
Ask HN: I got rejected from Facebook, Dropbox, Microsoft, Quora, What's Wrong? - mohamedbassem
Hi,
I&#x27;m a student who was applying for a summer internship and got rejected from all the companies to which I applied from the CV phase. Didn&#x27;t even get to the interview phase. I got rejected from Facebook ( twice ) even with a referral, got rejected from Dropbox, got rejected from Quora, didn&#x27;t even get a reply from Microsoft. I thought that my resume is good enough for someone in my age but apparently I was wrong. Is there anything that bad in my resume (http:&#x2F;&#x2F;mbassem.com&#x2F;assets&#x2F;files&#x2F;MohamedBassemResume.pdf)? Thank you.
======
ColinWright
It's often not the CV, it's often the covering letter. The CV provides
evidence for your claims, but the covering letter is how and where you ask for
the position. Without that it's hard to comment.

For those who are interested, I've added a direct link to the CV to make it
easier to read:

Link:
[http://mbassem.com/assets/files/MohamedBassemResume.pdf](http://mbassem.com/assets/files/MohamedBassemResume.pdf)

 _Edit: Interesting. I 'm trying to help out here and make it easier for
people to have a look at the link provided. It reduces friction, and costs
nothing for the people who don't care. Yet someone clearly thinks this is the
wrong thing to do and has down-voted me. I'd welcome the opportunity to learn:
why should adding the link be regarded as the wrong thing to do? Thanks._

~~~
huhtenberg
You are likely downvoted not for the link, but for the actual comment.

The OP appears to be trying to get an internship position in the US while
being in Egypt. It is absolutely positively has _nothing_ to do with the cover
letter, so your comment is just off by a very wide margin, but it sits at the
top because of your massive karma.

~~~
ColinWright

        > The OP appears to be trying to get an internship
        > position in the US while being in Egypt.  It is
        > absolutely positively has nothing to do with the
        > cover letter, so your comment is just off by a
        > very wide margin, ...
    

Are you sure about that? It's been a long time since I had much to do with
internships as opposed to job applications, but it always seemed to me that
the cover letter was the hook that made me want to check the CV to see if
there was evidence supporting the claims made. I don't see why that should
have changed at all, but I'd be very interested in learning why you claim that
the cover letter is completely irrelevant.

    
    
        > ... it sits at the top because of your massive karma.
    

Actually it now has 18 points. I'd be interested to know for sure what effect
a contributor's karma has on their comment ranking. I know it used to, but I
was sure I'd seen a comment from the mods saying that the effect had been
removed. With no points shown it's now rather harder to be sure, or to do
experiments.

~~~
huhtenberg
> Are you sure about that?

Positive. No US company will bother with visa headaches _for an intern_
regardless of how exciting the cover letter is. Further compounded by the fact
that he's from Egypt, which is a 3rd world country with a highly unstable
situation. I suspect you were never exposed to all the pleasures of the US
visa process, which would explain your rather naive view of the situation.

~~~
ikonst
Internships in European countries are entirely plausible. US visa situation is
an exception to the rule among developed countries.

For example, Facebook has London offices, which is their go-to solution for US
visa troubles.

Egypt might be "3rd world" in somebody's book, but I've never heard about the
visa process being particularly racially biased (at least US visa process).

~~~
amnesiac1
>I've never heard about the visa process being particularly racially biased
(at least US visa process)

I just dont even know where to begin. The only way I can understand this
statement is if you never heard anything about the process, period.

------
Eyas
I'm also an Arab, from Jordan (granted, my name is not Mohamed). A lot of the
answers here are on track but let me give my view and what I've seen from my
friends and colleagues' experience.

While companies like Microsoft, Facebook, and Google are usually fine with
sponsoring students for J1 or H1B visas, it makes a huge different whether the
student is applying from within the US or not. Students from all nationalities
who study in a US university will have a much easier time getting a summer
internship at these companies.

Part of it is that the paperwork is easier: an international student with an
F1 visa studying at a known American university can simply apply for a CPT
(Curricular Practical Training) authorization and be allowed to work. Even
before that, it is much easier to meet the candidate in person and decide if
they are worthy of an offer: you can simply conduct campus interviews or fly
them over in a (cheaper) domestic flight.

Simply put, the cost of _interviewing_ an international student outside the US
is high enough, that often times it isn't worth the cost to find out if a
candidate is worth it.

Looking at other students from the Middle East graduating from my school, I
see a similar trend: Those applying for internships and full-time jobs while
still in the US as students will get interviews and offers, while those who
were in the US and went back home have much more trouble returning.

------
informatimago
The fact that you're asking and writing this in English leads me to believe
you sent your resume to the companies in the USA.

Those companies may have some problem in relocating you and dealing with the
visa red-tape.

On the other hand, if you sent your resume to Egyptian branches of those
companies, I see no reason why they should specifically reject it.

I see that you were intern in a German company. In Europe, foreign students
are allowed to intern in European companies, but once graduated, they have to
go back to their country and request a work visa to come back working in the
European Union. Similarly to the USA, if you sent your resume to German
branches of those companies, they may have some difficulty hiring your for
lack of a visa and work permit.

~~~
jeletonskelly
This is most likely the answer. There's a non-trivial cost for bringing
foreign workers into the US and they are probably much less likely to consider
it given that this is an internship opportunity and not something full-time.

------
leeny
Look, the harsh reality is that you're largely an unproven entity with no
pedigree. Your ACM achievements are impressive, but they're being weighed
against the fact that, outside of that, you're a relative unknown. It's also
possible that people aren't even noticing your competitive coding stuff
because it's pretty far down and not emphasized.

Also, if you just applied now, it may very well be too late for the big
companies. They do their recruiting push for internships in the fall. By
January, most internships are filled.

Ultimately, due to timing and due to lack of credentialing, you're at a huge
disadvantage, so you have to do EVERYTHING YOU CAN to stand out. Here are some
suggestions.

Your TopCoder rating is pretty good, but I'd have no way of knowing that
without clicking on it, which people NEVER do. Make it easy. List your rating
and translate it into a percentile.

Your projects sound boring and uninspired. Explain what you built and focus
less on the tooling you used. Link to the actual projects on GitHub. Make sure
you're listing stuff you built yourself rather than stuff you did in class.
Provide GitHub links for the individual projects you list. No one is going to
wade through your GitHub and figure out where the gems are.

Lastly, your bullet points about what you worked on are completely uninspired.
I have no idea what you did at any of your internships beyond what tooling you
used. Explain your contributions in plain English in the context of the
project you worked on.

------
haack
As ridiculous as it may be, I think the presentation of your CV matters,
especially with trendy big techs. Maybe try dressing it up a bit. Have a look
at mine if you want:
[https://www.dropbox.com/s/agffmbzdqvckqta/CV_v2.6.pdf?dl=0](https://www.dropbox.com/s/agffmbzdqvckqta/CV_v2.6.pdf?dl=0).
I've had some good feedback (including interviews/offers from the companies
you mentioned).

Also I'm curious to know where you applied. I've found that the barrier is
higher when applying abroad, especially the US.

~~~
georgerobinson
I've been tempted to do something like this with my CV. However, I'm concerned
that the use of icons and colours might be seen as immature, unless of course
you're looking for a position as a designer: in which case it makes perfect
sense. Have you had any feedback on your CV format which you might be able to
share?

~~~
haack
Fair point, there definitely is a danger of over doing it. I'd keep it simple.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication after all.

A designer at a startup that I interviewed with, said it stood out from the
hundreds of other CV's they'd received which meant they at least looked at it.

I've been told that my CV is OK for startups and the above companies. Less so
for fintech, big corporates and academia.

------
xyzzyz
I wouldn't put the blame on visa issues. Facebook, Dropbox and Microsoft
(dunno about Quora) are very happy to apply for J-1 visas for interns -- every
year, 50-100 students from my university (University of Warsaw) get J-1 visas
and go to the US for internships. Most go to NVIDIA, Google, Facebook and
Microsoft, but I also know handful of people who were at Dropbox and Palantir,
and it seems that one person goes to Quora this year. Maybe with applicants
from Egypt it's harder, but I wouldn't bet on that.

Your resume looks better than CVs of some of my friends who actually got jobs
at the companies you mention, at least from what I can see.

It's not the cover letter either -- cover letters are not necessary for
Google, Facebook, Dropbox, or NVIDIA, as far as I can tell.

My personal guess is that you just had bad luck. Try again and don't give up.

------
mallipeddi
Your resume is fine (just make the GPA more obvious - convert to 4.0 scale or
something).

I've worked at some of the companies you mentioned and I regularly do
technical interviews for internships. Here are some tips:

\- Try to get a referral. This is by far the easiest way to stand out if you
are not from some of the top colleges the company is actively targeting (top
tier firms go on campus recruiting trips to the best schools in US and they
get most of their candidates from that pool). Explore your network - do you
know anyone that went to your school and now works at one of these companies?
Ping them.

\- Start applying early. Usually the company decides upfront how many
internships they're going to offer that year. So if you apply late, your
changes of getting in are lower - they've very few slots left and they can be
very selective. Go on LinkedIn and look for recruiters from the company who
handle University Recruiting specifically. Ping them and ask them about
internships and their recruiting schedule.

\- Try applying to companies in Europe like someone else suggested.

Also don't worry too much if you don't get into your dream internship now -
it's not the end of the world. I have been in a similar boat - I went to
school in Singapore and I got rejected by every single company in your list
for internships (my school is one of the top 3 schools in Asia but that still
didn't help). Instead I ended up interning at some local startups. 6 years
later things have changed - I've worked for some of the companies on your list
and every company that has rejected me in the past is now trying to actively
recruit me. So don't get disappointed - keep learning, contribute to open
source projects, apply to Google Summer of Code, keep participating in
competitive programming contests and be the best you can be.

------
vissi
Wow, you are ACM ICPC finalist, that's a wonderful achievement. It's strange
you didn't get into interview.

> GPA : 0.86 out of 0.7 (A+) What does that mean?

~~~
mohamedbassem
Thank you :) In my university our GPA scale is inverted. The best you can
achieve is 0.7 which corresponds to an A+ and the worst is 5.0 which is an F.

~~~
johnloeber
The HR (Human Resources) people at American companies are used to the American
system of measuring Grades -- usually on the 4.0 scale (0.0 = F, 3.0 = B, 4.0
= A). Just convert your GPA to the 4.0 scale and write that on your resume. Or
just write down "A+" average.

You want to make it as clear as possible that you are a strong applicant.
Don't make the HR people think too hard about converting your GPA. They'll
just get confused.

~~~
oblio
Wouldn't it be safer if he used some sort of percentile system? Something like
5%-10% for the GPA-equivalent exam in Egypt? (with the actual score afterwards
in case they want to check).

------
PeekPoke
You are on the wrong side of the Atlantic Ocean.

------
drglitch
if you were applying to the US branches, then visa red tape was likely culprit
- it's awfully time consuming and expensive to get an intern (who doesn't
already have a J1-like visa into the country for just 2-3 months internship.

Apply for local subsidiaries as first order of business.

Unrelated: what's with highlighting keywords in resumes lately? Who cares what
language a system is in? If rather read why it was important and what business
problem it solved.

~~~
icco
Also, what's up with inconsistent capitalization and inconsistent
highlighting. That drives me crazy.

------
meric
If you don't mind interning in Cape Town at a startup you've never heard of
based in Sydney, Australia, building our next web-based platform and web
products, pop me an email at eric@gradconnection and I'll see what I can do.
If fate (and you) may have it, it's a possibility you might get to intern in
Sydney, rather than in Cape Town.

Our current job ads would give you an idea of what our current stack for our
next platforms and products looks like, much better than the soon-to-be-
obsolete website we have online at the moment would:

[https://careers.stackoverflow.com/jobs/84553/front-end-
devel...](https://careers.stackoverflow.com/jobs/84553/front-end-developer-
gradconnection)

[https://careers.stackoverflow.com/jobs/85966/senior-
python-d...](https://careers.stackoverflow.com/jobs/85966/senior-python-
developer-team-lead-gradconnection)

------
kriro
I think the comments about applying abroad are probably right. Certainly try
to apply to German companies, they are usually eager to get skilled people and
the fact that you worked there already helps (instacredit as "don't have to
worry about background checks and the like" for the pencil pushers)

Some random other thought:

1) There's no available source code to check that I can see. A link to github
would help, maybe write some code specifically for that if you haven't done
so.*

2) I'd stress the competitive coding a bit more. That probably means you have
some algorithms/data structures chops, those are usually worth a lot on a CV.
I'd have a seperate entry in skills for that.

3) Maybe rearange the skills by buzzyness (I'm assuming it's roughly by skill
level now)

;) Maybe it just landed on Emacs users' desks

*Edit: Oh wow you have a pretty nice github repo. Def feature it more prominently.

------
chrisabrams
Your resume is fine for being a student. It is clear you are excelling in your
academics and are also taking on some real-world experience.

A couple of questions:

\- Where are you based?

\- Where are you applying for these internships?

\- Are you aware that some of the internships you are applying for are being
applied for by 1000s of candidates around the world?

\- Are you aware that if you are applying for an internship outside the
country you reside you are at a disadvantage because it places an extra burden
on the company?

I wouldn't stir too much on why you got down-voted, as there is no scientific
correlation between your action and receiving a down vote (or an up vote).

~~~
ColinWright

      > I wouldn't stir too much on why you got down-voted,
      > as there is no scientific correlation between your
      > action and receiving a down vote (or an up vote).
    

I take it you haven't noticed that the comment with the link and question
about down-vote was not submitted by the person making the original
submission.

------
notahacker
As others have said, you're most likely being rejected because hiring interns
from Egypt is a hassle rather than any perceived deficiency in your ability,
but I'd still recommend you put achievements and awards near the top... it
marks you out as a top student far more than a GPA the recruiter doesn't
understand from an institution they haven't heard of.

------
kamakazizuru
my best guess, is that it has (very unfortunately) to do with Visas :/

~~~
kamakazizuru
try looking for internships in Europe, they're a lot better at getting
foreigners in as Interns. Germany especially, and since you have experience
there before it may not be a bad idea. There are several good startups in
Berlin looking for people with your skillset. Leave a comment if you're
interested and I'll drop you a mail with some leads in Berlin.

~~~
mohamedbassem
Yeah for sure I'm interested. That would be great, Thank you!

------
mgkimsal
Possibly hugely cynical view here, but...

There's probably 500,000 other companies out there you could apply to that a)
you'd have a better chance at getting in and b) probably need your particular
skills and abilities far more than Facebook does.

Yes... working at one of those name-brand exclusive companies will no doubt be
fun, exciting, helpful, etc, but... there's just something about young people
just wanting to work at "top X SV companies" that bugs me, and I don't quite
know what it is. Lack of perspective? Sour grapes?

Maybe as I've gotten older I've just realized that no matter how impressive a
CV is, there's (almost without exception) multiple other people with CVs more
impressive and accomplished than your own. Oh, and generally, CVs are
generally less important than the networks you have access to.

Continue to grow your name in the communities you serve right now and
opportunities will find you.

------
sbussard
1\. Location - I've never heard of El Rehab City, but just the word "rehab"
has negative connotations about one's past in the English language. If you
were in the US your chances would go up, but it's really a tough process for
companies to hire non-citizens.

2\. GPA - It looks like there's a discrepancy on your GPA: 0.86 > 0.7.

3\. Specialize - Tailor your resume for a specific job title. You may know
every programming language, but that might be just extra fluff to read if the
position is for a front-end developer. Keep the other info off to the side if
you have to but keep it brief.

4\. Layout - a recruiter from Apple once told me to put your skills right
after your contact info. Education, experience, etc after that. Your resume
could also use some improvements in formatting.

~~~
jklein11
Do you honestly think the name of this person's city is the reason why
recruiters aren't biting?

~~~
sbussard
Is it worthwhile to point out that humans have biases? When someone is looking
at two similar candidates? Is it fair? Why didn't the Chevy Nova sell well in
South America? No logical reason. Besides confusing things that have nothing
to do with each other because of the name. But living thousands of miles away
from where you want to work says to a recruiter "too hard, pick another
candidate from the pool of 400,000 applicants"

~~~
jklein11
I 100% agree that the recruiter would have an adverse reaction to a city name
that they have a difficult time pronouncing. I disagree that a recruiter is
going to look at a city named "Rehab" and think "hmm... might be a drug
addict" even subliminally.

------
adelnobel
My best guesses are:

1- The GPA, I actually didn't understand what it meant?! Most people are used
to the 4.0 scale and also it's pretty strange that you can actually get more
points than the maximum! 0.86 out of 0.7!

2- I guess there should be more elaboration on your problem solving skills and
why they should hire you.

Regarding the other "naive" things that others had mentioned about being
Egyptian or your name and so on. This is surely NONSENSE and there are tons of
counterexamples to this claim. Many Egyptian students whose names are Ahmed,
Mohammed and even Islam made it to not only one but to many companies in the
US!

------
droopyEyelids
The people in charge of the world have divided it into imaginary lines to
control the rest of us better. It sounds like you're in a different division
than the companies you're trying to work for.

------
dirkdk
As a foreigner I can relate to your issues, and yes being from Egypt makes a
massive difference.

Be aware that your visa petition will be evaluated by different agencies,
namely USCIS and DHS. DHS will see if they want you to enter the country or
deem you a danger and will deny you entry. So my tip, if you are serious about
wanting to work in the USA is getting a tourist visa. This will trigger the
DHS check. Then, visit the Bay Area, go to meetups and hackathons and meet
people in person. Having entered the USA will make you seem less of a issue to
get an J1 visa.

------
madamepsychosis
Remember lots of these things come down to luck. Resume looks more impressive
than me, and I did get one of those internships. Just keep trying and don't
take it personally.

------
arfliw
While I agree with others that your name and where you live are not doing you
any favors, you have also attempted to start at the very top with the most
prestigious internships. Many people would be rejected doing that, even if
they were American and went to top US schools. Try a tier lower, and a tier
lower than that. And then work your way up to the Facebook's and Dropbox's of
the World, once you have some American companies on your resume.

~~~
mohamedbassem
I guess as people mentioned in the comments here. Lower tier companies in US
will be more likely not able to sponsor a visa for a foreigner student.

------
hoodoof
You don't need a big company to validate you. Just go an become an expert and
do something awesome. Stop waiting for someone to give you permission.

~~~
kenbellows
Based on the student status, I imagine it's less about wanting validation and
more about the combo of needing money and wanting to be a part of the cool
stuff that these companies do. Of course big companies aren't the only ones
doing cool stuff, but they're the most obvious, often the most accessible, and
almost always the ones willing to shell out the biggest stipends. (Plus,
principles aside, there's no denying the effect that having a big company on
your resume can have when applying for your dream job wherever.)

------
Grue3
It's no use. I'm from Russia and I've been trying to get hired by a foreign
company for 6 months, but I can only count the number of interviews I got on
one hand, and those were mostly non-tech. It's not anyone's fault, we've just
been born in the wrong place at the wrong time. The only consolation is that
there are lots, lots of people who are even worse off than us.

~~~
sbussard
If you rely on someone else for your success, this is what you will get. Then
it will be no use. Instead, ask yourself "How can I help a lot of people with
what I know how to do?" Then go do it, and create jobs for other talented
people who you see that are overlooked. You don't have to be in America or
Silicon Valley to succeed. It comes from inside your heart. Find that which
makes you want to succeed the most.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnCaL8iul50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnCaL8iul50)

------
arihant
Here is my feedback:

1\. The main section of your CV is filled with things that are either not that
impressive compared to other things you have done or are hard to judge on. "4x
speedup on Docker," how many machines? What infrastructure? I don't know
anything from that sentence. In a generic case, 4x speedup is not that great.
You've highlighted things like "php" and "MySQL" in bold. That makes them
sound those are your biggest accomplishments, and they are easy enough for a
5th grader to learn.

2\. The things that are actually amazing about you are buried so deep I
suspect most reviewers aren't getting to that point. "ACM ICPC World Finalist"
should much more up there. Hackathons should be higher. You have insane amount
of repos on Github, a list of those should most definitely be higher.

3\. Understand that you're applying for internship. What cool stuff you can do
should be highlighted more than where you worked before, unless you worked at
an equally competitive company.

4\. Do not highlight unimpressive things like MySQL, makes you sound like you
peaked.

~~~
jbrooksuk
Sorry but using PHP and MySQL makes you no less of an accomplished developer.

~~~
skj
Given that we're talking about impressions, it seems pretty relevant.

------
misingnoglic
Those are some big companies, and not a lot of them at that. I've had friends
who've done 30 applications with only 2 offers. Don't be too hard on yourself,
and apply like crazy next year. In the meantime email a ton of startups and
ask if they're still hiring :)

------
abdelkarim
i got interview with google and Facebook and rejection after technical
interview in google and HR interview in Facebook, my resume is accepted in
Microsoft and currently i'm in the process, i think your resume is very cool
but you sorted it's content in a wrong order i thought, form my point of view
i think the people whose scan your resume want to see ONLY 2 things.

1- are you smart? 2- could you write codes?

then you have to answer this question in your resume very quickly.

i think you have to push the competitive programming part up in your resume to
answer the first question early, and so on..

please see this video for more tips.
[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wa9J7iXOh0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wa9J7iXOh0)]

------
websitescenes
I think you need something tangible. There is lots of cool sounding things
here but no links, github profile or code samples. To me, that is a big issue.
You say you have the experience, now show them.

------
sbussard
Read these books: The Go-Getter, Who Moved My Cheese, QBQ!, Rhinoceros
success, The Go-Giver. They're all short and each can be read in a couple
hours. They'll change you.

------
rajacombinator
\- They're not willing to sponsor a visa for an intern. \- Your GPA looks like
a failing grade to bots and HR staff who are not familiar with Egyptian school
system.

------
eonw
why do you look at US companies? Israel has lots of high-tech firms, as do
other Arabian countries. Also, have you tried applying via their career pages
in different countries? The US based internships are probably applied for 10x
more then those offered in other locales.

------
thebezet
You've applied for jobs at the big guys. Try someone smaller.

------
theaccordance
It looks like you've got two things going against you, feel free to correct my
assumptions if I'm wrong:

1\. You're applying to US internships while not residing within the country.
Work-sponsored visas are scarce and costly, most companies will not invest the
level of resources required for an internship. You need to get here first and
apply second.

2\. You're applying to some of the biggest tech brands in the world and your
resume is average at best. Average doesn't get you into these kind of
companies, even with referrals. So even if #1 isn't the problem, your resume
needs to be more compelling. Here's some of my experience bullet points to
illustrate what I mean by more compelling:

\- Led development of numerous features for a proven B2B SaaS Product using
MongoDB, Express.js, Angular.js, and Node.js.

\- Built a facial-recognition utility in Node.js for mass provisioning of user
avatars during the company onboarding process.

\- Developed a HTML5-based digital signage solution for Google Chromecast with
multicast capabilities.

As for how you improve our own bullet points, here's my suggestion:

1\. Each bullet point should be thought of as a conversation starter. They
need to lead into a story that the recruiter wants to hear during the
interview phase.

2\. Context/Terminology. These companies have their tech stack already picked
out; they want people who at the very least, have demonstrated some type of
experience with what they're using. I could have simply said JavaScript in my
bullet points, but it's too ambiguous and does not convey what I want to work
with. If I'm a company that uses Angular, I don't want to waste my time
interviewing someone who's JavaScript expertise is limited to jQuery. (As you
can tell, I'm a JS developer; sorry I can't provide better context to help you
in the rails/php area)

Other resume suggestions:

\- Rearrange your sections. Highlight experience and skills ahead of
education, as that's what tech companies will be interested in first.

\- Your project highlights are boring. If you're going to highlight projects
on a resume, a recruiter needs to be able to identify a use case behind what's
written.

\- Either get rid of "2nd top ranked student in my faculty." achievement or
provide better context. It's doing a disservice to every achievement listed
below it.

\- Your skills make you sound like a jack of all trades. Jack of all trades
are generally assumed to be a master of none. While I'm proficient in a wide
range of technologies, I limit what I present to what I want the conversation
to be focused on.

------
bpires
I've went through the same thing as OP. I'm a student located out of the US
that applied for internships at all major companies in the US (Microsoft,
Facebook, Google, Apple, Palantir, etc) for summer last year. I really have to
disagree with people mentioning cover letters or costs to bring international
students. I didn't submit any cover letter and got accepted for two of those
companies for an internship in the US and accepted an internship with one of
them.

Google for example really doesn't care about cover letters. This used to be at
Google's Job FAQ: "Cover letters are optional, and applications with them are
not preferred over those without. We recommend using a cover letter only to
bring up anything that would not be evident from the rest of your application.
It can also be an opportunity to let Google know about you as an individual,
in addition to why you're a good fit for the organization. We strongly
recommend using your resume to represent your candidacy."
[http://www.google.com/intl/cn/jobs/students/sga/mba/internsh...](http://www.google.com/intl/cn/jobs/students/sga/mba/internships/uscanada/faqs/)

By a Google Screener: "As a heavy interviewer and occasional resume screener
at Google, I rarely look at the cover letter. Your resume should give me
enough context for whether you have the key experience for the role."
[http://www.quora.com/How-should-a-cover-letter-for-Google-
lo...](http://www.quora.com/How-should-a-cover-letter-for-Google-look)

I've noticed you've probably studied a lot already on how a resume look like,
I can see you're using Gayle's template for CVs and I did the same thing. Your
CV is pretty good and better than mine, it should definitely be attractive to
recruiters because of your awards (ACM ICPC 2015 World Finalist) and your
previous experience (multiple internships).

Here's the thing, the hard part is getting a recruiter to actually read your
CV. Coincidentally or not, only the companies to which I was referred by full
timers actually bothered to interview me. I have the impression the strength
of the referral also makes a huge difference. For one of the companies my
referral was from another intern and I didn't get an interview. Was your
referral from an FTE or another intern?

The one difference I can pinpoint between us is that you're applying from the
middle east and I applied from Europe. I'm really not sure how much of a
difference this makes, but I can tell you that I did not see many foreigners
from that region during my internship last year. I'm not sure this should
actually make a difference, because my visa situation wasn't quite simple
either and the company didn't seem to have any issue with the fact I'm from
south america and applied for a J1 visa while living abroad in Europe. My
guess would be your CV isn't getting read and to try to get stronger
referrals.

~~~
s54b32dd
Makes a big difference. Applying for work visas for someone from the EU is
totally different than applying for a work visa for someone from the middle
east.

~~~
bpires
I'm not an EU citizen. I doubt top tech companies would reject a candidate
just because it's more visa work. They usually have an entire immigration
department just for handling these cases.

~~~
dirkdk
You have no idea what a pain the US visa process is. For instance, for regular
employees your employer needs to obtain a H1B visa. There is a maximum of
85,000 a year, which is reached in one week for the last 3 years.

~~~
bpires
Did you read what I said? I've went through the visa process.

------
antocv
Your name, Mohamed, -1 point.

Also, you re not living in the US, EU or Japan, hence -1 point, and your CV is
now not read. Next.

Sorry, but thats the way it is.

Just make an experiment, if you dont believe me, send the same CV, from
Norway, by the name Peder Niklasson or something. But too bad you cant do this
experiment now since its on frontpage. But try it next time.

EDIT: Since you cant really solve the "born in the wrong place" quite easily,
Id suggest to look for jobs NOT at the big companies - and instead try to find
startup or medium sized normal companies - they might go through the trouble
of getting you a visa and work permit.

~~~
mewwts
That's a very Swedish name for a Norwegian person ;) Jokes aside I have
through referrals been interviewed for positions at Google in Europe. Didn't
make the cut, but at least they looked at my CV.

~~~
gizzlon
yeah, try "Petter Nilsen" :)

------
josteink
Just like everyone can't be a multi-billion paid CEO for a international mega-
corp, not everyone can be a engineering whiz at a big & famous international
mega-corp.

Some things are just down to luck.

Instead of focusing only on the "big ones", just go get your first good job
elsewhere. The important part isn't which company it is, but that the job
makes you happy and satisfied.

Once there take the opportunities you can and work your way up gradually. You
may not end up where you thought you would or where you planned, but if you
stayed focused on job-satisfaction all the way through, you'll end up
somewhere you'll be happy to stay.

And that's much more important than working for a famous mega-corporation.

Edit: My attitude and opinions towards job-satisfaction are obviously not
overly appreciated here on HN. Watch me care :)

~~~
antocv
Yeah, that bugs me too, why has he only applied to "big ones" companies, like
they are some desirable place to work? Hah.

Apply for small to medium sized companies, and avoid "big" names.

