An
excellent university education is often cited as a obligatory precondition for
getting a good job. Many a times with this thoughtful of the significance of university,
a huge ratio of uni students get wrapped in their CGPA’s, as they believe it as
the value statement of their own self-worth. Despite
the fact that it is quite simple to presume that only super achievers with extremely
high CGPA grades are more expected to get good jobs, the veracity is quite
different. Whereas having a decent CGPA is significant, rest assured there are
other ways to qualify too.
CGPA is a blend of numerous factors but isn’t actually the best
indicator of how you will perform in the working world. We all know that person
with high CGPA who struggles socially or that person who couldn’t care less
about his or her university life but seems to have no trouble making great
things happen in their life. Book smarts and street smarts are very different
things.
Don't get me wrong, CGPA
is super important but at the same time you must have other soft skills in order to
secure a job during an interview. I myself graduated with HIGH CGPA but still managed to survive in the industry before i become a lecturer. Here i would like to share a story of my colleague who had interviewed candidates which to be hired in his company. Hope you guys can take this as a lesson.
He had interviewed 4 candidates for 2 posts of Assistant
Quantity Surveyor (QS) in his company. These were the candidates summary:
Candidate 1: CGPA 2.72 (Male)
Candidate 2: CGPA 3.55 (Female)
Candidate 3: CGPA
2.97 (Female)
Candidate 4: CGPA
3.41 (Female)
Candidate (2) and Candidate (4) came from among the best
universities in Malaysia .
Came with outstanding CGPA of 3.55 and 3.41. They brought in all the Dean List
and Sijil Kecemerlangan along with them. The interviewer asked 10 questions to each candidate but they could
only answer 3 out of 10 questions. They have no self confidence and the first
impression was bad. They were not showing enthusiasm and interest on the job.
They fail to elucidate how their skills match the job the applied for.
On the other hand, Candidate 1 and Candidate 3 came from medium ranked
universities in Malaysia .
They obtained average CGPA of 2.72 and 2.97. No dean list, no Sijil
Kecemerlangan but they managed to answer 8 out of 10 questions. The spoken English was great. They have self-confidence.
They understand about their scope of works as Assistant Quantity Surveyor. The
first impression was great and the were presentable. And they have good leadership
qualities in their CV's leading a few event during university life. And the interviewer lastly decided to hire Candidate 1 and Candidate 3 even though their academic qualification (CGPA) was not that great compared to Candidate 2 and Candidate 4.
Moral of the story, to secure a job upon graduation, CGPA
alone not the criteria that will be evaluated. Most companies don't really
bother whether you are high scorer as they only want to know what can you
contribute to the company in order for them to make money. Employer also look for those
street smart who got the ability to take charge, to volunteer for the tasks and
to accepet accountability for achieving the required results of those task
given.
Employer also look for someone who can work in a team not
just sitting in front your table and do your own work. In addition, they are
looking for someone with the ability to set priorities, to separate the
relevant from the irrelevant tasks and then to concentrate single-mindedly
until the job is complete. If they can have candidate with good CGPA, good
attitude, presentable and got all the x-factor, then it is a bonus for my
company to have them in.
To summarise, what employers need are people who can think, people
who can create, people who have ideas and can express them. And that’s what
writing is about. Even if you’re planning on a math or science career (where
your calculus know-how might actually come in handy), you still need strong
communication skills.
But, this is not an excuse for
not doing well at university and taking for granted the aspect of CGPA. What i
am trying to highlight here is; other than CGPA, there are a lot more important
things you should "learn" to become an "excellent student".
Maintaining a good CGPA will play a vital role for your academic success. Similarly,
slacking it off could probably land you in academic probation or the university
might not just grant you a great scholarship. If we look into the realities of
the job market in Malaysia ,
majority of employers do not entail the same academic standards on their
applicants. In general, almost 70% of hiring managers and employers do report
the screening of applicants based on their average CGPA grades, but majority of
the groups say that they use a CGPA of 3.00 as a standard for their cut-off.
