Jobs and Career Talk

Re: "Those Low Grades in College May Haunt Your Job Search"

CaptainKangaroo — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 10:57:24 GMT

This is absolutely true, and pretty disheartening. I went to a very competitive school, known in the academic world for being tough to get good grades, and top it off with my having a tough time trying to get settled in and doing badly my first two years. Then when I went on an interview, five years out of school, someone questioned my less-than-perfect first years in college.

It pisses me off that myself and others in my position who took the chance to go to a tougher school* are getting nerfed at an interview, especially after a few years in the trenches. Telling an adult at 25 that their poor decisions at 18 killed their career is nuts.

On a brighter note...not EVERY HR person you run into will be a grade Nazi. And at some point, your experience will be more telling than your grades in school.

*Please, everyone, don't take it the wrong way that I think "tougher" means it was "better." It was better for me, because I wanted a school that was challenging and competitive. Better for anyone is the school that meets someone's needs and is a positive learning experience.

Re: "Those Low Grades in College May Haunt Your Job Search"

tcnixon — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 04:51:53 GMT

I think you are absolutely correct. The standard for grades even within the same college can vary widely.

Having said that, I am unsure whether the people for whom that matters (i.e. employers) take that factor into account. My guess would be that, for employers who believe GPAs matter, they compare GPAs regardless of school, department, etc.

Tom Nixon

Re: "Those Low Grades in College May Haunt Your Job Search"

Victoria — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 21:01:46 GMT

I don't think an individual's grade point average is a very effective way of gauging a candidate's ability to succeed in a particular business/working environment. Especially since every professor, department, and institution varies so widely across the board.

An "A" at Johns Hopkins in Advanced Human Anatomy compares very little to an "A" in Introduction to Sociology at Indiana University. Apples and oranges.

Re: "Those Low Grades in College May Haunt Your Job Search"

henryw — Tue, 22 May 2007 15:49:07 GMT

In B school, too ;-) I've already run into a couple of the proverbial Goldman Sacks billionaire-by-thirty type ;-)

For the rest us - mere mortals - we need to do the very best we can in every course because it just may be the difference in getting that job or promotion or be an almost insurmountable obstacle down the road when we decide to go back for an advanced degree (almost always as a pre-requisite to further career advancement into the very best positions).

The flip side, of course, is that GPA is never a guarantee for success or failure. For example, post-graduate school is littered with at least twice as many ABDs as PhDs, and an astonishing percentage of those with advanced degrees are miserable, spinning their wheels, stuck in muck and mire at work, with a dysfunctional home life :-( Meanwhile, as many of those written off by the K-12 establishment as dumb-as-rock, going-nowhere have gone on to have happy marriages that last a lifetime, not a weekend, and healthy, loving, happy families - and just may that enviable net worth well into 6- or 7-figures ;-)

You'll have to decide for yourself what's important and what's secondary, and you'll have to live with the consequences of your decisions and actions as much as you do your indecision and inaction. The harsh reality is too often we allow someone else to dictate our station in life and our fate - which amounts to letting their steal our dreams and ambitions and substituting their own.

Re: "Those Low Grades in College May Haunt Your Job Search"

tcnixon — Tue, 22 May 2007 04:06:49 GMT

I would think the careers that are most likely to look at GPAs are those where the competition is fierce for positions. For example, if you want to be a college professor in most academic disciplines, your grades had better shine.

My guess is that this is probably true as well for math-based jobs like engineering, architecture, etc., where the hiring committee relates well to numbers.

Tom Nixon

"Those Low Grades in College May Haunt Your Job Search"

helenh — Mon, 21 May 2007 00:24:48 GMT

Check out this interesting NY Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/jobs/31gpa.html

By DAVID KOEPPEL
Published: December 31, 2006
"When employers consider job applicants who are just out of college, they will probably look for evidence of leadership, teamwork and flexibility. But if you ask Johnny C. Taylor Jr., senior vice president of human resources for the IAC/InterActiveCorp, the factor that matters most to him is a graduate’s grade-point average.
In his 15 years as a human resources professional, Mr. Taylor said, he has found that a young applicant’s G.P.A. is the best single predictor of job performance in the first few years of employment.
Mr. Taylor is not alone in that opinion — much to the dismay of some students and career counselors. For better or worse, grade-point average has become increasingly important to employers in a wide range of industries.
.... “G.P.A. is the best indicator an individual is likely to succeed,” Mr. Taylor said. “It demonstrates a strong work ethic and smarts. ...”
...Often companies will advise college admissions officers and recruiters that they will not see anyone with less than a B (3.0) average. ...

Obviously, most of us are working professionals who, at this point in our careers, wouldn't have our GPA's scrutinized.

Well, at least I hope not! Personally speaking, my undergraduate transcript is thoroughly littered with less than stellar grades and courses that I had to take more than once. My explanation is that I was already working full-time at a small, but promising dotcom and not a natural programmer at heart.

The article mentions industries that have "G.P.A. requirements", citing, for example, investment banking. I wonder what other fields consider GPA that closely ... engineering? Top accounting firms?