Summer 2025 marked our third official software engineering intern class! This year, we welcomed 10 talented interns from universities across the US and Canada to our Santa Monica HQ.
From shipping new features to production, to trying their hand at wheel throwing in a pottery class, working up a sweat kayaking, and soaking in the quintessential LA experience on a WB Studio Tour, our interns truly embodied ZipRecruiter’s core values: delivering excellence without ego, building fearlessly, and putting their hearts into everything they do.
Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the impact they made (and the fun they had) this summer!
Intern Projects Spotlight
From day one, our interns dove straight into meaningful projects – no “intern work” here. Their work spanned across machine learning, mobile, big data, and full stack, taking on real challenges and shipping code that directly impacts job seekers and employers. Here’s a peek at what they built:
Soham Patel, Search Infra Team
“My project was super unique because it explored how we could return more relevant job search results by independently interpreting job seeker queries. I used a Named Entity Recognition (NER) tagger model to analyze job seeker queries and apply different search treatments, then tested which approaches yielded the most relevant job matches while not decreasing result size significantly.”
Milia Nguyen, Growth Team
“I worked on a project to modernize and refactor a legacy system used for data synchronization. The data I worked with was highly versatile and constantly changing, meaning that I had to carefully test solutions to account for variations between different environments.”
Rajat Khare, Search Experience Team
”My project was building a Map View for the job search page, which served as a proof of concept for a real business need. It was exciting because I got to work full stack with both TypeScript and Go, and it’s a user-facing feature that can make job searching easier, especially for blue-collar workers. The combination of technical challenge and potential user impact made it really rewarding.”
Mathu Nada, Candidate Engagement Team
“I created a tool that allows sales reps to quickly generate reports with valuable job market insights and hiring strategy suggestions for organizations. I personally value seeing that my work makes a positive difference in people’s lives, and the clear impact my project had on improving sales reps’ efficiency and providing organizations with the data and recommendations they need to hire effectively on ZipRecruiter’s platform has been very satisfying.”
Surprising Lessons
Every internship comes with “aha!” moments – the unexpected lessons that will continue to stick with you long after the summer ends. Our interns shared the insights that surprised them most about working at ZipRecruiter and in the recruiting industry:
Rajat Khare, Search Experience Team
“How interconnected the teams are. Even as a software engineer intern, I was able to collaborate closely with Product and Design, and I felt that my input was valued in those discussions.”
Mathu Nada, Candidate Engagement Team
“The marketplace is a delicate balance. There needs to be enough employers and job postings so that job seekers can find the opportunities they’re looking for, and enough job seekers so that employers can find the right candidates for their roles.”
Why ZipRecruiter?
For our interns, it came down to impact, mentorship, and culture – plus a little bit of fun along the way. Here’s what drew them in and what they loved most about their summer:
Soham Patel, Search Infra Team
“I wanted to work for a company in the recruiting space to improve a part of the job search journey that I had found tedious in my own experience. I also really enjoyed their interview process, which focused a lot more on machine learning, the area of specialty I’m passionate about.”
Milia Nguyen, Growth Team
“The people at ZipRecruiter played a crucial role in my development and learning. They were always supportive, eager to answer my questions, address concerns, or help me troubleshoot when I got stuck. Even though my team was fully remote, I never felt like I was working alone. The collaborative culture and mentorship I experienced made me feel connected and empowered to learn and grow throughout my internship.”
Advice for Future Interns
Who better qualified to give tips than those who’ve just lived the experience? Our interns had plenty of wisdom (and a few secrets to success) to share:
Soham Patel, Search Infra Team
“Ask as many questions as possible. There’s so much happening in the production ecosystem, and I only learned about all the moving parts because I actively sought out walkthroughs and explanations from team members who were always ready to help.”
Milia Nguyen, Growth Team
“Actively seek opportunities to learn beyond the scope of your assigned project. Building a foundational understanding of your project can be challenging and time-consuming; however, it is essential to spend time connecting with employees across ZipRecruiter to ask about the work they do, the tech stack they work with, and the challenges they’re trying to solve. This helps you better understand the work at ZipRecruiter while exposing you to the various projects and initiatives that engineers are working on to improve the company. Make sure to prepare before asking questions, but don’t worry about whether your questions seem “silly” or your explanations are unclear, this kind of worry can hold you back from improving. Doing so ensures that you stay connected with your mentor and team, while also feeling supported throughout your internship.”
Rajat Khare, Search Experience Team
“Integrate yourself into your team as much as possible, from design discussions to engineering implementation. Don’t be afraid to share your thoughts, and at the same time, lean on your mentor and peers by asking questions, they’re your best resource. Keeping this balance will help you get the most out of your internship experience.”
Mathu Nada, Candidate Engagement Team
“Don’t be afraid to reach out to people across the organization, even if they are on different teams or are more senior. I’ve found that everyone is very passionate about their work, and incredibly kind and respectful.”
We’re so proud of the curiosity, creativity, and technical excellence our 2025 interns brought to ZipRecruiter. Their work this summer not only enhanced our platform but also strengthened our mission to connect people to their next great opportunity.
Whether they rejoin us as full-time teammates, continue their studies, or pursue new adventures, their contributions have left a lasting mark on ZipRecruiter, and we can’t wait to see what they build next.
