Why CS Graduates Struggle to Get Hired—and How to Fix It

I recently spoke with Dayo, a recent computer science graduate from Northwestern University. He had applied to more than 70 jobs—startups, large companies, and entry-level roles—but hadn’t received a single interview.

No callbacks. No phone screens.

We did a live resume review and discussed what’s going wrong—not just for Dayo, but for many new grads today.

📺 Watch the full session here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkPxFlEZZJ0

What’s Really Going Wrong

1. No Clear Focus Dayo’s resume didn’t say what kind of role he was aiming for—backend? game development? iOS? In today’s market, general resumes don’t work. Recruiters need to immediately understand what you’re targeting, or they move on.

2. Project Work Lacked Depth Dayo had completed a few projects, but they looked like standard coursework. That’s a solid start, but in a competitive market, it’s not enough. Projects should reflect real technical challenges, creative decisions, or deeper functionality that aligns with your target job.

3. No Internship or Practical Experience This was the biggest blocker. Today’s “entry-level” often assumes at least one internship or equivalent hands-on experience. Without that, many resumes are filtered out before a human even sees them.

What You Can Do Differently

Start With Direction Before applying, know what you’re aiming for. Then tailor your resume and projects around that niche. A general CS degree isn’t enough—you need to show how you apply it.

Build Something That Shows You're Ready You don’t need a job to build something real. If you want to work in game dev, build a game that demonstrates gameplay logic, design, and polish. If you're interested in backend, build an API and deploy it. Pick something you're excited to go deep on.

Create Your Own Experience Internships are great—but not the only path. Many small companies or solo founders are open to help for a few weeks. The experience (and the story) is often more valuable than the paycheck at this stage.

Understand the Market Some companies filter applicants by location, recency of application, or inferred experience. Applying in the first 24–48 hours helps. So does targeting roles where you're actually a fit—not just any job with "software" in the title.

Final Thoughts

A CS degree opens the door, but it doesn’t walk you through it. Employers want to see focus, depth, and momentum. And you can build that—even in a tough market.

Start by clarifying your target, building projects that reflect real capability, and looking for hands-on opportunities—even if you have to create them.

📌 Start with a free resume review at applicationowl.com/free-report 🎥 Watch the full resume review session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkPxFlEZZJ0