<p>My GPA is a 2.9 and the only jobs available right now where I live are not what I would consider "real" engineering jobs. Like, they are hotel "engineer", water reclamation "engineer", and traffic "engineer". Reason I say "engineer" is because they are job positions with the engineering label attached to them but they do not require the 4 year engineering degree, yet the job supposedly requires you to perform technical tasks. I am finished with all my required classes and ready to graduate. Should I:</p>
<p>a) Raise my 2.9 GPA by taking easy classes next semester.</p>
<p>b) Graduate and work at these not so resume impressive "engineering" jobs to gain experience.</p>
<p>c) Graduate and just apply anywhere and everywhere across the country, hoping my 2.9 GPA will land me in a job that requires a BS in engineering.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t take those “engineer” jobs that don’t require a degree. IMHO, those are the beginning to a downward spiral that would be hard to pull out of.</p>
<p>What was your GPA in your STEM classes? I would always calculate the STEM GPA for college applicants as those are the classes I, as a hiring engineering manager, was most interested in. That is where I wanted to see something more than a 3.0 GPA.</p>
<p>Also, was your GPA going up or down as time went on in school. A rising GPA was telling me that you understood the more difficult upper division classes that used the background from your earlier classes. If it was rising, you may want to report your overall GPA as well as your “upper division” GPA on your resume.</p>
<p>Do you have any project experience or internships that you could highlight? Employers always like it when an applicant has some kind of experience in the field that the offered job in in. Not that the experience is all that valuable (it is to a point), but that it shows that you are more likely to stay as you have that knowledge of what the job is about and still want to work in it.</p>
<p>With a sub 3.0 GPA, most big companies won’t be interested. You still should be able to find work at a smaller company that won’t have the rigid criteria that the big companies do. Look at Craig’s list, it seems to have more of the small company jobs. It will take time, but will be worth it. </p>
<p>BTW, a lot of companies shut down their hiring between Thanksgiving and New Years. They have a lot of people on vacation and it kind of naturally bogs down. Besides, they don’t want to pay a new hire holiday pay when they can just start them after the holidays. They will place the ads (so you need to look and respond) and they will just wait to respond to the applicants.</p>