Yes to
@DaveC426913 and his comments. Companies have HR departments for a reason. They field all job requests and organize them into categories. One reason is to comply with existing fair hiring laws and another is to make it easier on the manager to find a suitable candidate. Much of this work now is done by machine learning where resumes are read by computer, keywords are identified and resumes are categorized according to skills, level of skills and educational background as well as other searchable criteria.
The problem for any job seeker is to breach this wall by crafting resumes that match what the employer is looking for in a given job posting by simply telling them what they want to hear. Your resume has to be an honest description of your skills (just not all of them) which means you must craft your resume to focus on those things the company is looking for mostly (as described in the job posting) and to discard things that aren't relevant and that may cause the ML algorithm to drop you in the wrong bitbucket of resumes.
The better approach is to have an advocate on the inside ( a networking contact) that can recommend you to a manager. I've seen many folks get hired because they went to the same school as the manager or one of his trusted employees. Indeed, some companies will send their managers and junior people to the college campuses of their alma maters looking for other like minded student candidates.
Lastly, the notion of getting an internship has helped many students land decent jobs at major companies because they were able to show off their skills. Company managers took note and immediately offered them jobs bypassing the HR screening. They also got more networking contacts.
A key point here is that any student on an internship MUST be on their best behavior because EVERYONE is watching them and they are being actively evaluated by management. Slacking off, coming in late even a few times means you're not taking the opportunity seriously enough and will detract from your overall rating. An internship is like an extended job interview and you are being seriously considered for a position at the company.
One last point, for any student on an internship, you must also seriously decide whether you even want to work for this company. Look at how they treat their regular staff, look at how offices are laid out and how management operates and make an informed decision.
You can do this on interviews too. DON'T be a bump on a log only answering the manager's questions as he/she reads your resume (the only way he/she knows anything about you) looking for holes. You need to ask for a tour of the work environment, and see if the company is open to new ideas, new innovations, new equipment. Look at how happy the employees look, how well organized and personalized are their cubicles or office spaces.
Where does networking come in? From friends you make at school, from folks you meet during internships, conferences and other events. Try to get contact info like emails or phone numbers complete with full names and their interests.
Send thank you notes (an important networking skill) to interviewers and provide answers to questions about how you can help the company do better. Its hard but the better networked you are the better chances you have of always staying on top of stuff, of staying employed and of avoiding the dreaded HR bitbucket of resumes.
