It took me 5 months from October 2018 to March 2019, applying to around 60 companies across Europe, mostly in Germany. There were moments of complete hopelessness, stress to the extent of breaking out, leading me to visit a doctor for treatment. That's why I want to share my hard-earned experience to help other international students who might need it, to find an internship and return to happy life🙂.
1. Before Application
"If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first six of them sharpening my axe", Abraham Lincoln said, and the CV is our axe. I designed 2 types of CVs: a one-page (my own style) and a two-page (EU standard) and tested them with various job applications. The result was 50:50, but later, I chose the two-page format for submission in Germany officially. In general, the CV needs vital sections, arranged in order:
Work Experience: I only had 1 year of work in Vietnam, not in big corporations. However, that didn't deter me from applying to big companies in Germany. Hence, I enhance my CV such as: I noted job descriptions (related to Business Analyst roles - that I had been applying) in big corporations like Big4, Google, Amazon, eBay, Microsoft, and extracted valuable keywords, then mapped with my previous experience in the CV. Large companies often use machines to scan CVs, so the more keywords, the higher probability of being selected.
Work Duration: If the work duration is too short, around 2-3 months, recruiters might question your work capacity and commitment. In my CV, I mentioned my internship duration as 4-6 months, and formal employment as 10-12 months (I only had 1 year of work experience in Vietnam😃)
Education: I included relevant courses related to the job I applied for (mainly for keywords) and detailed information on subjects related to the job. If your grades are good, it's better to mention them; like top 1, 1%, etc. 😃
Skills: Extremely important for an internship in data field. I filtered essential academic and practical skills. For instance, a Business Analyst requires Excel (Excellent), R, SQL, Tableau, PowerBI, Python, VBA... the more, the better. At Ebay, my work mainly used R and SQL, a bit of Tableau and Excel. Personal skills typically include proactive thinking, time-management, presentation, teamwork, flexibility, adaptability, etc.
Languages: They usually require English in working proficiency level. If you're good at German, confidently include that; the more languages, the better. Normally, my colleagues speak at least 4 languages.
Extracurricular Activities: It's crucial; it demonstrates your dynamism and social contribution. I personally wrote my experience here with a focus on job-related activities to show a balance between academia and practicality.
References: It's best to seek opinions from a professor or a previous boss (both would be great) to authenticate your CV. Initially, when I submitted a CV without this section, I received fewer calls. Later, after including it, big companies constantly called me, so you might consider this.
Notes: Cover letters are often optional in many companies, so you can choose to include or exclude. It's a summary of your personal background, experience, skills, why you're applying for that job, and why you think you're suitable 😃
2. Applying
#Note1 Typically, within a week of posting a job, HR will screen the applications for a week, shortlist, and pass them to the recruiting team for further screening, and then for interview selection. If someone gets selected in that round, the CVs submitted a week after the job posting will remain in the waiting list or receive rejection emails in bulk. So, the earlier you update and apply, the better your chances.
Where to Apply: I applied online via websites. Here are some websites I used, listed based on their update job frequently:
a. Indeed: This site updates job listings quickly. You can create a CV here and use Quick Apply to some jobs directly. During my internship application phase, I checked for new jobs on this site every day and promptly submitted😃, a little bit crazy.
b. Stepstone: This site also updates relatively quickly, and it has a user-friendly interface. I recommend creating a CV here for direct application and to ensure employers know about you.
c. LinkedIn: This site is super popular, but its job updates are slower compared to the mentioned 2 sites; sometimes, a job posted on Indeed appears on LinkedIn after a week. Having a profile here is important; many HRs worked frequently on Linkedin, and who knows, you might catch the eyes of some headhunters :3
d. Xing: This site has a fair number of job updates, mostly for German-speaking areas like Austria, Switzerland, and Germany.
e. erasmusintern.org: This site is specifically for Erasmus students across Europe. If you're studying in Germany and applying for an internship in Belgium through this program, the Erasmus fund might assist you if the salary doesn't cover the costs in Belgium (I'm not entirely sure about other universities; but my university provides coverage). The jobs here aren't many, and most of them are unpaid.
#Note2 For big corporations, it's quite common to fill lengthy applications, plus you might have different tests based on the job you apply for. Some will have IQ,EQ, Analytics, Logic, English tests, so you should practice those tests (you can find them online).
3. Interviews
For startups, receiving an interview invitation the day after applying is quite normal, but for big corporations, it might take 3-6 weeks because they have to comply with the company's systems and regulations 😃
How to prepare for interviews:
A brief self-introduction, an impressive one in about 30-90s, talking about education, work, why you're interested in that job, etc.
Prepare personal questions like work experience, education related to the job, strengths and weaknesses, why you think you're suitable for the current job, etc.
Prepare some information about the company you're interviewing for, the job you'll be doing, strengths and weaknesses of the company (if available)
Another small tip is to find the interviewer's name (usually sent in the interview invitation email) on LinkedIn, see what they do, their experience and level, to have a direction related to their work.
A small note about dressing: It's better to wear formal clothes (especially in banks, pay attention to professional dressing, and for female candidates, consider a bit of makeup 😃)
Equally important, always have faith that you will succeed someday and keep on going 😇.
My post is quite long; thank you so much for reading it to the end. I sincerely hope that you will find a job soon. If you have any questions, please kindly reach me out via Linkedin or Email.
Best wishes,
Kim Ung
05.2019 - Berlin, Germany
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