I wasn’t going to share this story, but last night’s message was triggering.
On 9/10/2025, my son applied for a Boston-based job. He progressed through multiple interview rounds, with quick and positive feedback after each one. He performed well in his final interview with several senior leaders.
The very next day, HR requested a reference, stating they were moving forward. Son’s junior summer internship manager happily agreed to be reference. The reference check was completed. They even sent him the company’s Employee Benefits Guide and told him he would hear back within a week.
Then — silence.
After two weeks and follow-up emails/voicemails, he received a rejection on 10/30/2025 citing an “extremely competitive pool” and that the Executive Review Committee did not approve an offer.
Yesterday (2/13/2026), a different recruiter from the same company reached out via Handshake letting him know about the same job. “We’re still actively hiring and reviewing applications.”
It was painful. After the reference check, son had started to envision himself there and built connections with MIT alums at the company.
But in my son’s words: “That rejection was redirection.”
We’re now incredibly grateful — he’ll be starting a job at a fantastic NYC company.
—
This job hunting in this competitive job market is is not for the weak. So many things can break you.
I’m sorry your S had to deal with basically unprofessional people, but so happy he found another fantastic opportunity.
My S had some stressful experiences too, and I’ve heard of so many others.
I fundamentally don’t understand why we need multi-month processes with 4+ rounds of interviews for ENTRY LEVEL jobs. So what if the company received a ton of resumes?..figure it out hiring managers.
If you decide the multi-month, multi rounds of interviews is the right way to go for your company, at least treat people with respect. It’s not that hard.
One small but public company where my S had an internship actually never publicly posts entry level jobs or internships. They rely on people connected with the company for references…their kids, neighbors, students from alma maters who have reached out to an employee to network, and the like. They have plenty of good candidates to choose from and HR saves a great deal of time and sanity…this directly from the HR director’s mouth.
But obviously that means that only potential applicants with connections even know about job opportunities there. I.e. it is effectively closed for those without connections or nepotism.
“First generation to this kind of job or industry” seems disadvantageous in terms of knowing how to prepare, how to apply, and (not) having useful connections.
I don’t see it that way at all. College students are taught to use LinkedIn and contact alum in positions/industries of interest to network, ask about opportunities, etc. There is absolutely nothing stopping a student from contacting someone who graduated from their college…no nepotism, no prior connection required. My S (and D) did reach out to alum, with mixed results though.
Definitely not but she may be able to combine them.
There are always ways to consolidate - from less spacing (but still enough to create space) to font size reduction (if a 12 for example).
I’m a one page believer but sounds like a good question for the career center which is hopefully up to speed on current practices and will also have a review service. Edit - reading the rest - I see others suggested the same.
I can’t imagine a college student needing more than a page though, no matter how accomplished.
On the job hiring thing, we just hired for a $200k base job with a one hour zoom. 3 on the panel. Frankly I was shocked. We are interviewing this week for a $150-170k base job in CA. Three candidates. Same thing. Then we get approval from above and make the offer. The company hasn’t hired well the last few years and this is why I’m guessing. We don’t know these people. We are judging a performance. We even request answers in the STAR format so it’s just who prepped best or got the lucky question.
So the companies doing four rounds are going to hire better. And if someone went to the final, was asked for a reference and didn’t work out (they kept trying to hire), that may have been the issue. I couldn’t give a reference and that could have happened to this student. Or the organization might not have liked what they heard. It doesn’t mean it was bad but it might not have aligned to the need. Few, if any, would tell someone their reference eliminated them and frankly I’m shocked in 2026 they can even get one. I wouldn’t say anything unprofessional happened. The company went to the college’s handshake list. They wouldn’t know to eliminate the name. It’s just life - we all get email for things we’ve had and didn’t like etc.
But how many people on LinkedIn actually respond to people they don’t know who are trying to connect? And would actually refer such a person they don’t know for a hidden job opening?
At some smaller schools, alums may respond. Oftentimes, it’s not a referral but an introduction, opportunity to speak to them etc. And it’s not always a recommendation but just getting your application to be considered.
Seems I should have him get it to one page. He can probably drop the internship from 2023.
I know he’s said the most of the online applications try to populate work experience from the resume. Do your kids leave it to match the resume or add more to it?
Happens frequently & consistently with respect to large universities (especially Georgia Tech & Penn State) and at large universities when one has a connection such as from the Greek social system or same college (business,engineering, etc.) within the university.
I’ll see what he thinks tomorrow. The first was after freshman year so not a lot of engineering under his belt. I think the senior design and a project in one of his grad classes showcases more skills and ties to what he wants to do. Maybe he can just get that first year down to 2 bullets that are one line each.
My son had an interview for an internship. First he was asked to complete some exercises. He spent about 90 minutes of those - some math, short answers, etc. then he passed so he had a 30 min interview with someone (zoom). Passed that and was asked to prepare a 10 minute presentation on a project that is related to the job and participate in an hour long interview with a few people. He did that and didn’t get an offer. It was a ton of time spent for a 10-12 week summer job!
Exactly. Don’t eliminate. Having it shows depth, that he could get one when most couldn’t. My son listed his car detailer job after first year. It’s all he could get. It shows hustle IMHO.
There’s a thread @blossom started the other day about McKinsey. They are looking at new ways to hire - in regards to how people digest, utilize info. He likely didn’t meet their criteria.
Perhaps these companies should reverse the order. Do the exercise first to see how you think and utilize info.
But they’d have more to evaluate then - and they are looking out for their own convenience.
It stinks for the kids - mine spent 3 days with travel to go to a podunk town in Wisconsin, missed flights and all. And didn’t get the offer.
But I do appreciate that companies would want the right fit in hopes of eventually getting kids who are willing to work there full time. If not, why else hire them to begin with ?
So if nothing else, I guess you have to chalk it up to a good experience.
There are many entry level jobs, especially in consulting, finance, and quant where online tests and/or virtual interviewing with AI (eg Hirevue) are completed before a live interview. Sometimes those tests knock people out of contention and they never get an interview with a real person.
Big picture on this thread we are talking about entry level hiring. For many of these roles it does not take much time to assess whether the candidate has the requisite skills and has a good fit with the organization. An initial interview with HR, who sends on the best candidates to hiring manager seems like plenty of time to make a decision.
I’m sure I’m biased by the way I’ve hired in the past (large corporation finance and then boutique consulting), but again, we are talking entry level….a $200k managerial candidate often requires a different process. (And yes, I know some entry level jobs pay more than $200k, just using a number bandied about above. IME the only entry level jobs that might take relatively more time to assess are quant analysts/traders.)
I was just noting - the salary / experience level shouldn’t matter. We barely put much into it for experienced and the results show.
A company is thinking about an intern and future employee - they are thinking about themselves, not the candidate. It stinks for the kids but if this is a multi-year hire, they are smart to invest in finding the right person, regardless of position level.
The benefit of a long form resume, even if you never send it anywhere, is that if you have something on it that you don’t normally include but is germane to a particular position you can just lift it over and put it in place on the short one you do send.
I’ve been marking up his resume with things to cut or consolidate and I think he can get it to 1 page without losing much. One question - where do you put volunteer/leadership type experience? Under experience along with the internships? Or in its own category? It’s a position related to engineering and he’s done it for nearly 3 years, so relevant, we think.