Katie Dobihal
- Ume Habiba landed internships at JP Morgan, Cisco Meraki, Estee Lauder, and Microsoft.
- She built an authentic brand on LinkedIn, focusing on diversity and inclusion in tech.
- Her strategic use of LinkedIn and résumé optimization for AI helped secure these opportunities.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ume Habiba, a 22-year-old college student at the University of Maryland. It's been edited for length and clarity.
I landed software engineering internships at JP Morgan, Cisco Meraki, Estee Lauder, and Microsoft — all before my senior year of college. But it wasn't academic successes or technical prowess that landed me these internships.
I created an authentic brand that shows recruiters who I am.
I started volunteering to teach basic coding in high school
In high school, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in tech, so I attended a two-week web development camp at Kode With Klossy, a free coding camp for teen girls. I fell in love with their mission to make tech more inclusive for underrepresented communities and knew I wanted to bring that advocacy to my career. The next year I became an assistant instructor, teaching hundreds of young women the basics of HTML, CSS, and Javascript.
Going into college at the University of Maryland, I continued volunteering with Kode with Klossy while pursuing a degree in information sciences with a minor in computer science.
My internship at JP Morgan was completely unexpected
I spent my freshman year focusing on my studies, but during my sophomore year, I decided to attend my university's virtual career fair. I wasn't planning on pursuing an internship that summer, but I wanted to dip my toes in the water and see what the job landscape looked like. I unexpectedly hit it off with a JP Morgan representative who resonated with my passion for inclusion.
Although he wasn't a recruiter, he told me I'd be a great fit for their software engineering summer internship and gave me a link to apply. So, I did. Every time I finished a step in the application process, I messaged him on LinkedIn, and he advocated for me to the recruiters.
After an expedited interview process, thanks to my internal connection, I received an offer to work out of the Wilmington, Delaware, office the summer after my sophomore year. It wasn't necessarily the glamorous city I'd hoped for, but it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up.
I took another internship provided by Kode With Klossy at Estee Lauder in their software engineering department. The first half of my summer was spent at JP Morgan, and the second half was spent at Estee Lauder, with only one week of chaotic overlap between the two.
I started building my brand on LinkedIn
I was doing so much that summer, so I shared my volunteer, internship, and professional updates on LinkedIn. I saw the platform as an underutilized professional development space and used its chain-reaction algorithm to garner attention as a force in tech and DE&I.
I posted three times a week, including internship achievements, visits to Kode With Klossy camps, and key takeaways from each week's Kode With Klossy speaker series. I focused less on curating impactful or pretty posts and more on keeping my network up-to-date with my milestones.
As more people reached my profile, I wanted to make my brand unmistakable. I added DE&I to my career headline, got a professional headshot for my profile picture, and wrote an extensive bio that told the story of who I was and what initiatives I cared about. I was scared of my commitment to LinkedIn being cringey, but the near-immediate payoff made it worth it.
LinkedIn landed me my next internship
Within weeks of building my LinkedIn presence, recruiters from notable companies like Oracle, HubSpot, and Cisco Meraki started filling my DMs with job offers. I hopped on calls with every recruiter, regardless of my interest in pursuing a job with them, to build industry connections.
A recruiter from Cisco Meraki asked me to apply for a full-time software engineer role. I told them I was still in college but would be interested in any internship opportunities. Within a month, I locked in an internship with them for the summer after my junior year.
I continued posting on LinkedIn throughout that year, accepting more recruiter interviews and building my network.
I've adapted my résumé for AI
I applied to the Microsoft internship program four times before landing it this summer. I'm sure that my LinkedIn presence and growing number of professional experiences helped my chances. Still, I don't think I could've gotten the job without drastically changing my résumé.
Résumés these days are parsed through AI software before even landing in the hands of a recruiter, so I optimized my résumé for AI by removing color and shaving it down to one page.
I also ditched the "about me" section and only included my GPA upon request. I used the extra space to add more quantitative data about my tangible impacts at a given company. In my experience, numbers have always been more alluring to recruiters than a huge chunk of text.
Most importantly, I did to my résumé exactly what I did to my LinkedIn: embodied a brand and told a story. My résumé isn't just a highlight reel of my most flashy achievements: it shows meaningful experiences representing my mission for inclusion in tech.
I used GitHub to prep for my Microsoft interview
I didn't hear back from Microsoft for months after applying for its internship until I stumbled on an unexpected email telling me I'd moved on to the final round of interviews. I was immediately skeptical of its legitimacy because I hadn't even done a phone screening or online assessment. After doing what any normal human would do — consult Reddit for advice — I hesitantly accepted an interview scheduled a few weeks later.
I was told to prepare for two 45-minute interviews, one of which was behavioral and the other was a coding test. Many people like LeetCode for coding prep, but I went to the GitHub repository, which has every Microsoft-specific problem broken down into explainer videos. I prefer having a step-by-step breakdown of how someone approached a problem.
I also ensured I went into the interview knowing exactly what I wanted. I confidently told them about my passion for DE&I and requested to work in back-end engineering. In fact, I told them if they only had an offer for the front end, don't hire me. I got an internship offer the next week.
My brand is my biggest strength
All of my successes come down to my commitment to my brand. Everything from my LinkedIn to my résumé tells a story of my career and personal aspirations. Even in my interview with Microsoft, my confidence in who I am and what I want shines through and makes me a unique candidate.
If you landed multiple dream roles in Big Tech and would like to share how you did it, please email Tess Martinelli at tmartinelli@businessinsider.com.