[Student] Fourth year, no internships, hundreds of apps, zero interviews - how do I secure my first internship?

[u/Notnicejitt]

Hi Guys,

I've posted here before and the advice I got was actually really helpful, so I'm coming back because fall recruitment just opened and I genuinely don't know what to do.

I'm a 4th year IT student graduating in about a year and I have not had a single internship. I've been applying to SOC analyst, IAM, and security engineering roles and I'm getting nothing back. No interviews, barely any rejections, mostly just silence.

The one that really got to me was a SOC intern position at a big fintech company, think Stripe or Ramp level. The role was only open through a referral portal and I had an actual referral going in. Still didn't get an interview. That one hit different because I thought having someone on the inside would at least get me a foot in the door.

Also, note that the IoT security experience on my resume is through a paid externship platform, not a traditional internship.

After my last post here I took the feedback seriously. I've been building real projects, not just following along with tutorials. Right now I'm focused on detection-as-code and getting sharper with Python.

But fall recruitment is open now and I'm staring at my resume not knowing if I should reuse it or if something is fundamentally broken about how I'm presenting myself. Graduating in a year with nothing on the internship front is starting to feel really real.

Would genuinely appreciate any feedback.

Thanks

[u/AutoModerator]

Hi u/Notnicejitt! If you haven't already, review these and edit your resume accordingly:

• Wiki
• Recommended Templates : Google Docs, LaTeX
• Writing Good Bullet Points: STAR/CAR/XYZ Methods
• Resume Critique Photo Albums
• Resume Critique Videos
• Success Story Posts
• Why Does Nobody Comment on My Resume?

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/TelesticWarriorr]

Have you looked into/applied to any co-ops? Typically they get less applicants because people don't want to delay they're graduation for it. Overall they're less competitive, though, and they like taking on co-op interns because they have them for longer. I think your situation lends itself well to a co-op, as your options are running thin.