140k in student loans, no internship, 2.4 gpa, electrical engineering senior

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>I'm set to graduate this fall as an electrical engineering major at Purdue university with an emphasis on the power industry. I have several projects and relevant coursework on my resume, and I plan on reading a lot about power generation/control, power system protection, and power system distribution. I know how to study for interviews, I know a lot more about the industry than one would expect from my GPA.</p>

<p>By the time I graduate next semester I plan on having a 3.0 cumulative gpa (due to course retakes, and also my GPA will go up this semester to a 2.65.)</p>

<p>Will it take me a long time to find a job if I look hard enough? I realize that's an open ended question but generally speaking I know 3.0 is the cutoff for a lot of companies, and combined with a lot of knowledge about the job and several relevant skillsets, am I absolutely destined to spend 5-6 months looking for a job?</p>

2

<p>bump…</p>

3

<p>You should start looking for jobs before or during your final semester. Check out your school’s career fairs. Maybe you can land a job right before you finish and being working immediately after you graduate.</p>

4

<p>If you’re going into power systems you definitely want to get on track for getting your PE. It might not be a bad idea to take the EIT/FE when it’s offered in the fall.</p>

<p>You should also start looking for jobs as soon as possible. I know a lot of cities are in rough situations, and they’ve instituted hiring freezes. Not sure how privately run utilities are doing, though.</p>

5

<p>Purdue11 - There is a large variety of jobs within the power industry, from Sales Engineer to rewinding distribution transformers in a smelly factory. I will make a couple of assumptions and give my advice from there. Most of this would apply to any lower GPA engineering student.</p>

<p>Work Experience/co-op - Since you haven’t mentioned any, I will assume it’s not there. Do everything in your power to get some experience, then work your tail off to get good recommendations. This will trump your school projects and readings, and will go a long way in diminishing the impact of the lower gpa.</p>

<p>EIT- take the test; it is necessary in this field. You may also want to pre-emptively take the GRE. Courses toward an MSEE while working shows commitment to the career.</p>

<p>Network - Get socially connected to professors, professional societies, and anyone who may be able to give you a lead on a job. Attend events and conferences that cater to professional engineers. Target engineers and try to get business cards. Take notes (where and when you met, job title, interests, hometown, etc.) after meeting someone new so you can keep it all straight. People like to be remembered.</p>

<p>Sell yourself - Maintain a positive, confident, and courteous manner. We spend more time with other engineers than we do our own families. There is no way we will hire someone whiny or annoying. A good personality goes a long way in any field. Get a 1" plain black notebook and a pack of those clear plastic page holders to assemble an “ammo” book that you can bring to interviews. You need to have convincing, concrete evidence for choosing you over the other applicants with better experience and gpas.</p>

<p>Your GPA - Unfortunately, this automatically disqualifies you from even applying for a lot of jobs that require a “minimum 3.2.” Do not volunteer the gpa until required, but practice answering the question without apologizing, hanging your head or rolling your eyes. “It was difficult balancing the curriculum with my Division 1 wrestling schedule” would work well as long as it’s true. “I only did well in the courses that interest me” is a deal breaker.</p>

<p>Be persistent - Do not take the long list of rejections personally. You will get around 500 “nos” for each “yes.” Keep a list of who you contact, when, and with what information. Follow up, and do not be afraid to ask direct questions like “What company do you think I should contact next?” Many companies (like mine) will be hiring nobody, regardless of qualifications, but may be able to give you a next step.</p>

<p>Best of luck.</p>

6

<p>Keep trying to get some kind of work experience for this summer. Volunteer if you have to. Internship/Co-ops are the new entry level these days. Without one it will be hard to break into the field.</p>

7

<p>Definitely go the engineering career fair in the fall fully prepared. See if your career office provides mock interviews. Don’t put your GPA on your resume. If you’ve had an upward trend it’s ok to say that you had trouble adjusting at the beginning but that you’ve got the hang of it and have done well lately. </p>

<p>Questions I would ask you if I were interviewing you are

  1. What’s your favorite course, what did you like about it and why?
  2. What is it that you think you do really well. </p>

<p>If there were relevant courses that you’ve aced, that’s important to point out. For me personally, the reason I care about GPA is because I want to hire someone that’s learned the principles relevant to my field really well. If you’ve aced all of the power courses but did poorly in digital design, that’s ok. </p>

<p>With that kind of GPA, I would guess that your future is going to be in the more people end of the business than the hard core technical end. Read up on emotional intelligence and personal skills. </p>

<p>Nonetheless, if your learn the issues in the field that you want to go into really well, you’ll be impressive. Don’t BS and make believe that you know something that you don’t, that’s the third rail. But if there is relevant stuff that interests you that you know really well, don’t hesitate to discuss it. </p>

<p>Another thing that trips people up is the projects on your resume. These are critical since these are your only work experience. You need to know them inside and out. Try to anticipate people’s technical questions. I like people who are curious about their work. It’s really bad when I discuss someone’s project that they put on their resume in an area that I don’t know anything about, and find I that know more than they do after a 5 minute discussion only because they never asked themselves any questions and I asked good questions. I think anything on your resume is fair game. Otherwise, it shouldn’t be there. </p>

<p>I hope that’s helpful.</p>