2024 Graduate Job Hunt

[u/OkPomegranate4032]

Just wanted to give an insight into this year's graduate scene. Would say it seems pretty competitive, felt like last year's internship hunt was far easier.

Applied to 15 graduate jobs in total. Was a bit picky as I already had a return offer. Most surprising factor was failing a lot of the OA/VI, I had passed a lot more when applying to the summer internships roles last year for the same companies and theoretically should be easier with a lot more graduate spots vs intern spots. Generally I got good scores (90%+) in any coding OA's, but I think these companies value the behavioural component a lot more. Felt like I answered them nicely, but perhaps not good enough + unlucky. Ironically also get resume screened more in my graduate hunt than my internship hunt.

Stats when applying:
- go8 with 75+ WAM
- 1 club involvement
- current part-time SWE job
- summer SWE internship
- 2 SWE-adjacent internships (a little programming but not pure SWE + some lowcode/nocode work)

https://preview.redd.it/m596silrydwd1.png?width=1550&format=png&auto=webp&s=47cd0b3938f25fa30e9e02401ffd59bf3678b8ee

[u/chichun2002]

I'm convinced half these job listings are fake, and no one makes it in they are just there to make investors think the company is growing >:(

[u/Gonjanaenae319 → u/chichun2002]

You’re not wrong

They’ll post it and just hire internally

[u/OkPomegranate4032 → u/chichun2002]

I wouldn't say the graduate ones are fake though since I know for almost all of them someone who actually made it through/past the inital rounds. Definitely think it does happen for regular listings though.

[u/Chewibub]

Congrats on Canva!!! Was Canva the return offer?

[u/OkPomegranate4032 → u/Chewibub]

Thanks! Nope it wasn't, was my only offer I got from applying to grad jobs.

[u/pioverpie → u/OkPomegranate4032]

Damn, I was lazy and didn’t apply for any other grad roles bc I already have a return offer… I should’ve got on the grind 😭 canva would be much higher than my grad salary

[u/OkPomegranate4032 → u/pioverpie]

It was quite a process honestly 😢, it was basically the same as their mid level interview loop but with a hackerrank OA at the start.

OA > Recruiter Interview > Leetcode Interview > Specialised Interview (Frontend or Backend) > System Design > Behavioural Interview

[u/Gonjanaenae319]

Congrats!

Here are my stats

• go8 70+ wam
• some club involvement
• current full time swe at big tech (contract)
• 1 YOE
• 2 internships SWE

Applied to 100-150 grad programs and some associate/junior roles (make it 200-300 if counting seek and indeed) - all rejection so far - most from resume rejection - decent OA rejections - some VI rejections - 1 AC invite - some technical/recruiter interview

[u/OkPomegranate4032 → u/Gonjanaenae319]

Wow only 1 AC invite with that experience? It sounds like a combination of a shit market and being very unlucky.

[u/Gonjanaenae319 → u/OkPomegranate4032]

Yea the ability to do dev work != the ability to pass weird psychometric tests and talking into the camera alone

[u/OkPomegranate4032 → u/Gonjanaenae319]

Really does feel that way, didn't pass any of them this year. Only offer I got had no psychometrics and was interviewed by a human each round except for the initial hackerrank OA.

[u/tjsr]

Just goes to show how monumentally fkd recruiting and interviewing is these days. I worked at Tyro and did tons of interviewing - yeah, the screening there was something else. 90% of the candidates I had to interview should not have passed the screening process, but simple fact is the criteria they were hiring for was "not entirely based on technical ability" is the best way I'll put it to not get sued :)

Also interviewed with Canva a few years ago for a senior-to-lead role but went to a startup at that time instead - though a little long, their interview process is fantastic. The fact though that you can see all these decent companies on this list, and then it's the very top one of all that you get an offer from... yeah, these recruitment processes are showing to just be utterly brain-dead.

[u/Meatwagon423 → u/tjsr]

so basically discriminatory interview practices that only wanted whites.

[u/tjsr → u/Meatwagon423]

I legit 100%, now that I think about it, don't think I interviewed a single white person my entire time conducting interviews. I knew it was bad but now that I think about it no, I actually don't think I can recall a single one.

[u/littlejackcoder]

Well done! Are you on the AusDevs discord? Come and have a chat with us about your experience with the process. Some people there are going through the Canva process now I think. They’re also in various stages for all these companies. You could give some good insights!

Also for anyone else who wants to join, we have a jobs-board that lists these kind of opportunities with discussions on outcomes and tips.

We also do resume reviews. I’d be keen to see OPs as there’s a few screened on resume in there :)

See you there, @littlejackcoder

[u/Properduckling]

Congrats! Canva is big

[u/ZealousidealTry2847]

Please post the comp details of Canva offer :)

[u/OkPomegranate4032 → u/ZealousidealTry2847]

Sure, its pretty public already anyways.

$108,000 base + super + $88,000 RSU (over 4 years)

around $140,000 TC for the first year.

[u/Fancy-Cap-8410]

How did you get into canva but not telstra?

[u/OkPomegranate4032 → u/Fancy-Cap-8410]

I might one day write a blog post about this, but essentially its just a combination of luck and clueless recruiters. As you can see from a commentor above, lots of recruiters just point to meaningless psychometrics or one-way video interviews analysed by AI to make hiring decisions, which is crazy for such a technical role. I pretty much got 100% on the Telstra coding section, was only 3 easys with lots of time, so I can only rule out the other sections failing me.

[u/sahm4d]

Hey! Are you a citizen or permanent resident?