As someone who’s been unable to land an engineering job for 2 years after graduating with my bachelors, my biggest advice for those who have not yet entered the job market is to prioritize making connections. When I was getting my bachelors, I spent a lot of my time worrying about my GPA instead of what would help me secure a job upon graduation. While getting good grades is important, it is not the most crucial factor for landing a job. The majority of job applications I’ve completed do not even ask for your GPA.
The easiest connections to make are with your classmates, professors, and with your coworkers at an internship/co-op. You can also try messaging people that work at a company you’re interested in on LinkedIn, although I’ve found it difficult to receive a response if they were not an alumni from the school I went to.
Another piece of advice I can offer is to try your best to land a summer internship or co-op. Not only does this help you make connections with others in industry, it may also help you narrow down the types of jobs you pursue. For example, I had an internship as a Metrology Intern at a biotechnology company where I calibrated and performed preventative maintenance on various devices in a manufacturing environment. I did learn a lot from this role, however I realized that being on the manufacturing side of a company is not for me.
