Spotlight for Career Services Professionals

Should career services staff recommend students put their GPA on their resume? NACE Community members who weighed in—representing a mix of career services practitioners and URR professionals—overwhelmingly said they should.

NACE research supports the importance of a student’s GPA during the college recruiting process. According to Job Outlook 2018, 67.5 percent of employers responding said they screen candidates by GPA.

In keeping with this data, NACE Community members generally feel that it’s important for students to include their GPA on their resume because many employers have a GPA requirement. A career services practitioner said that, in her previous role as a campus recruiter, her organization used GPA to gauge a candidate's ability to grasp concepts/training that the organization would deliver to them.

A current recruiter said employers prefer to see students’ GPA, and added that hiring managers do, in fact, assume the worst if a GPA is not included on resumes. While another recruiter does not believe it is a red flag when a GPA is not included on a resume, she qualified her statement by noting that her organization does not have a GPA requirement. But she says that students with a GPA of 3.0 or higher can use their GPA as a way to “sell” or showcase their work ethic.

Others in career services advise students to be selective about when to include their GPA. One suggests students only include a GPA if it is a 3.0 or above, adding that those with lower GPAs may do better by waiting until the employer asks for it.

An alternative shared by a practitioner is for the student to include his or her in-major GPA. Also, including dean’s list recognition, scholarships, and any other academic or job-related accomplishments can also be used to enhance a student’s record and/or overcome a less competitive cumulative GPA.

Join the discussion about GPA on student resumes in the NACE Community.