Is gpa very important in job hunting???

[IdahoMormon]

I had an excellent GPA, and nobody cared. They cared more about what I could do.

[uptown_urbanist]

With a 3.2 GPA don't bring it up unless it's required. Some jobs may require it, some won't. I don't work in engineering, but the only job applications that I have ever encountered in my field that have required it have been jobs with the government. I admittedly don't know about your field, but when reviewing resumes I usually find it distracting, and not particularly relevant or useful. (and those with high grades can just put their Latin honors, if received) Even if these days they are used to do initial sorting there are still presumably enough companies out there not doing that; play up the rest of your resume and don't worry too much about it.

For whatever reason in the resumes I've seen it seems that it's the people who have the lowest GPAs (less than 3.0, I mean, sometimes much less) who list it. That's obviously not the case in this poster's case, but for these people with the low grades and the listed GPAs it sends up a big red flag for me: the unspoken message I get out of it (right or wrong) is that they're really proud of that GPA (otherwise why list it?), and I don't think that's a GPA worth bragging about.

[richb]

For the mass majority of jobs, GPA doesn't count for anything. It really doesn't show what someone is capable of in most situations in life. Like most things about school, it has little to do with life outside an educational setting. It was a shock to me when I graduated and employers thought very little of the way things are done in the college "world". I had to change to the reality of real life quickly. If you have a low GPA don't worry about it after you graduate because it doesn't really matter to many employers.

[zthatzmanz28]

I had my GPA on the resume when I graduated. I also included copies of the diploma and my honors certificate. The two months I had like 3 calls. After I took the GPA off and the honors certificate, I was getting 2-3 calls a week..that was in 1995....

[Guineas]

Many high powered jobs require GPA. Like consulting for Mck, Bain, BCG, or working for Goldman.

It's tough getting into any of the above without a 3.7 or higher, even from a top 10 university.

[mwv]

I'm not sure if I find it funny or sad that a 3.2 GPA would be considered bad.

I graduated from a top CS program 20 years ago and the average GPA for seniors was 2.7. Most companies had a 2.2 or 2.5 cut off, and many none. I think Microsoft was the highest, 3.0. (This was for recruiting before graduation.)

Grade inflation is so rampant these days, it's ridiculous.

[debzkidz]

DH's company does not hire any college new hires if they don't meet a specific GPA requirement. I'm not sure what they require for engineers. DH hires people that have a specific science degree, which works with the engineers, and their requirements are a 3.0. Once they have a year experience I don't think they care about GPA's at all.

[kevinm]

I have NEVER been asked what my college GPA and I have been working since 1987. Don't include it on your resume unless it is very high. What is important is how you interview. People hire "personalities" and not skills at first. People can be trained for the job at hand. They just want to know that you can learn. A diploma proves that you actually FINISHED something and are not a quitter.

[Backliteyes]

When I was hired for my first job out of college, they paid attention to my GPA. I was told they were impressed that I was disciplined enough in college to maintain a 3.7+ with my degree. They also had a degree cut-off and usually did not seriously consider anyone below a 3.0. With so many college grads out there GPA is one of the ways people start to differentiate between candidates.

The next job I look for, it won't even matter. They'll be looking at my job experience, references, etc.