Ryan Khan applied to more than 150 jobs before he landed his first internship. On Tuesday night, the University of Maryland alum joined three other recent graduates in Hornbake Library to share their career experiences with students who plan to enter fields in science, technology, engineering and math.
The event, hosted by the University Career Center through the computer, mathematical and natural sciences college, was held amid an increasingly challenging job market for STEM graduates. The panel of four alumni — all from this university — took turns offering advice to an attentive student audience, who ate pizza and asked questions during the presentation.
Khan, who graduated in 2024 and now works at Morgan Stanley, recommended a repetition-based approach to applying: change your resume after five consecutive rejections, ask someone “smarter than you” to review it after 10 and seek out a mentor after 20.
“The only reason why I got my job is because of the dozens of people that have helped me before,” Khan said.
Another panelist, Fenil Gholani, told students about the importance of refining their communication skills.
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“You gotta be constantly talking to different kinds of people,” said Gholani, who earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science in 2021 and a master’s in cybersecurity in 2022.
Now a software engineer at Yahoo, Gholani recommended practicing networking to build confidence in professional settings.
The panel gave some students useful advice for navigating the job search. Shivani Nadella, a sophomore computer science major, attended the event to learn from alumni who have gone through similar challenges.
“It’s always good to talk to industry or people that already have the jobs you’re going for,” Nadella said. “Everyone had really specific, great advice.”
Nadella said she has been actively applying to jobs and frequently attending career events at this university. Changes to the job market brought by artificial intelligence have created challenges, she said, especially as students increasingly compete with automation for entry-level positions.
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“You have to make sure you’re doing something unique or contributing something that is taking human intelligence or human skill that can’t be automated,” Nadella said.
Research published in August by Stanford University reported that workers aged 22 to 25 in fields where AI can automate tasks — including software engineering — have experienced employment declines of up to 13 percent since late 2022, when OpenAI released ChatGPT.
Despite the challenges, the speakers at Tuesday’s event stressed the importance of resilience while toughing out the job application process.
Rebecca Ryan, program director for the University Career Center at the computer, mathematical and natural sciences college, organized the event as part of a broader effort to support students during what she described as an abnormal time in the job market.
Ryan said the goal was to bring students together to hear from alumni who could validate their struggles while offering them guidance. She emphasized that many university resources remain available to help students, even as the market shifts.
“I think the job market feels scary right now for a lot of people in Maryland,” she said. “Most of us know people who have lost a job.”
Ryan added that large tech companies cutting positions has contributed to anxiety about the market. Still, Ryan said the Career Center’s goal is to help students maintain hope and confidence by hosting similar events throughout the year.
“There are still opportunities,” she said. “The jobs still exist.”
