Engineers, how did you find your first entry level job?

Hey there, I'm a recent aero/mech engineering graduate with a not so great GPA. Below a 3.0 in fact. I've applied to tons of jobs online (mostly through indeed) and have tweaked my resume to emphasize my past engineering projects and current job which relates to my field. Even after all these efforts, I'm not having any success finding a job. So basically, is there any advice on anything else I could do to actually land a job or at least an interview? Is it really my GPA that's hindering me? Additionally, is it true that having a connection within a company helps?