Scott Crowder

Judy Hample
English 1001

The Effects of Grade Point Average After graduation

If a university student were to ask their parents, college advisor, and high school teacher

what would help them find employment in their field of study after graduation, they would likely

be met with three separate responses. However, it is probable that all of these responses would

be correct in some way. The job market in 2017 is viciously competitive, where even the

slightest advantage one candidate has over another can mean the difference between who is

selected for the position and who is not. Ones resume is the most import aspect of a job search.

In order to have the most effective resume, it is important to fill it with experiences that will

allow a job-seeker to stand out from the crowd. Gaining these experiences should begin shortly

after one begins attending university. There are some fundamental ideas that most students have

as to what will help them achieve the goal of being hired after they graduate. These include

things like leadership experience, membership in academic societies, a high-grade point average,

work experience, and internships. Although all of these factors will play an important role during

the hiring process, one must decide what to focus the majority of their attention on. For example,

if one focuses explosively on their current job, or internships, there is a good chance they will

suffer academically. This paper will have a focus on undergraduate degree seeking university

students in business focused majors, with the assumption that these students have the goal of

either being hired within their field at a Fortune 500 company, or attending a highly ranked MBA

program after completing this level of their education. Prioritizing earning a GPA above 3.5 will
greatly increase the chances of them being hired by a fortune 500 company, or attending a top-

level MBA program.

It has become a common idea that a students GPA is not an indicator of work ethic, or

academic success, and should not be used to judge a candidate. This idea becomes especially

apparent when one looks at blog posts on social media sites. A perfect example of this new idea

is expressed within a buzzfeed article entitled 69 things that matter more than your finals, your

grades, and your GPA. This article lists actions and ideas that are meant to help the reader cope

with the stresses of university and includes things such as Skinny-dipping. or Setting off a fire

alarm. Oops. Obviously, this list is not meant to be taken literally, but it does help to illustrate

the overall tone of how the public, and specifically social media sites use a whimsical tone

discuss the topic of grade point average. While these posts are meant to be fun and light hearted,

they can have a negative impact on students by allowing them to believe that their GPA holds no

weight. No student should rationally believe that going skinny dipping, or setting off a fire alarm

is more important than focusing on their grades.

To fully understand why a high GPA should be the primary focus of students, one must

first consider why an employer cares about ones grade point average at all. At the very basic

level it appears to simply show the ability to take tests, study a variety of information and

complete academic papers. None of these three factors will be directly used within the average

workplace. When one peels back the layers of what it takes to earn a 3.5 or higher, it can

become clear that a GPA can be used to indicate how one may act in the workplace. An article

within the academic journal Education + training by authors Paul Lyons and Randall Bandura

explores this concept. Entitled GPA as a Predictor of Helpful Behavior: An Accounting Study,

the article discusses a study which was recently conducted by the authors in which they searched
for a link between high GPAs and high rates of voluntary, helpful organizational behavior, or v-

hob. This type of helpful behavior was defined by another man, Jone Pearce in 2012. The authors

use the same definition, which is helping co-workers on some task, offering constructive ideas

and suggestions, working extra-hard to complete some assignment, and taking initiative to solve

some thorny or unexpected problem. As one could imagine, this type of behavior would be very

attractive to a hiring manager, and being able to have a way to identify candidates with this type

of personality is extremely important. Lyons and Randall state that The current study did find

strong, important relationships among GPA and practical, efficient measures of v-hob. If a

hiring manager can use a tool such as GPA to identify a quality employee who can take on

additional tasks and provide helpful ideas and feedback, then that tool will be used.

Outside of this academic study, this idea has already been implemented in many

companies across America. David Koeppel, a researcher at the New York Times, hosted an

interview with Jonny Taylor to explore this idea. Mr. Taylor is the Senior Vice President of

Human Resources for the IAC/Interactive group. Better known for their brands such as

Ticketmaster, or Match.com, the IAC/Interactive group is a massive corporation that employees

over 33,000 workers. Koeppel asked Mr. Taylor what he felt employers consider when hiring a

candidate out of college, to which he replied Companies want the smartest people, and the best

indicator for new employees competing in a knowledge-based economy are grades. G.P.A. is the

best indicator an individual is likely to succeed it demonstrates a strong work ethic and smarts.

While his statement is antidotal, Mr. Taylor is a respected member of the business world with a

profound understanding of hiring practices.

Mr. Taylor is not alone in his opinion on the use of GPA as a tool to determine the best

candidates for a job. A study conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Recruiters
found that 67% of firms surveyed used GPA as a screening tool. (Adams 9). The survey also

showed that 58% of those surveyed set the cutoff point at a 3.0, and would not consider a

candidate who achieved lower than this. This is backed up further by another survey, the US Job

Outlook of 2010, which found that 75% of firms used GPA to screen. (Adams 9) These numbers

show that if a student is unable to achieve at least a 3.0 GPA, the jobs available to them may be a

quarter of those available to peers who did earn that GPA. To add to this, a study conducted by

Peg Thoms and Rosemary McMasters found that candidates that listed a 3.0 or higher on a

resume had a significantly higher chance of receiving an interview than those who did not. With

an interview being the first step in the hiring process, not being able to obtain one will

significantly hurt the chances of a graduate being hired. It was hypothesized by Thoms and

McMasters that omitting a GPA from a resume can be a sign of a candidate attempting to hide a

low GPA. This being said, the study also showed that showing a low GPA could have a negative

effect on interview chances. This backs up the idea that holding a high GPA will help students be

hired after graduation.

To show that importance a high GPA has to being accepted into a top level MBA

program, one must first understand that the average GPA of accepted students at these business

schools lies between a 3.5, and a 3.7. (Hayes 1). Achieving this level of academic success is no

easy task. It is because of this that these top schools heavily weight an applicants GPA when

considering candidates. The top schools want students who will continue their studies with the

same vigor they had during their undergraduate years. The idea that a successful undergraduate

student will continue to be successful within a graduate program has been suggested within the

works of Donald Christensen, William Nance, and Darin White. These three conducted a study to

find links between actions taken as an undergraduate, and academic success as an MBA student.
While not everything that they tested turned out to have a strong connection, they found that a

high GPA during undergraduate studies has a significant relationship to students earning a high

GPA during a graduate program. This backs up the idea that using GPA as a screening tool for

MBA programs is useful if a university hopes to accept candidates that will be successful.

To conclude, GPA is a tool that can be used by hiring managers and admonitions

counselors to show positive qualities in applicants. Studies have shown that it can be used to

indicate a candidates work ethic and ability to participate within a work environment, and this

data is backed up by the experiences of high level recruiters and HR managers. Besides its ability

to be used in this manner, GPA is also a routinely important factor when it comes to being able to

get an interview. If a students resume either does not include a GPA, or includes one beneath a

3.0, studies have shown that it will have an adverse effect on the job search of that student. When

it comes to MBA programs, students with high GPAs have been proven to be more likely to

continue the trend throughout their graduate programs. If a student hopes to be accepted to a top

level MBA program, they should hope to have a 3.5 GPA or higher based on the averages of

accepted students. All this said, if a student focuses enough time to achieve a high GPA, they will

be more likely to be hired within their field, or attend a high level graduate program.
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