What do companies look for when hiring young engineers?

1. Academic background.

2. Technical competency as knowledge, skills and attitude.

3. Relevant experience.

4. Relevant training.

No functional determinants in the new graduates , but enjoys personal traits

Interest in learning..

High GPA as indication that he is smart and responsible and many companies look for an engineer with nice personality because he'll deal with many people.

Catching Power

Academic background

Interest in learning

As fresh graduate they look at the desire and interest to work and gain experience and of course the creativity ( create new things) as you are from young generation.wish you all the best salma.

In the IT/ITes industry it would be knack for trouble shooting. Questions asked would be like

The customer is getting a message "This page cannot be displayed whenever he is trying to access the internet" what is the cause and how do u resolve the issue. The candidates technical skills be it in networking or computer hardware (questions about the location of memory card or the ram can be asked) is judged. Then the candidates willingness to contenue in the co is determined.

Leadership,Patience,Confidence and Creativity.

High GPA, languages, computer skills and may be the summer training taken

Futher more to all criterion mentioned here , 

commnunicative level .