By the time a college graduate transitions to the working world, he or she has spent years being defined by numbers: SATs, GPAs, GREs, LSATs, class rank and so on. As a result, and understandably, college graduates with a thin portfolio of work experience assume hiring managers will place a great deal of stock in their overall GPA as a gauge of intelligence, capabilities and competence.
That’s not always true. The GPA of a newly minted college graduate is certainly something a potential employer will consider, but a good hiring manager takes a more expansive view of each candidate. When it comes to the interview process and resume preparation, it is important for recent graduates to understand the context in which to present GPA and academic performance to a hiring manager. Additionally, there are interview and resume preparation strategies that college graduates can employ to compensate for a less-than-stellar GPA.
The Numbers That Matter
Hiring managers ultimately want to see competencies in coursework specifically relevant to the job vacancy. As a freshman in college, I nearly flunked out of a scuba-diving elective I was taking—which, of course, dented my overall GPA. But because it was not a course relevant to my major or job search, it didn’t have to exact the same damage as a poor grade in one of my core classes.
Highlight your GPA in your major. If you are interviewing for a finance job, and your overall GPA was 3.0 and your GPA in finance courses was 3.5, focus on the latter number. This approach helps hiring managers parse information and identify the numbers that matter most.
Demonstrate improvement and growth. Many people aren't ready for college their freshman year as it takes time to adjust. The unfortunate result is freshman-year grades that aren't very strong. We eventually get my act together, and ast time progresses our GPA improves. If you can, parse GPA information for prospective employers to demonstrate a positive trend line. An overall GPA of 3.0 is good, but highlighting a GPA of 3.7 junior and senior year is even better. It will matter to an employer.
Hiding Behind a Name
My son is two years away from going off to college, and he was asking me the other day about how top universities are perceived. College graduates must be cautious about assuming that a university’s pedigree will carry disproportionate favor with a hiring manager—especially if the job seeker positions his or her school’s status as an excuse of sorts for a weak GPA.
The country is full of excellent, regionally niche colleges and universities. A good liberal-arts college in New Hampshire might impress a hiring manager with a Northeast firm, but be far less valuable to a company based in the Midwest or Western part of the U.S. The school simply won’t deliver the same familiarity factor in this part of the country. I bring this up because I’ve seen and heard from college graduates who assume a top university will somehow add weight to their GPA in the minds of hiring managers. This is a dangerous game to play, one that could easily backfire.
When in Doubt, Leave It Out
College graduates who enter the work world with a thin professional resume might feel inclined to list their GPA no matter what, simply to “fill the page.” But like any aspect of a job seeker’s background, a graduate should not include GPA on his or her resume if it is a weak or mediocre data point. More than that, a GPA is just a number without a story. There are more effective ways for recent college graduates to tell an effective story on their resumes, including:
Connect coursework to job: Rather than simply stating a GPA, connect a class to the job requirements. For example, the job candidate could write “my program focus was business management, and this job requires business management skills…”
Highlight work experience and internships related to the job: If you have held any jobs or internships during your college experience relevant to the job opening, that will impress hiring managers. And don’t simply list the positions that were held, but focus on the return on investment you delivered to the employer, be it in the form of tangible results, demonstrated leadership, etc.
Emphasize club and association accomplishments, not participation: Everyone wants to put clubs and associations on their resumes, but it is the accomplishments in the club, not simply participation, that will catch a hiring manager’s attention. Instead of populating a resume with a laundry list of university association and club memberships, focus on the ROI you delivered. For example, did you double the size of the club when you were an officer?
Wrong Number
A GPA listed on a resume, absent any context, doesn’t tell the hiring manager anything about how the candidate will perform in the job. That’s an argument for simply leaving off even a strong GPA.
Additionally, there are cases where a hiring manager who perhaps did not finish college with a strong GPA finds a candidate pretentious for listing a GPA.
A strong GPA is, without question, something a college graduate should take pride in and use as appropriate during the interview process. But it won’t make or break any job applicant.
Rob McGovern is founder of CareerBuilder and currently serves as CEO of Jobfox.com.
Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/hire-education/2010/07/02/how-to-spin-your-gpa/?mod=wsj_share_twitter
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