Applying for an internship or graduate role can leave you wondering what recruiters are really looking for. Harry, Talent Acquisition Specialist at Arm, shares his advice on what can make an application stand out, how to approach AI and what to expect as you move through the application and interview process.
What can make your intern or graduate application stand out at Arm?
My biggest piece of advice is to be specific and ground your application in real examples. We want to understand what you’ve actually done and what you’re passionate about. If you’ve built something, tell us about it. If you’ve tested, analysed or improved something, talk us through what you did and what you learned. It’s helpful to be clear about the role you played too, rather than only talking about the overall project.
We know you’re early in your career, so we’re not expecting you to be an expert. We’re interested in your curiosity, how you think about problems, the ownership you’ve taken and what you’ve learned along the way.
It’s also important to be yourself. You don’t need to try to sound like what you think a company wants to hear. Being able to talk clearly and honestly about your own experiences, even when you’re still developing them, can tell us a lot about you.
What does the application process for internships and graduate roles at Arm look like?
The process can vary slightly depending on the role, but it starts with an online application. We want to get to know a little more about your background, experience and interests, including the areas that interest you most and where you think you could fit best.
The first stage interview takes place via HireVue. You’ll answer a set of preset questions by recording video responses or submit written answers.
If you are successful then you will move to a final-stage interview, where you’ll get to meet the team. It’s an opportunity for us to learn more about how you approach problems, hear about your work and experience, and understand how your background could align with what the team is looking for.
The process is designed to give you the opportunity to show both your technical ability and your potential to be part of Arm.
Can you use AI in your application to Arm?
We know AI tools are part of how students learn and work. What matters to us is how you use them. Using AI to help with structure, clarity or to sense-check something is very different from relying on it to generate answers that don’t reflect your own thinking or experience.
We want to hear from you, so whatever you submit should still sound like you and be something you feel comfortable talking about if it comes up at interview. At the end of the day, we’re hiring the person.
How should you prepare for an intern or graduate interview at Arm?
Before your interview, it’s worth going back through your CV and revisiting your projects and experiences. If you’ve mentioned a project, think about how you’d explain what you did, the role you played and what you learned from it.
The people you meet at Arm will have spent time looking through your application and HireVue and will come to the conversation with things they’d like to hear more about. Spending some time refreshing your memory beforehand can help you feel more prepared to have that conversation.
Remember, you don’t need to know everything. We know you’re at the beginning of your career. Being able to talk clearly about your own experience, how you think and what you’ve contributed helps us understand more about you and what you could bring to Arm.
