So I'm job searching now as I will graduate in May 2008 and currently I am looking for a job. However my GPA is also currently not too impressive (2.9). Talking to the career people at my school alot of the jobs require and 3.0 (some even want 3.5). Anyone know what sort of companies and position hire people for decent (obviously not gonna get great with a 2.9) salaries just for having an EE degree from a good college (Vanderbilt) and maybe aren't so hung up on the GPA? Also, what do you think the amount of money is someone should expect to consider a good offer with this GPA? I know I'm not a great candidate on paper, but at the same time I don't want to end up selling myself short and assuming I won't make a decent salary when I might be able to by exploring more options (personally anything over 50,000$ would be incredible in my books and over 40,000$ entirely acceptable as I know I will be able to build up from there since my work ethic in jobs is much better than it is for schoolwork based on previous experience).
Good jobs for EE students with crappy GPAs?
- Thread starter BrownTown
- Start date
Contact all the oil companies, they hire engineers left and right and aren't all that picky, at least for field positions.
Not a bad gig, good pay with plenty of room for upward movement.
Shell, BP, Valero, Exxon, etc.
Not a bad gig, good pay with plenty of room for upward movement.
Shell, BP, Valero, Exxon, etc.
My EE roommate had a 2.x GPA and got job offers from Motorola and the US Patent Office. He said they asked about why his GPA was so low, but didn't press it too hard since he apparently did well on the questions asked during the interview.
GPA matters to some degree, but if you interview well and have some prior internship experience, that will help a lot. If the only people that got hired were people with GPAs 3.5+, there would be a lot of unemployment, and that is not the case in the engineering industry.
The hardest bar for you will be getting to the interview stage, esp if you apply to larger companies - a lot of them screen by GPA. Once in the interview, it all depends on how you answer the technical questions - though some interviewers will ask you about your GPA, and it helps to have an answer for that.
Best option is probably contacts. If you know anyone in the EE area, ping them to get you a chance to interview - from there you're on your own merits, but you've at least negated one of the biggest issues your GPA will bring up - a lack of interviews.
Also, I don't know if you have done any internships in EE, that can also help a lot. Good luck. If you're interested in any specific area of EE, tell us, and someone can probably give you more specialized advice.
Depending on the region, and the job 44-55k seems reasonable.
Best option is probably contacts. If you know anyone in the EE area, ping them to get you a chance to interview - from there you're on your own merits, but you've at least negated one of the biggest issues your GPA will bring up - a lack of interviews.
Also, I don't know if you have done any internships in EE, that can also help a lot. Good luck. If you're interested in any specific area of EE, tell us, and someone can probably give you more specialized advice.
Depending on the region, and the job 44-55k seems reasonable.
I had a 2.x GPA with EE as well.
I work for a major aerospace company now. I did not put down my GPA on my resume.
All the GPA does is really get you the interview. Once you get the interview, your personality and social skills can really make up for it.
Ultimately I did not get the job, but the manager liked me so much that he referred me to another department, and that manager hired me.
That's how I got my foot in the door.
Good luck!
I work for a major aerospace company now. I did not put down my GPA on my resume.
All the GPA does is really get you the interview. Once you get the interview, your personality and social skills can really make up for it.
Ultimately I did not get the job, but the manager liked me so much that he referred me to another department, and that manager hired me.
That's how I got my foot in the door.
Good luck!
ebaycj
Diamond Member
- Mar 9, 2002
- 5,418
- 0
- 0
Originally posted by: Passions
I had a 2.x GPA with EE as well.
I work for a major aerospace company now. I did not put down my GPA on my resume.
All the GPA does is really get you the interview. Once you get the interview, your personality and social skills can really make up for it.
Ultimately I did not get the job, but the manager liked me so much that he referred me to another department, and that manager hired me.
That's how I got my foot in the door.
Good luck!
Bolded the right thing to do.
I have some industry contacts and had an internship however the company involved (Tennessee Valley Authority) is currently not hiring so they won't do much good there although if they are known by people at other utilities then their recommendations will be useful. I think the oil companies is a good suggestion if only because looking at the upcoming career fair oil companies are very highly represented and not alot of other companies are (for example no utilities which is where I have experience). In terms of classes taken though I have by far the most in the fields of signal processing and VLSI design, however these companies seem to be the most obsessive about GPAs from what I have heard, so It seems likely I will end up getting a job that doesn't use 80% of my university learned skills.
i was always under the impression that as long as your GPA is reasonable (aka, enough to graduate, like 2.0 or something) then it doesnt really matter if you know what you are doing and have experience. my oldest brother graduated with a 2.4 or something like that in marketing. he didnt have trouble finding a job (with a bank) and has since moved on up to branch manager (different bank though) making some good money.
Unfortunately, the bolded statement is true. Still, it can't hurt to chat up to people at career fairs etc., maybe someone will be impressed and get you an interview. The oil company stuff sounds interesting, if you don't mind traveling to oil rigs, etc. But my question was more like what area interests you the most (vs. what you took classes in, not necessarily the same thing). If VLSI work interests you, and you can't find a design position, try to get a position as an apps/dev/testing engineer in a company that also does VLSI design. Many of them will pay for you to get a masters' and with one (or if you show them with your work that you'll do well otherwise), you can get a transfer into more design like positions. But it's not a trivial jump to make - you need to have the commitment to work hard and impress people in your future field of interest, and that means performing above and beyond the average guy in your department.
I think what I might try to work on is power systems protection and control. That is something that requires signal processing and such and is also in the field of power systems where I have internship experience. The protection and controls people worked right across the hall from where I worked the last three summers and their job seemed pretty interesting. Only worry is that if you mess and casue a blackout it looks bad .
.I graduated from Vandy a couple of years ago with a worse GPA than you in EE. Do you have an upward trend in your GPA? I find that helps. I think that graduation with honors was a 3.2, so a 2.9 wasn't horrible back then.
I went on to grad school for my MS (at another school), so my experience looking for jobs was different. However, I remember many graduates in my year going to conferences in Huntsville, AL and getting defense/aerospace job offers on the spot. They had career fairs there in the spring. Hopefully you're a US citizen.
Nashville doesn't have much of an engineering market. I felt that was a big negative going to Vanderbilt for engineering.
I went on to grad school for my MS (at another school), so my experience looking for jobs was different. However, I remember many graduates in my year going to conferences in Huntsville, AL and getting defense/aerospace job offers on the spot. They had career fairs there in the spring. Hopefully you're a US citizen.
Nashville doesn't have much of an engineering market. I felt that was a big negative going to Vanderbilt for engineering.
edro
Lifer
- Apr 5, 2002
- 24,326
- 68
- 91
Unless you have a 3.5 or higher, just don't put it on your resume.
I only had one interview that asked my GPA (way way lower than 3.5), and that was the company that hired me.
You just need to be personable and have good answers to their questions.
There are no secret answers to questions to ask.
You just need to be friendly and get along with the interviewers.
I only had one interview that asked my GPA (way way lower than 3.5), and that was the company that hired me.
You just need to be personable and have good answers to their questions.
There are no secret answers to questions to ask.
You just need to be friendly and get along with the interviewers.
I was told by Boeing that they have much higher criteria for on campus recruiting (I went to school across the country from the location they were recruiting for) then they do for local recruiting. I've also heard that most people that get relocated for a job leave within the first 5 years, so large companies are only willing to relocate the very best candidates.
So, you still may have a chance with large companies, but you should keep your search local.
So, you still may have a chance with large companies, but you should keep your search local.
I have posted jobs by my company in the top thread in this forum.
We base starting salary on GPA but hiring pretty much on interviews.
I had a 2.4GPA with a computer science degree. I got hired because I knew my sh*t.
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