The job market for college students is incredibly challenging right now.
I live in a suburb of Seattle. One of my neighbors is an empty nester who recently took a retail job nearby. She told me many of her coworkers are recent college graduates with bachelor’s or even master’s degrees. They have been struggling to find full-time work.
Against that backdrop, over the past four weeks, I helped a current college student land an internship at a top firm from a very competitive pool of applicants.
The company is a unicorn AI tech firm. The student is a sophomore, competing against candidates who had taken more advanced coursework and had more technical experience. Her prior work experience was entirely non-technical, including roles like camp counselor.
So how did we make it happen?
It came down to a combination of strategic narrative, interview preparation, and disciplined practice.
First, we reframed her story.
She was not one of the traditional tech candidates whose resume was filled with coding competitions, hackathons, and side projects. Instead, her strengths were leadership and impact. She was socially conscious, community-minded, volunteered to help low-income students learn computer science, and was active in women-in-tech organizations. We made sure she came across as well-rounded, articulate, thoughtful, and polished. Rather than apologizing for what she lacked, we leaned into what made her different.
Second, she put in the work on technical preparation.
For about three weeks, she spent roughly four hours a day practicing Leetcode questions. Personally, I am not a big fan of Leetcode. I think it has encouraged a cramming culture in tech interviews. But the reality is that, in situations like this, focused practice does help. Given the limited time we had, we applied the 80/20 rule aggressively and concentrated only on the question types most likely to show up, maximizing return on effort.
Third, we prepared relentlessly for interviews.
We went line by line through the job description. I researched each interviewer’s background. We anticipated likely questions and crafted thoughtful questions for her to ask in return. Nothing was left to chance. By the time interviews started, she was clear, confident, and well-rehearsed without sounding scripted.
The lesson:
I still don’t like Leetcode way of preparing for coding interviews. But this experience reinforced something simple and timeless. In a tough market, there is no substitute for putting in the hours. Preparation, repetition, and focus matter. Talent helps, but disciplined effort is often what makes the difference between a near miss and an offer.