Finding Your First Internship as a Waterloo Freshman
January 21, 2026
Context on Waterloo
If you're a Waterloo student or adjacent in the tech field, you may be aware of the Waterloo co-op system: Every engineering and math student enrolled in the co-op program must undergo two full years of internships before graduating. The secret sauce to achieving this amount of professional experience within a five-year program comes down to two ingredients:
- Start doing internships within the first year.
- Have no breaks in the academic year.
This article mainly highlights the findings I learned as I was applying for internships through the Waterloo co-op program.
Job
There are a lot of jobs on the market. What I learned is that it's not hard to find a job. You just have to know where to look and what the employers are looking for.
You can typically consolidate it down to three things:
- What makes you, you?
- Outreach to hiring managers is better than cold applications.
- Solid resume and number game.
Who are you?
You must do the following self-reflection: What makes you unique as a person? What have you done that makes you unique? What are you passionate about?
Your answer to these simple questions is what makes you hireable as a first-year with no professional experience. You need to own your uniqueness, your experiences, your projects, and your extracurriculars.
For example, if you are passionate about open source, you can highlight your contributions to open source projects. If you have a unique hobby, you can highlight how that hobby has taught you skills that are transferable to the workplace. Passion can be applied to everything.
Reach out
If possible, you shouldn't cold apply. Most companies screen your resume through an ATS (Applicant Tracking System) before it even reaches a recruiter. This means as a freshman, you will not even reach a human 90% of the time. You simply lack the experience needed.
By reaching out to a recruiter (or even the CEO) directly, you skip the middleman (ATS). It is a guaranteed shot you reach a human, and a guaranteed opportunity to pitch yourself.
So don't fear rejection. Reach out on X, LinkedIn, email. Whatever you can find.
Build more high-quality homes
Your resume is the foundation of every job application. Think of it like real estate: if a house has a weak foundation, it doesn't matter how big or flashy it looks, it will never be that impressive. A strong foundation, on the other hand, allows the house to reach its full potential.
As a real estate agent, the more solid homes you have in your portfolio, the higher the chance a client will like one. Job applications work the same way. When you build a strong, well-tailored resume and apply to many roles, you increase both the quality of each application and the number of opportunities that can come your way.
Conclusion
Landing your first internship at Waterloo isn't about your past experiences or qualifications. In fact, nobody is qualified. It is about being intentional about the things you do.
If you invest early in building strong projects, owning your story, and applying consistently, the system starts to work in your favor. The process can feel discouraging at times, but each application, conversation, and iteration compounds. Start early, play the long game, and trust that opportunities will follow.
My Co-op Stats from 1B
