How to Land a New Grad Job

A guide to landing a software development job after graduation

Michael
7 min readFeb 10, 2023

With the mass layoffs across the tech sector, it has become more challenging to find a new grad job. Going from a period of mass hiring we are now facing a cooldown period with much fewer job postings.

These times require more effort to land a job. You will need to stand out across a large pool of applicants.

I was fortunate to recently secure a position as a backend engineer at Circle. In this article I will share what I learned during the job search process.

Build a Strong Resume

A high-quality resume is a must-have. A new grad CS resume will typically include contact information, education, work experience, side projects, and skills.

A good resume needs to be ATS-friendly. ATS stands for Applicant Tracking System. It’s a program that companies use to automate the selection of applicants based on resume keywords. Your resume might never be read by a human.

Resumes that are not ATS-friendly parse worse and are less likely to move forward to the next stage of the interview. One popular template for an ATS-friendly resume is Jake’s Resume.

If you pass the ATS screening, your resume will later be further reviewed by human resources, your interviewers, and your manager. Be honest — your interviewers will look for a sincere vibe.

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Michael

I am currently a backend engineer. I like to research new topics and blog about them.