How to get an entry level job in EE with no experience?

Hi everybody!!
I recently graduated with a BS in Electrical Engineering and was looking for an entry level position in the power generation field or green technology. I recently move to California and was applying for positions to a great deal of power and green tech companies. Since I have not a strong work experience in the engineering field but I have more than 5 years of work experience in areas other than engineering, I guess it is going to be difficult to land an engineering job in a near future.
Please feel free to come up with any suggestions about how I need to move forward in trying to get hired into power or green tech jobs? Or is it better to find job in areas other than power and renewable energy?

Asking this question here is a great start. Getting a job is of course all about networking, so be sure to take advantage of sites like LinkedIn where you can connect with people in the renewable energy sector. If you go out for an interview, try to add these people to your contacts afterwards.

You can also network through conferences/events in the renewable energy sector. Have your "pitch" ready at a moment's notice and sell yourself with confidence. Be sure to speak with an active voice (see "active vs passive(Active vs Pasive)":https://www.google.com/search?aq=f&sugexp=chrome,mod=12&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=active+vs+passive+voice)

Write some articles in the renewable sector on topics that you feel you're qualified to cover. You can write them for sites like EEWeb or on your own blog. Then use these as references in your resume and interviews.

Keep at it and let us know what works for you when you land that first job!

Thank you very much for your comments and suggestions. I will follow your advice and will keep you posted.

I completely agree with Joe. Networking is very important, and Linkedin is an excellent place to do this. They have many Electrical Engineering groups, some specific to the areas you are interested in. They also have groups specific to sharing information about job opportunities.

If I were you, I would not give up on trying to find work in the areas that interest you. Power and Renewable Energy are niches that continue to grow and I am sure you will be able to find an opportunity that suits you. I manage a power electronics website and we frequently post jobs in these areas ("www.powerguru.org":http://www.powerguru.org).

Occasionaly, companies actually prefer candidates that are just beginning their careers. Patience should pay off in the end. Good luck hunting!

While you are searching for a job, start working on a small projects you conceive in the area you want to work. When I was involved in hiring someone, especially someone with little practical experience since graduation, self-starting and motivated candidates had a huge leg up on disinterested candidates in consideration for the job.

Even small hands-on projects can help cement the concepts you learned in school, you gain experience with tools and equipment used in the trade, and sometimes you end up on a tangent path which was unexpected but yields more value than the path you started on.

Great idea.

If you make the project such that it's portable (maybe a circuit board) - then you can even bring it with you during the interview and talk over the process you used to design, build, and test the device.