As Paul, our glorious Director of Admissions, often says: What matters isn’t just getting in to USC; it’s really getting out. At the end of the day, while I love USC, I would greatly delight in making some money at a job after graduating.
One of the most common questions I get during Instagram takeovers is “What did you do to get internships?” For students studying computer science, you might’ve heard about the horrors of software engineer (SWE) recruiting or the endless cycle of ghosting for even experienced engineers. (Reddit’s a dark place.)
But I’m here to give you hope! I don’t Leetcode for 40 hours a day, I don’t squat all day on LinkedIn spamming recruiters, and I’m also not applying to 1,000 jobs. Yet I’ve been employed for the last two summers. What’s the trick?
Go to networking events
Lots of USC clubs are sponsored by companies in industry who are hiring for interns and new grads every year. For example, Bloomberg recently visited USC in collaboration with the Society of Women Engineers and PwC hosted a recruitment event with CybOrg — many of these opportunities are announced on Instagram and can lead to interview opportunities!
The USC Career Center also oftentimes hosts random events here and there (beyond the typical culprits of Trojan Talks and the Viterbi Career & Internship Expo — which I’m sure are constantly floated around). I attended an etiquette dinner last semester hosted by the career center, where I met with a recruiter and project manager at AT&T and even got kicked out of the University Club because of a fire alarm. Free dinner and networking?? It’s a USC student’s dream.
Attend conferences
The university and clubs both sponsor many students to go to conferences — from the Grace Hopper Celebration and WE (SWE’s conference) to the NSBE Annual Convention and SHPE National Convention. Even if you don’t get sponsored, sometimes conferences are hosted so close to campus that if you’re able to foot the cost of the ticket, you can commute. For example, WE23 was hosted in downtown LA, just two stops away on the Metro. I was able to attend, and that’s where I got my Apple offer!
Many recruiters from a variety of companies are at these conferences looking to recruit immediately, and some even do on-site interviews. You also get to meet other people while you’re waiting in line to chat, and you meet other students who are in the same boat as you!
Leverage those USC connections
The friend you made in CS 103 might have an older sister that works at TikTok! A professor you work with might be part of a startup housed at the Viterbi Startup Garage! That upperclassman friend in a club you’re in might be starting a new job at Microsoft!
I definitely didn’t come into college with any connections to tech companies or geographical hubs, but I had friends and professors that did. While most of the time these come out of luck and don’t totally spawn out of nowhere, you can try to use everything you have access to so you can make your recruiting life easier.