Somya Elora

I moved to the United States five years ago, and it was a blank slate. I had a well-set career in India as a product manager in medical devices, but when I relocated, everything changed. Then COVID hit. I was unemployed for nearly a year, then joined a nonprofit as a program manager that wasn't what I wanted. After six to eight months of nonstop applications with no results, I realized something was fundamentally wrong.

The first two months in the program were about completely reworking everything from scratch — resume, LinkedIn, tell me about yourself, stories. Unlearning old habits was uncomfortable but necessary. When coaches gave me the green signal in mock interviews, I started applying again and was getting responses two times faster than before.

Within two and a half months, I was interviewing at the final round for two companies and received offers from both. I chose Molecular Devices. When my one-year contract was ending, I went back to the job market and cracked three interviews within one month. I negotiated a 25% salary increase, a promotion, and a full-time position.

My advice: come with an open mindset, be ready to unlearn what isn't working, and start fresh. The unlimited live interview practices were the outstanding factor — no other program offers that.