Could self employment be hurting my chances at a internship?

Hi all,

I am a third year business student at a tier two Canadian university and I can't seem to find a summer internship. I've applied to 100+ of positions with no responses. Not just FO roles but also in ops, unrelated industries, entry level positions,etc. Browsing job forums and applying daily, following up with hr, contacting alumni, etc., nothing seems to help.

Here are my current stats
3.8 GPA major, 3.5 overall
Bootstrapped an ecommerce business to ~6k MRR in 3 months
Admin/accountant for family business
Self employed part time tutor
Can provide full resume if necessary

At this point, I am just hoping my ecom business doesn't fail but at at my current margins its netting me less than min wage here in Canada. Is there anything else I can be doing?

 

Also curious to hear some responses on this. I have a business as well...I make a decent living, but I have an offer that is more than fair and I'd like to get back into finance.

Edit: I'm in a different position because I am done with UG, but I'm curious to hear takes on this. I only have 1 year of experience in ER, so I don't want to opine since I've never been in a position to hire anyone.

 

In America, a 3.5 GPA or above is good. So from a GPA standpoint you're good.

If your businesses is netting you less than minimum wage, your business sucks. Despite that, however, it's pretty admirable to start your own business and shows a lot of hustle. My guess is that employers think that your business isn't legit - like, oh he sits on his laptop running Facebook ads for his Amazon drop-shipping business, let's get someone with actual experience.

I find it hard to believe you're getting no responses having applied to over 100 positions., considering you are at a tier two school.

 

If you're not even getting interviews the problem is either with your resume or networking, because your stats and school are fine.

If you want to post your resume (including formatting) take out your name, school, etc and see if that is the issue. As Sunshine said above, people may be reading the ecommerce business the wrong way and it is on you to make it seem legitimate on your resume.

Networking is less of a big deal with non-FO jobs, but still matters. How many alumni have you reached out to and how many responses have you gotten, any coffee chats?

Array
 

change the business portion of your resume...instead of saying you are the owner, pretend you are an employee at a small business, and then use the things you've done to come up with an attractive title and list of experiences.

most companies don't want to hire owners...they want to hire good obedient employees...so, make your resume reflect that.

things you want to include -how you work well with others -how you deal with problems -how you recognize inefficiencies, and how you make things better -how you change operations to save money, increase profit -how you are not an asshole person to work with -skills you've learned on the job

(you can't just say "i work well with others" you must demonstrate by example)

just google it...you're welcome
 

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