Many students, while still in universities, fail to truly recognize the importance and weight of good grades on their resumes to the business (or any other) world. There are a plethora of reasons why companies, all things being equal, are more apt to interview and extend offers to students who graduate with a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.4 and above. In many cases, employers will pass on interviewing students with lower grade point averages altogether.
Students should be firmly aware that, as their college careers move towards the final phases, there is still time to correct any bad grades. Likewise, students should become acclimated regarding the various reasons why employers try to steer clear of hiring recent college graduates with "average" grades, and instead tend to favor those with higher marks. Below, you will find some motives as to why employers are more apt to make offers to the graduates who had more successful college careers.
Responsibility and Less Turnover Risk
To any potential employer, one of the most frustrating things that can happen is to train employees and have them leave within the first few months or even a year. This leaves the company at the exact point it was prior to hiring a young individual. For this reason, if a student has good grades, in the eyes of the hiring company, the person is likely to be more reliable, have sharper decision-making skills and, subsequently, stay with the organization for a longer period of time.
Regardless of industry or the size of a company, turnovers are a big concern and any form of prediction as to whether an employee will leave or not will be strongly considered during the hiring process.
The Ability to Complete Daily Tasks Autonomously
If a student comes to an employer with very solid grades, typically this translates into the individual being able to successfully tackle certain daily tasks with a quick turnaround, coupled with less of a need for close supervision. After all, the student was able to do this successfully in college. Why couldn't he or she bring that work ethic to the company, free up management to do its job and produce results with less training?
Superior Writing Skills
For any company, having employees who are emailing back and forth with clients using improper grammar, thus failing to closely read, analyze, and intelligently answer specific client questions via email can prove to be very embarrassing.
From what I have seen on a consistent basis is that students with better grade-point averages have had more practice writing as they took the completion of their written assignments more seriously than did the other students. Despite the fact that this is a generalization, it tends to prove true more times than not.
What students who need to increase their GPA must understand is that, since most client correspondence is done via email these days, companies don't want to have to proof-read or feel uncomfortable when their new employees engage in basic client email interaction.
A Passion For Learning
Because the business world is a lot different from the academic world, companies want to see an easy adjustment into the business world. Because the success of this transformation is hard to gauge from a few interviews, an applicant's grade point average will closely be looked at and considered. Higher numbers will further allude to the fact that the individual whom they are looking to hire can make an easier transition.
Grades aside, for many students, this transition can be prove to be quite difficult and the fast pace of business to be sometimes overwhelming and intimidating. The majority of employers are firmly aware of this. Therefore, it is easier for the employer to bet on recent graduates who have a higher GPA that translates to a keen ability to learn new concepts and a welcoming of the challenges that they will face.
