TL;DR: Sharing my experience in job searching within the aerospace industry; looking for advice and/or insights to how to break in.

To anyone reading this I am writing here to voice a bit of my thoughts for anyone interested and/or in the same boat.

I recently just graduated with a Masters in Data Science at the University of Southern California. As a first generation student in hopes of achieving new heights of success I was highly motivated to conquer this uncharted territory. Throughout, this college experience was a constant slug fest filled with difficulty, pitfall and failure - but in the end I was able to dig myself out with newfound knowledge, skills and applications in the field of Data Science.

Being excited with this newly achieved masters degree in data science it felt like the world was my oyster and opportunity was around every corner. I was promised by my advisors that I, “wouldn’t have to worry about finding a solid job because the amount of options that would find me would be overwhelming.” But seems like due to the current economy and hiring circumstances this is not the case. Before I further into a bit of a senseless rant, I want to acknowledge some good.

During my experience at USC I was able to land an internship at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a machine learning engineer. Man this job was amazing and the skill set that was obtained here was something like no other.

Being so grateful to be in this environment I began to kindle a newfound interest in the aerospace industry - which is where I now have my sights set on. Particularly NASA JPL or SpaceX would be a dream to continue my work at. There was a position that opened up in my department at NASA, and I was adamant at obtaining this spot. However, just before an interview there was a lab-wide hiring freeze nullifying any chance at accomplishing a full time job. I screwed up here because I put my eggs all in one basket; and now being that my internship ends in 5 days will be unemployed.

That being said, I began applying to jobs with high optimism because I felt my resume (having a masters from USC and a internship at NASA) would be acceptable for many companies in aerospace. However, after applying to jobs I was met with denial.

Over 250 applications were sent out to all different types of aerospace/defense companies (both the bigger ones and start ups). All of these apps were denied - not a single interview. I began to change my approach and really work on my cover letters and resume, spending nearly 30 minutes to an hour per app - but still met with denial.

After each denial it felt like a piece of my ambition and drive was getting shot down to nothing; thus beginning to flip these emotions into anger, frustration and depression.

Therefore, I write this post to invoke a response from anyone else facing a similar situation: unemployed and fed up because you believe you are worth more than constant rejection.

Yes this could be ego and entitlement coming from my constant belief that if you work hard you will be rewarded. But man this is pretty damn tough.

That being said, if anyone has experienced similar issues in the aerospace industry or is inside of a company and has insights of how to break in please share some advice for new grads interested in getting their foot in the door!

Thank you :)

EDIT 9/27/23:

(Please feel free to skip the info below, this post is already long and verbose)

I have received a lot of beneficial feedback from all in this thread and I thank everyone for their contributions. I believe I have centered the issue which is my resume. For anyone interested in my academic/work experience I have a BA in Communications and MS in Communication Data Science with 9mo of experience as a Machine Learning Engineer intern at NASA JPL.

A few pointers from the thread that could be beneficial to anyone in a similar position as me is:

1) Networking and building out connections and breaking in through the "backdoor" (Linkedin, Job Fairs, Counselors etc.)

2) Making sure your resume is not convoluted and gets to the point (include correct keywords for specific job)

3) Being willing to leave California for opportunities (Mentioned places of interest include Alabama, Colorado, Nevada, East Coast)

4) Believe in yourself.