I am graduating this May with B.S in Engineering from UNCC. For some medical reasons, I did bad in two semesters, so It ruined my GPA. I never liked my major but I couldn’t change because I needed to graduate ASAP; therefore, I ended up with my 3.0 Major and Cumulative GPA.
However, I have had two internship at Duke University Hospital (Research Analyst, and Research Assistant), an IT Tech position (promoted 2 times since I started), great senior design project, a summer abroad and Financial Analyst position, a resident Advisor position, I can use tons of applications and software (from MS project to PeopleSoft to SQL), and I have done lots of volunteering. Plus, tons of recommendations from all the managers I worked with. Everyone I ever worked with would say I am one of the best people they have ever worked with.
Despite that, I barely can get an interview. I have applied for more than 160 jobs the last 2 months, and I got around 5 phone interviews. I know my GPA is not that high, but Its kinda frustrating, every one looks at my resume tells me it look great, but when I apply for jobs, recruiters doesn’t seem to think the same way or even consider me.
Have you tried your university’s career fair? If you’re that personable and have so much experience to talk about, maybe you’d have better luck face-to-face instead of throwing an app into the sea of other searching students online?
Agree that you need to go to career services at your school.
You need to streamline your resume and avoid using the GPA.
I actually did go to the Career Center, and I been told that my resume looks great.
Even when I went to the career fair, recruiters seem to like me in person and urged me to apply online.
I am just afraid to remove my resume because I hired some companies would just trash the resume if it got no GPA
I am surprised you are having a hard time landing a job. I figured engineers were in such short supply that a 3.0 GPA would be fine to get a job. As was said, you should concentrate on the college’s career center and your Linkedin account. Visit those career fairs on campus as well.
Good luck.
You need to lose the GPA on your resume - just list your degree and work experience. Be proactive with followup. Instead of applying to a huge number of positions, pick a couple that you think are great fits and put all your effort into them.
Also - I don’t know what size companies you’re applying to, but if I were you I would keep an eye out for positions with small companies (less than 100 or even less than 50 employees). At a large company, your application is likely to get lost in a sea of 3.5s and 4.0s. At a small company, there’s a much better chance of your application getting in front of someone.
I highly recommend reading the blog Ask A Manager – it’s a great resource for resume/interview tips. It’s hard to say without seeing your resume or knowing how you interview, but you might stumble across something in your reading and realize that there’s some serious faux pas you’re making.
From your previous post:
The reason you are not getting job offers would probably have a lot to do with your status as an international student. US companies are required to find US citizens for any open positions first, and if they were to hire an international candidate, those companies would have to inform the US government that there are no qualified US applicants to fill the position.
Many of the big engineering firms cannot hire non-citizens because they will not qualify for security clearances. If you look at the big firms, their websites have posted that they are not sponsoring international candidates. It takes too long and costs too much.
@“aunt bea” +1
My mom is a recruiter and she avoids internationals at all costs because it’s runs about 5-8k to get them H1-Bs and such.
Much easier hiring Americans.
When international students attend US universities, it is expected that they will return to their home country to find jobs because the US companies cannot guarantee jobs to non-citizens.
But you aren’t a US citizen, correct?
Residency doesn’t matter. Any student who is on a visa at a US school, is a resident of wherever they attend their school; that doesn’t make them a US citizen.
When you were given your Visa, you weren’t automatically made a US citizen.