I am incredibly grateful to have recently secured a co-op position as a data scientist with Oracle. Throughout my own experiences and insights gained during the interview and resume preparation process, I believe I can offer valuable advice to those who are currently in Round B or planning to apply for future internships or co-ops. However, I want to emphasize that everyone’s path is unique, and success ultimately comes from a combination of hard work, preparation, and a touch of luck. With that in mind, let’s dive into some tips that I think can maximize your chances of success (I’ll skip general tips)!

1. Resume preparation:

  1. While taking the COOP 101 class is essential, I’ve found that it’s crucial to go beyond what is covered in the course. Although it provides a solid foundation, you should strive to showcase your skills and experiences in a more detailed and tangible way to make your resume more competitive and stand out. Instead of simply listing relevant coursework, consider highlighting the skills you acquired through personal projects and work experiences. By providing specific examples, you can better demonstrate your abilities and qualifications to potential employers. For instance, rather than just mentioning that you took the INFO 212 Data Science Programming course, include a data science project you worked on during the class and outline the techniques/skills you utilized. Remember, recruiters and hiring managers may not be familiar with specific course names.
  2. Another tip is to customize your resume based on the specific role you are applying for. While it’s always beneficial to have multiple resumes tailored to different roles, personally, I found that customizing my resume based on the job description made a significant difference. Take the time to thoroughly review the job description, especially those that truly interest you, and compare it to your resume. Identify any keywords or skills mentioned in the description that you possess but haven’t included in your resume. Consider learning more about other relevant topics to enhance your suitability for the role. This proactive approach can make you stand out as a candidate genuinely interested in the position and help you learn new things outside of your academic coursework. In my experience, whenever I came across a job description aligned with my interests and aspirations, I updated my resume almost every day throughout the internship application process.
  3. Lastly, don’t underestimate the power of seeking advice and feedback from professionals in the field. Reach out to individuals who hold the job title you aspire to or who work at companies you admire. They possess valuable insights into their respective roles and companies. However, remember to use your own judgment and instincts when evaluating their advice, as you know yourself and your goals best.

I still have plenty more tips that I’d love to share, but for now, let’s move on to interview preparation.

2. Interview Preparation:

  1. When it comes to interview preparation, thoroughly study the job description and research the interviewers and the team you may potentially join. This will help you tailor your preparation to their specific needs and work style. Harnessing the power of ChatGPT can also streamline your interview preparation process. Utilize the model to analyze job descriptions, company information, and your own experiences. Personally, I’ve found reading job descriptions or researching about the team or company to be a bit tedious and easy to forget. This is where ChatGPT comes in. Prior to each interview, I would input information about myself, my experiences, the job description, and any relevant details about the job that I found helpful. I would then ask ChatGPT questions like “Why do you think you are suitable for the job?” or “Why do you want to work for the company?” or “What makes you a good candidate?”. By doing this, I received customized responses that served as a foundation for my interview preparation. Researching the team and individuals involved allows us to narrow down our focus and better prepare for the specific requirements of the role. Additionally, ChatGPT helped me generate thoughtful follow-up questions, showcasing my dedication and genuine interest in the role.
  2. Next, let’s discuss the importance of follow-up questions. In my experience, they play a crucial role since they demonstrate your dedication and the research you conducted on the team and company prior to and during the interview. I even received feedback from an interviewer who mentioned that the most impressive part of my interview was my follow-up question, as it showed my interest in a particular aspect where the team needed additional support (PS: I know that luck played a role in this, haha).

3. My Own Interview Experience:

For this co-op interview preparation, I searched the name of my interviewer to see what they did in the past. My approach was to sell myself and showcase as many aspects of myself as possible. What I learned is that the team uses a lot of ML and AI, utilizing SQL for data preparation, and heavily focusing on optimizing these models. As a result, I dedicated my time to learning ML and AI, revising different ML models for classification and regression, understanding metrics like F1 score and accuracy, and exploring techniques for NLP and dataset dimensionality. I also refreshed my knowledge of SQL, particularly focusing on techniques and popular queries for data preparation. During my interview, whenever I talked about my past experience, I made sure to highlight how I optimized or planned to optimize. I also emphasized my knowledge in ML and AI, specifically in the areas of NLP and healthcare data, as I discovered that the team had projects related to those domains. I actively steered the conversation towards health and NLP (I didn’t have experience in business), allowing them to ask me more questions in those areas. By leading the interview in a way that showcased my preparedness and skills, I was able to present myself in the best light possible. Of course, luck also played a part, as the projects they were working on aligned with the field I had put a lot of effort into and had sufficient experience in.

Overall, my advice here is that with enough and correct preparation, you can lead the interview and exert some control over it. This can boost your confidence and allow you to showcase yourself to the fullest.