The Ultimate

2023
Resume and
SOFTWARE
ENGINEERING
EDITION
Interview Guide
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
FORAGE

If you’re currently in your first, second or third year of university and planning on a career in software
engineering, you should be thinking about applying for an internship to build your experience, expand your
network and explore different career options before leaving school. It’s important to start preparing for the
interviews well before applications open - ideally around 3 months prior. This preparation should include
updating your resume and LinkedIn profile, developing an understanding of the stages of the application
process, practicing responses to common behavioral and technical interview questions and perhaps most
importantly, networking with people in the industry.

This document provides a comprehensive guide for university students seeking to land an internship. It
covers essential information for creating an impressive application, including tips for crafting a winning
resume and LinkedIn profile. Additionally, it includes advice on networking, interviewing, and following up
after an interview. By following this guide, you will increase your chances of landing an internship.

How should I prioritize my time to increase my chances of landing an

internship?
Here are the actions you should take, in order:

1. Build a strong resume

2. Complete at least one program on the Forage platform
3. Add the program completion to "Certifications" on your resume and LinkedIn profile
4. Review list of jobs on Forage tracker and on company careers pages
5. Submit applications to Forage employer partners as soon as jobs are posted
6. Reach out to people working in the teams you want to be hired into and start building a
relationship with them by asking for career advice or other questions about the industry
7. Leverage your experience completing Forage programs in your interviews

Building a strong resume

Your resume is a marketing tool to impress recruiters and get you through to the interview stages. Forage
has put together a resume template here: Forage’s resume template. Make sure you review each piece of
advice carefully and compare the template with your own resume.
What are recruiters looking for when they review your resume?
Recruiters want to verify that you’re capable of learning new skills. As you’re early in your career, you aren’t
expected to know everything. The main way recruiters verify your ability to learn is through your university
GPA, awards, certifications and relevant coursework. Recruiters want to confirm that you’re a results-
oriented employee. They want to hire someone that is focused on achieving quantifiable results that drive
the business forward. The main way recruiters verify this is through the quality of the bullet points in your
professional experience section and through your projects and certifications (including Forage programs).

Formatting
1. Keep the length of your resume to one page only (check there is no blank space or notes on page
2 before saving)
2. Send your resume as a PDF. Applicant Tracking Systems that companies use to store candidate
information find it easier to read a simple template in PDF format. Do not send your resume in doc,
docx, png or jpeg format. This will also ensure your formatting is preserved. Save down the file as
“Full Name - Resume”
3. Run your resume through a spelling and grammar checker
4. Ensure ‘Education’ is at the top of your resume. For recruiters, this is the most important section
as your education and grades demonstrate your ability to learn new skills
5. Avoid using templates with columns or fancy fonts - keep to something simple and choose one
font
6. Keep formatting consistent - use one font throughout the document and either use periods at the
end of all of your sentences or none at all

Content
1. Remember your resume is a marketing tool, not an exhaustive list of tasks you have ever done in
every job. You can leave off jobs or projects that would be irrelevant for a recruiter in your desired
industry (e.g. part-time jobs you took in university to pay the bills)
2. At the top of your resume, include your LinkedIn profile. There is no need to include your
residential address (at most you could include your city and state) or an ‘objective’ statement as
this takes up valuable space
3. Under your ‘Education’ section, include your GPA, your expected graduation month and year and
any ‘relevant coursework’ i.e. subjects you have completed. Remove your high school information
4. Under your ‘Professional Experience’ section, ensure the bullet points include data points or
metrics, and talk about the impact you had on the business or on the team - don’t just list
responsibilities or tasks. Add how long you have stayed in a particular role e.g. February 2020 to
June 2022. Tailor this section to the job by including keywords from the position you are applying
for. Only include experience in this section where you signed an employment contract (not
examples where you simply ‘participated’ or you are a ‘member’). Do not include Forage programs
in this section. Use past tense for roles you have completed and present tense for roles where you
are skill working
5. Under your ‘Skills’ section, there is no need to include ‘soft skills’ or ‘interpersonal skills’; include
only ‘technical skills’ and list them in order of proficiency. Avoid including Microsoft Office as this
is assumed knowledge (the exception being Excel if you are going for a role in financial services,
but include your level of proficiency ideally as measured by a certification).
6. Add any examples of leadership experience, e.g. if you have been part of a society or group on
campus, a treasurer or a president of a club, or volunteered with an organization or within your
community
7. No need to include references/referees - the recruiter will request this from you if required
 8. For international students, make it clear which type of visa you have so the recruiter doesn’t need
to reach out to ask you

How to leverage completion of a Forage

program
After completing a program on the Forage platform, there are several key actions you should take to
maximize the benefits of your accomplishment, including adding the program to your resume and LinkedIn
profile, sharing your completion achievement as a post on LinkedIn, including the certificate in your job
applications and using your experience and learnings in an interview.

Add your Forage program to your resume under Certifications

Add your Forage program to your LinkedIn profile under "Licences and
Certifications"
Share your Forage program completion achievement on your LinkedIn
profile

Add your Forage program certificates to your job applications

Some application process flows for internship and full time roles have an 'additional attachments' section
where you can upload PDF files in support of your application. This is a chance for you to attach evidence
of your Forage program completion by uploading the certificate you received. This will draw the recruiter's
attention to the extra effort you've put in to understand the type of work you expect to undertake as an
entry-level software engineer.

Speak about the program in interviews

Typically during an interview, a hiring manager will ask you “why are you interested in this role?” or “why are
you interested in working at [company name]?” This is the perfect opportunity to mention the fact you’ve
invested 5-6 hours completing the software engineering program on the Forage platform, where you
experienced the day in the life of a junior software engineer. You could say something like:

“I recently participated in [company name's] software engineering virtual experience program on the
Forage platform and it was incredibly useful to understand what it might be like to be part of an
engineering team at [company name], to [x, y and z] in a realistic context. My experience completing this
program was validation for me that I really enjoy the typical work of a software engineer and would love to
apply what I’ve learned in your team.”
Explainer on the interview process
Software engineering summer internship applications in the US often follow this process:

Online application
Online technical assessment (via HackerRank, HireVue or another provider)
Live interview(s) covering behavioral and technical questions

It’s often this process that provides candidates with an opportunity to showcase their technical skills and
their passion for the company and role for which they applied.

Online application:
Tips for your online application have been covered in your exclusive content unlocked after completing
task 1. As a reminder:

Many companies open applications for software engineering internships open or near 1 August. Be
sure to apply as close to the opening date as possible because applications are reviewed on a rolling
basis (that means, the earlier you apply, the better your chances of landing a role).
Some companies will ask you to select a preferred work location or multiple preferred locations in
priority order. Selecting emerging tech hubs like Delaware, Florida, Ohio or Texas as your first
preference can increase your chances of securing a role as they may be less competitive.
Ensure you meet the eligibility requirements for the role prior to applying. Examples of common
eligibility criteria include an expected graduation date between December 2024 and June 2026,
meeting a minimum GPA threshold, computer science or related major, authorization to work in the
United States without sponsorship. If you don’t meet the eligibility requirements, you may find that
your application is auto-rejected by a company’s applicant tracking system.
For insights on JPMorgan’s application process specifically, have a look at their ‘How We Hire’ page.

Technical assessment:
After you complete and submit your application, it will go through an automated review to check that
you are eligible for the role. If you are eligible, you may receive an invitation to complete an online
technical assessment.
You will generally have a deadline to undertake your technical assessment and once you start, you will
usually have to complete the assessment in one sitting.
Your application will not be reviewed by a recruiter until you have completed your technical
assessment, so it is helpful if you complete it shortly after receiving it.
The most common technical assessment is called HackerRank. To prepare for HackerRank, you should
complete problems on LeetCode. You can search on LeetCode for example problems used by various
 different companies (for example JPMorgan).
It is common to feel unprepared for a technical assessment even after you have completed multiple
practice problems on LeetCode. This is normal, try not to worry about it. Successful candidates
advised they aimed to solve a minimum of 1-2 problems per day, and up to 5 problems per day
during the 2-4 weeks leading up to applications opening.
Your aim should be to become:
Competent at completing ‘Easy’ level problems on LeetCode with any edge cases solved
Competent at attempting ‘Medium’ level problems on LeetCode. It is not a major issue if some
edge cases remain unsolved
Familiar at completing LeetCode problems under time pressure.
Enroll in the Girls Who Code Technical Interview Prep program.

Live interview:
After you submit your technical assessment, your application is sent to a recruiter (usually at your
first preference location) for review. Unfortunately there is no specific timeline for your application to
be reviewed because it differs based on the company you applied for, the role, the location and the
timing of when you applied. So don’t stress if you hear back quickly about some applications and
slowly for others.
If your application moves beyond this stage, you will typically receive an invitation to a live interview.
Depending on the company, there may be multiple rounds of live interviews or you may have back to
back live interviews on a single day. Some companies will do these interviews in-person and others
will conduct the interviews over Zoom.
This interview stage involves a mixture of behavioral questions and technical questions that give you
an opportunity to demonstrate coding skills in real time (data structures and algorithms are common
topics for the technical component and you may be asked questions about your personal projects).
When asked to code, don’t jump straight into coding. First, explain your approach to the
interviewer and then commence coding.
Companies are looking for candidates that demonstrate knowledge of what they do in the tech space
and are seeking candidates that show an interest in this. Talking about your participation in their
virtual experience program (and specific parts that you enjoyed) is an amazing way to stand out.
Across almost all companies, interviewers for both technical and behavioral sections tend to be very
kind and make the environment as welcoming and inviting as possible. No need to stress, just try your
best and to enjoy yourself.

How to prepare the content for your ‘story’

You will be asked to tell your story (likely multiple times) throughout the interview process. Make sure
you prepare it! You may be asked this in various ways, e.g. talk me through your resume or tell me
about yourself. This is an exceptional opportunity to make yourself memorable and build a
connection with the interviewer.
Introduce yourself (full name, what school you go to and where that school is, where you’re from, what
you’re studying, anything else you’d like to add that might be interesting to the interviewer)
If you know who you’ll be interviewing with, make sure you research them! Check out their LinkedIn
profile (where did they go to school? What kind of posts do they write or comment on? What are they
following that you might have in common?) This is a great way to show interest in your interviewer and
show you have thought about something to connect with them on.
What sparked your interest in software engineering?
How did you validate your interest in software engineering?
The best way to validate how you built your interest is through the software engineering programs
on Forage. Go into detail about the tasks you completed, what tools you used, what were the key
 insights or learnings you gained from doing it, how did it influence your decision to pursue
software engineering?
Why do you want to work for this particular company and team?
Be specific about why you are drawn to that organization in particular. This would be a great time
to bring up alumni or other connections you’ve spoken to that have advocated for their firm.

Offer:
After completing the interview stage, you will be notified whether you have received an offer or not. Again,
there is unfortunately no standard timeline, some may find out within a few days, whereas other
candidates may find out weeks later

Other tips for preparing for the interview process

At the end of every interview you will be asked if you have any questions for the interviewer. Don’t say ‘no’.
Prepare a list of ~8 questions in advance, just in case the interviewer answers your top 4 questions
throughout the interview. Ask thoughtful questions that you genuinely want the answers to. Avoid asking
very generic questions like “What is a day in the life at [company]”? Try to add your own spin to questions
and potentially ask them about their strategic direction on an initiative, or a project they may have worked
on that they would find interesting to tell you about. Make sure you write these questions down in your
notepad in case you forget them towards the end of the interview, and jot down the responses after the
interview so you have some content to individualize the thank you note.

Send a follow-up thank you email to your interviewers and include how and why you’re excited you are for
the opportunity to show your continued interest after the event. The content isn’t vital but do send it
shortly after the interview, i.e. within 1-2 days. Hiring decisions can be made quickly so you don’t want to
leave it too late.

Make sure you practice the responses to your questions with your school friends or your family in a ‘mock
interview’ environment. You want your responses to sound natural and conversational, not like you are
reading off a memorized script.

This might go without saying but for in-person events, make sure you are on time to all of the networking
events and interviews, and confirm the dress code before attending if you are unsure.

Networking
Why network?

Networking gives you a far better chance that your job applications will be looked at and you won’t be
ghosted.

How to network?

Message thoughtfully on LinkedIn using your experience on Forage to break the ice. If you don’t
receive a response, find someone else to contact. Attend events if they’re available, if not request 10
minute calls.

When to network?

Start now! Campus recruiters start networking with students from their Freshman year. So whatever
stage you’re at, this should be your top priority.

We've put together a Google Slides deck and a Loom video on networking best practices!

Final words
Be patient and try not to stress! There is no hard and fast rule around how long the interview process will
take for any one company. The timelines change year to year, week-to-week depending on internal
deadlines and the macro environment. The best thing you can do in the early stages is to apply early,
apply to a broad range of roles, apply to a large volume of companies, and consider which location you're
applying to. The next best thing you can do is to arrive at the interviews having prepared sufficiently. We
hope this guide has helped you build confidence before the software engineering interview process and
helped you to understand exactly how you can best leverage your experience on Forage.

Disclaimer: At Forage, our mission is to get motivated students into great jobs. This exclusive content has
been produced by Forage to help you on your career search.