Another school year, another midterms/finals season, and another round of student dilemma: "Should I try on these finals? Do my grades really even matter?"
That's definitely something crossed my head as a student. What's ironic about this is that in high school, grades and academic performance were of the utmost importance. They were the reason you are even at the school you're at today.
However, now that you're in college, the circumstances have changed. Having a high GPA continues to dwindle in importance when applying to jobs. Former SVP of People Ops @ Google, Lazso Block, said in a NYT interview that "GPA's are worthless as criteria for hiring." Countless technology company founders are college dropouts: Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, etc. Clearly, success in the classroom isn't the most important thing in your career. So, why should you bother trying in school?
A high GPA (3.5+) highlights four key skills you need to be important in your career:
- Discipline
- Quick (and correct) application
- Time management
Let's talk about why these matter in your career and how a high GPA displays them.
Discipline
Why it matters:
Regardless if you're at your dream company in your dream position, there will be countless hours and days where you're tasked with doing something that you absolutely hate. That's a fact for every job and every career route. The "dream" part of a "dream job" is about minimizing that time doing things you don't want to, but they'll still always be there. No matter how much you hate it, there's no way you're going to completely ignore it and tell your manager no, unless you want to be fired. Assuming you want to keep your job, you're left with two options:
- Meet the minimum requirements to get it over with as quickly as possible
- Maintain a high quality job
Option 1 is appealing. You minimize your pain, get out of it quick, and move on to the other things you actually want to do. However, the resulting work you produce is average.
Option 2 is one of those things that you know is the "right" decision, but hesitate because option 1 is "easier." You put in equal time to the task as you would anything else and produce a high quality deliverable.
To make your decision, ask yourself this question: do you want to be known for producing high quality work all the time or known for only sometimes putting in your full effort?
I think we can agree it's a lot better to be known for high quality work. That being so, your choice between option 1 and option 2 becomes much more obvious: option 2. Though more difficult, the benefits are wroth it. You show that you'll always produce quality work, that nothing is ever below you, that you're not selfish, and that you understand the "big picture." Being able to pick option 2 will prove valuable to you in the long term for referrals, bonuses, promotions, etc.
How GPA displays this:
A high GPA is the epitome of doing things you don't want to do and doing them well. That accounting class that you dread or that general education course that takes way more work than it should all suck. Sometimes your classes can be interesting and contribute positively to your career, but for the most part, they do close to nothing.
That's why you're having the student dilemma. You don't want to waste your time studying for some art exam that has nothing to do with your career in finance. You're leaning towards option 1, but option 2 highlights your discipline and something that you absolutely need to be successful in your career. It shows you doing something you don't want to do and doing it well.
Quick (and correct) application
Why it matters:
When you start any internship or first job, you practically know nothing, regardless of your previous experience. It takes time to learn a company's business, get used to the new team dynamic, find your place in the company culture, etc. It takes even more time to take that new knowledge and apply it to your individual position in the company. Not only that, it's hard to get it right the first time.
But when you get it right, you can see it all. You know exactly how your company operates. You know who to go to for the things you need to complete your projects. You see how what you're doing fits into the company's strategy. More importantly, you'll know how to spot something that's not working. Most importantly, you'll be able to solve that problem.
Being able to absorb all the new knowledge you'll be exposed to and apply it correctly is crucial for fast-tracking your success in your career. As I've said on this blog before, knowledge is power, and when you use that power correctly, the sky's the limit.
How GPA displays this:
In college, you're given 10 or 15 weeks to learn what's usually a completely foreign and new subject. Your professor pounds you with lectures and you have to apply your new knowledge immediately to homework, projects, and exams. This situation sounds quite familiar, right? A very similar thing happens when you start at a new company. In school, you repeat this process multiple times every year. The grades in your classes can be a good measurement of how quickly and correctly you take your new knowledge and apply it.
Time management
Why it matters:
This needs little explanation. The same time management principles that were pitched to you in high school remain the same in the workforce. However, you now have to not only manage your professional life, but also your health, personal happiness, relationships, etc. Effective time management will prove important to you in all aspects of your life. It will unlock your ability to be successful in a lot of areas while avoiding burnout.
How GPA displays this:
Being a college student is hard. You're meeting new people, maintaining relationships with them, living on your own, going out on the weekends, trying to begin your career, etc. Your classes are one of those many things that you're trying to balance.
Put yourself in the shoes of an interview. You and your interviewer are getting along extremely well, your answers to their questions are amazing, and you're showing that you fit well culturally and technically. Then, your interviewer sees your resume with your great GPA again after having a great conversation with you. That's the icing on the cake. It further establishes how great of a candidate you are and displays your time management skills. There's only one way you're able to have a high GPA with the great social and technical skills you showed your interviewer: great time management. That company knows how important that skill is and they'll be thinking very high of you.
Closing Thoughts
GPA is definitely not the end-all, be-all between you and your dream job. I've met plenty of extremely accomplished people who nearly failed out of college. However, that doesn't mean it has no value. Oftentimes, you don't need an insanely high GPA to prove the skills that we just discussed. Most companies have a threshold for GPA that makes a candidate "acceptable." That threshold can even be overlooked with a referral (in some industries, careers like consulting and investment banking are usually ruthless with GPA). Next time you find yourself in that student dilemma, I hope you go with option 2 and realize its long term value.