u/Even_Equivalent_1468

I used to think the problem with my resume was just not having enough solid experience to get to the phone screen or to the first round. I redid my resume (sent it out to a few friends for feedback), and it looked a lot better. Got a few call backs. Made it to an interview (finally) Got rejected again. Someone told me I could request feedback from the recruiter and that sometimes they'll respond. She told me that although my experience met the qualifications, that a lot of other candidates did, too. Great...I realized I needed to find a way to stand out more if my "accomplishments" are on everyone else's resume, too. I used a few tools online to try and figure out what sets me a part.. I realized I actually didn’t know how to talk about what I had done in a way that meant anything. I could list everything: education, projects, part time job, random stuff I’ve been involved in, etc etc. But when I tried to turn that into interview answers, it all came out sounding the same. Like it could’ve been anyone... my college experience, my major, my projects were not really unique.

Where I'm at right now...I'm trying to approach things differently and am spending more time figuring out what my "elevator pitch" is. I wish they taught personal branding in school bc that would have really helped me a lot. Doing a lot of self reflection, some journaling, trying to identify a cool "story" or even something that is memorable that would make a recruiter remember me. Actually went back and looked at a college app tooI i used ESAI. There is a Story Strategist tool that's free and I tried hacking it for using it for my job search instead of admissions to help me figure out a "story." It actually worked pretty well...not perfect. But helped me connect a childhood memory i had to what i want to do for a living which I think could be good once I figure out how to say it. Thinking througuh how i can come up with other ideas that would resonate with a recruiter or someone who i'm interviewing with.

Does anyone have advice on this? I need to practice speaking my story outloud, so when they ask me to tell them about myself I have something ready that doesn't sound like a generic GPT response but also makes them remember who I am...

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u/Even_Equivalent_1468 — 18 days ago

I think I finally started figuring out part of what I was doing wrong with applications.
For a while I was applying to internships and barely hearing anything back. It was confusing because I don’t have amazing experience, but I’ve done class projects, worked part time, and been involved in a couple things on campus.
I realized I was mostly just listing what I did instead of actually explaining it in a way that sounded meaningful.
I went back and rewrote a lot of my answers and tried to be more specific about what I actually did and what came out of it. After doing that, I’ve started getting a few more responses. Nothing crazy, but definitely better than before.
I still feel like some of my answers sound kind of generic though, so I’m not sure if I’m fully there yet.
For people who’ve gotten past this stage, what made the biggest difference for you?

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u/Even_Equivalent_1468 — 19 days ago