[IKE]

[quote=RobotCollegeGuy;771748]I applied to 13 places (all places I really wanted to work), was interviewed by 5, had offers from 3. 1 company reneged on their offer for economic reasons, the other offer was laughable. The final one was perfect, great pay, great benefits, great work atmosphere, great area.
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Sounds like the traditional channels worked pretty well for you. This ratio you are discussing sounds like a more typical ratio of people that meet my(and many other recruiters) general basic criteria:
1. Relevant Degree (Sorry this is an engineering job you BA in lingusitics isn't what I am looking for.)
3.0 or better GPA (This is a standard used by a ton of companies. Some are higher, and some are not set in stone. Typically below 3.0 in college is a warning sign that a person either couldn't cut it or had priorities issues. There are a lot of great engineering students that forget that they are their for an education).
Involved in something related to the field they are going into (a 4.0 GPA, but all you can talk about is class also worries me get involved in a club, hobby...Involved means more than signing up for. I would often check with other club members during the day because they are interveiwing too)
Some type of work experience (really anything that just shows "yes someone else was willing to pay you money").

I say those are minimums because I am always amazed at what students bring to me. I have been a rep at 8 years of job fair for college interns and new hires. During that time I have literally looked at hundreds of resumes and talked to a ton of students. There are some amazing individuals out there.

Robot College Guy is right that confidence sells. Be careful though about the line between confidence and arrogance. It is a fine line and I have turned down many arrogant students, because it was pretty clear they could not get along with others.

My last word of advice is practice interviewing often. Know good things to say about yourself. Like RobotCollegeGuy says, and interview is your time to brag about accomplishments. If you and your resume don't tell me what you did, how am I supposed to figure it out?

Oh one more piece:
Beware of canned answers. My company used to make me ask the "Greatest Weakness" question. If you tell me that your greatest weakness is "I am a perfectionist" or "I work too hard" you better be ready to get grilled because that sets of my B.S. meter and I am going to want examples of why "Working Hard" is a weakness. About 1:10 would give me one of those two answers. Out of the 20 or so that answered that way, only 1 was able to answer my follow ups. I am generally a nice guy, but I don't like to be lied to.