at this company in BC, and she said that she could connect me with the full-time internal communications. And I'm gonna actually reach out— so she gave me the name, and I'm actually going to reach out to her right now to ask if we could like go on a chat, or just like, I want to know more about her experience. I feel like that could help me get an interview for that job because I'm actually hyped for Victoria, BC. And of course, I can't forget about school, so I'm gonna do school too. But yeah, today's gonna be a really busy day and we're not stopping. It's Friday, but we're grinding away. So yeah, hope to see you soon. Hi guys, so I just came back from my little coffee chat with a venture capitalist from San Francisco, and you guys, we had a 30-minute conversation, but it was so, so insightful. Going into it, I really didn't really know I'd take away anything, but I took away so much from that conversation. Let me tell you, I learned more about what venture capitalists are and like who VCs are, which I, again, I like went into it with zero knowledge, but now I'm a little bit more familiar with VCs, and it actually really sparked my interest in like learning more about about the VC world and what it is. So I'm like diving deeper and like researching more about it right now. Hi guys, so I just finished with my day. I was on campus all day. It's almost 8. Um, I'm literally like off schedule. I was supposed to be back home already, but I was just— I couldn't stop working. I couldn't stop applying to jobs specifically. My conversations with people, I had a lot of like meetings, stay with people, so they ended up going for a little longer, and then that meant I had less time for my work, so I had to stay like later. And I was applying to jobs and I just couldn't stop, guys. Like, I just can't stop applying to jobs. Like, I'm taking it so seriously to the point where it's like I'm like a robot just like trying to apply to jobs and like not really resting. So let's recap. What kind of progress did I make this week? I've applied to 90 companies, had 2 coffee chats, started posting video content on LinkedIn and managed to get over 500,000 impressions in only a span of a few days, got a job offer to work as a digital content specialist at my university but ended up passing it, completed my first digital interview that went okay, I think, and started cold emailing people, which is what I'll be doing more of in episode 3. So I'll see you guys then.