FULL REPORT | JANUARY 2021
Internship and Career Plans for Computer Science Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Who Gets Assessments, Interviews, and Offers?
On average, respondents received online assessments from 4.67 (sd = 4.93) different companies, first round interviews from 2.58 (sd = 2.36) companies, and final round interviews from 1.88 (sd = 1.85) companies.
DOES INTERVIEW PREPARATION MATTER?
Two questions addressed the amount of time respondents spent preparing for interviews. Students were first asked the duration (in weeks) that they spent preparing for interviews. Then, they were asked how many hours per week they prepared on average. Responses to this second question ranged from 0-2 hours (42 students, 37.84%) to over 40 (2 students, 1.8%).
Stratifying the results by those who received offers and those who did not presents a few differences. Those who received offers prepared for an average of 10.8 weeks, while counterparts who did not prepared for an average of 7.4 weeks. Not only did offer receivers prepare longer, they also prepared more intensively, with an average of 6.2 hours per week, compared to those with no offers who prepared an average of 5 hours per week. Furthermore, offer receivers from “Big Five” technology companies (Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft) reported an even higher average of 7.2 hours per week.
INTERVIEW PREPARATION TIME: A DEEPER DIVE
A statistical regression was performed to examine the associations between the duration in weeks spent preparing for interviews and the number of companies that offered online assessments or interviews received. The following table shows correlation coefficient (r-value), coefficient of determination (r^2), and p-value from the analysis of variance (ANOVA) model:
Online Assessment | First Interview | Final Interview | |
Correlation Coefficient (r) | 0.3315 | 0.1465 | 0.1682 |
Coefficient of Determination (r^2) | 0.1099 | 0.0215 | 0.0283 |
p-value from ANOVA | 0.0004[1] | 0.1250 | 0.0777 |
[1] ≤0.005 significance level
The p-value possibly suggests a statistically significant relationship in the number of companies offering online assessments with respect to the duration spent preparing for interviews. However, it does not suggest a strong correlation between the time spent on preparing for interviews and either the number of companies offering online assessments or interviews. In short, the relationship between the number of weeks spent on interview preparation and receiving a final interview is modest at best. Respondents were also asked to approximate the hours per week spent on interview preparation, and a similar regression was performed:
Online Assessment | First Interview | Final Interview | |
Correlation Coefficient (r) | 0.1502 | 0.1435 | 0.1924 |
Coefficient of Determination (r^2) | 0.0226 | 0.0206 | 0.0370 |
p-value from ANOVA | 0.1157 | 0.1328 | 0.0431[1] |
[1] ≤0.05 significance level
This time, the p-value possibly suggests a statistically significant relationship between the number of companies offering final interviews with respect to the number of hours per week spent on interview preparation. However, the regression analysis also shows no discernible correlation between hours spent and the number of companies that offered either online assessments or interviews.
Note that the responses are as of the date students submitted the survey; because it was open for several weeks, variation in submission date accounts for some of the variability in reported preparation time and duration.
DO REFERRALS MATTER?
Among the 73.87% of respondents (82 students) who reported receiving a referral, the largest number were obtained through a personal connection (78 students or 95.12%). Another 11 students (13.41%) reported reaching out to them through LinkedIn, while only 7 (8.54%) and 9 (10.98%) came from club and academic connections, respectively.
As the above and below charts suggest, there does not appear to be a discernable correlation between applying with a referral and the number of companies offering either first-round interviews or internships.
