u/cats_enjoyer

Hey everyone :)

I hope this post gives other juniors, upcoming and fresh graduates some hope. After a few months and 200+ job applications, multiple interviews and interview rounds I finally got a job offer and I also negotiated a slightly better salary than initially offered.

I was applying for HR, administration, and project management and I have a master's degree in Psychology. I only completed one 6 month internship which was a research internship at my university and I managed to score a job as a project coordinator that is 50% remote at a small tech company. No connections.

I used all kinds of various tips and techniques, some worked and some did not, use at your own risk!

Best techniques (from my own experience)

While applying:
1. Editing your CV via AI based on the job description
I used Claude and ChatGpt for that but Claude is definitely more useful. I would ask them to make my CV pass the ATS screening and then proof read the CV to make sure it doesn't say any nonsense or ambiguous wording.

2. Apply to jobs you don't really want
If most of the initial interviews in your country are online, that's a very good thing to do (no gas/public transport money wasted). Besides, it gives you interviewing practice and builds confidence even if you did not get the job as usually there was something they asked that you did not anticipate or had no idea how to answer/answer incorrectly or paused a lot inbetween answers. Try to remember most of the interview (if you do score one) and ask AI for feedback and how the answer should've been answered.

3. Applying on the company website rather than via LinkedIn or Indeed
For some reason, this made a huge difference. 90% of the interviews I scored were through the company website and not through job websites, including my job offer.

During the interview process:
1. Using the CAR method (context, action,result) rather than STAR method
Way easier to remember and come up with situations. Always have a situation on hand where you felt stressed, challenged or had to deal with multiple things at once and describe how you acted. Even look up all the possible questions online and write down your answers and go through them before your interview.

2. Ask the right questions
Towards the end of an interview I used to say I have no further questions which was a red flag for employers and I never understood why. I started to ask questions I would actually like to know and slightly 'challenge' the interviewer such as a variation of:
"Can you walk me through how my work day would look like from a responsibility-aspect if I were to be accepted to the role?" , "what would they say is the most challenging part about the job in your opinion?" and "How would you describe the organizational culture here? do you enjoy working here so far?" "How would you describe the team?" with a smile and genuine curiosity. Those tell you a lot about the company, the interviewer should be able to answer these.

3. Taking classes online in your field
If you only have a degree under your belt and no prior experience in your field I recommend doing this. Many free and small subscription fee websites (or even YouTube) have courses teach beyond theory and actually show study cases and different perspectives, you can also mention that you take different classes during an interview as it shows continuous learning and curiosity. This helped me polish my practical skills such as Excel.

4. Email/call your previous employers or professors
I emailed my professor whom I did the internship with and another job I had worked in the past (not relevant to my job so it doesn't count as past experience) and let them know that I am actively interviewing and in what field and the job responsibilities and how they correlate to my past experience and that I would appreciate if I can have their phone number as a recommendation/referral of good character. 2 out of 3 said yes.

Techniques that did not work (my own personal experience)
It may have worked for other people, but it did not work for me whatsoever. It may be specific to the fields I applied for.

1. Mass applying or applying to positions which you're less than 60-70% qualified for
Initially when I started to interview I would mass apply to positions, some demanding 2+ years of experience which I don't have just to maximise my chances. Almost none got back to me and those that did...well after 1 screening call or an online interview they sent me a rejection email or ghosted.

2. Waiting to hear on jobs
Maybe this is an obvious one but this one is helpful for people who are just starting the process. If the job did not contact you within 2-4 days max after the initial interview you probably did not get it. Recruiters are instructed to fill up talent gaps fast and go through the process relatively fast so if you did not receive an email with the next steps or an invitation to a 2nd or 3rd interview within max 4 working days its probably not it and you need to mentally move on. Don't hope for them to suddenly get back to you after 2-4 weeks because at best you'll get a rejection email and maybe 2% chance that their other candidate withdrew.

3. Applying for jobs posted more than 3 weeks ago with 100+ candidates
Some may find this bad advice, but I think it's important to mention. If you're a fresh graduate you're probably not the best of 100 people (and yes, I know sometimes it just counts the clicks. even if 82 people apply it's still a lot), especially if you didn't graduate from a top tier school or had many luxurious internships under your belt. If you use LinkedIn premium (the free 1 month version) you will see who you're really up against.
The best thing to do is only apply to jobs posted in the last 1-2 weeks and ideally last few days, anything else there's a 95% chance your CV will get lost in the bunch and many jobs are just getting reposted to farm CVs and data. I've interviewed for a job in September 2025 which they're still reposting every month or so.

4. Contacting people through linked (referrals/career guidance etc)
For some reason, although almost every single one responded and most people even agreed to a zoom/teams call it wasn't too helpful. Whether it was for advice or for them to refer me to their company, it didn't make a big difference and most of them discouraged me by talking about how bad the job market is and how its difficult to get into our field.

5. Going to career fairs
Most of these companies are not hiring and are just there to show visibility or hire for senior positions. it gives you a false sense of productivity when in reality you wasted money to get there (gas/public transport) and you didn't do much. This is a very outdated advice.

If you're a graduate or someone in a junior position who scored it in 2025-2026, feel free to share your tips, dos and don'ts too :)

Project coordinator here: what should my work day look like?