Penn State, 3.63 GPA, Materials Science/Engineering. I’m graduating in December and just starting looking for a job. I emailed a bunch of companies over the last few days and met a dozen or so at a careerfair last week. Haven’t heard anything at all back yet. I know it’s a bit early to freak out, but how hard it is to get a job in engineering these days? I have not had any summer internships, but I have been conducting research since the end of freshman year, including the summer. I even participated in DAAD’s RISE the previous summer, if that makes up for the lack of industry internships.
Do you have any connections or are you just dropping applications cold? I can’t remember the exact number, but referred applicants are far more likely to land jobs. That means ask professors who know you if they have any leads, especially ones you’ve done research with. Reach out on LinkedIn to students you know that graduated ahead of you that can vouch for you. Lastly, reach out cold to Penn State alumni on LinkedIn. The cycle is just starting, so don’t be discouraged. Good luck!
A few days? A week? I’m sure many of those resumes haven’t even hit the right desk yet. If you are open to moving, open to taking a job at a small firm or a big company, willing to try something you don’t have experience in, your chances will be better.
It can be frustrating finding a job, especially that first one. Most companies these days will only respond if their response is positive. Rejection letters are a thing of the past. That means you never know what’s going on in many cases. My daughter submitted a resume and talked to a recruiter in November and didn’t hear back until May. She ended up getting an offer and that’s where she choose to work.
Large companies are typically collecting resumes for June hires at this time of year. So, be sure to highlight in your discussion with a recruiter and/or your cover letter that you are a December grad.
Lack of an internship is not a big issue. I was interested in figuring out whether an applicant could “play well with others” and that is where an internship came in. There are other ways to show that.
The biggest, but certainly not the only, factor in getting a job is GPA. Yours is good enough.
Hang in there. It may take time, but you’ll get there.
You should be talking to the career center at your school. That is how I got interviews when I was a Senior, and it is how we collect a large portion of the new grad resumes we get. As was pointed out, this is the start of the recruiting cycle for June hires, so companies will be in the resume collection phase now and often start first round interviews in the next few months.
My understanding is that it is now easy to get engineering jobs. Source is about 10 relatives with EE degrees.
P.S. I can only speak with respect to experienced engineers.
Have you actually applied for a job yet? Dropping a resume at a career fair isn’t applying for a job, especially at a large company. Search positions at the companies you are interested in. Apply to the most recently posted jobs that are in your area. Our HR department must sort applicants first-in/first-out. So the best applicant does not necessarily get the job over the first one that meets the requirements. Greater than 3.5 in MSE you will have companies falling over themselves to bring you in once you get applications submitted It will likely take a few weeks to hear anything after you apply. Knowing someone on the inside that can point HR to you as an applicant is a huge plus.
I agree that professors are a great idea. My dad got many, many students jobs over the years. His ex-students contacted him every year to find out who he would recommend for interviews.