Skill Matters More Than Grades

[Olive]

It is not bad to get good grades at school. What I've learned in life so far is that employers often look for the skill of the applicant more than the school grades that they have. I hope the future generation will know this early in life so they will hone their skills, but not necessarily forget about their school lessons.

[haidyl]

This is very true. Many people go through the education system with the ultimate aim of getting high grades. It is equally important to be an all-rounder and develop communication and interpersonal skills, decision making, problem solving, assertiveness and resilience.

A friend once told me that he once sat in an interview panel and they settled on the interviewee who had a good grasp of current affairs and not (necessarily) the best grades. We have a duty to remind the future generation of how important it is to do this.

[Olive]

Funny you said that because my father told me the exact same experience of his interview when he was younger. I don't really understand why interviewers ask current events. Maybe it has something to do with how the future employee needed to keep up-to-date with technological advancement.

[adanna]

Skills are definitely more important. But some employers still look at the grades first, especially if the candidates are newly graduated. Sometimes if you can't immediately get to know about the skills of a person, you look at the grades as grades can also somehow reflect how that person has managed at school.

[Olive]

You may have a point adanna. Grades may even tell us how skillful a person is based on the high grades that he or she got when he or she was still a student. There is always room for improvement, especially when the applicant is a fresh graduate.

[MomDeb]

It's tough to start out in the workforce these days. I've noticed even entry-level positions want you to have some experience. It's tough to get experience if someone doesn't hire you, but they want you to have experience before they give you a job.

Another thing I've noticed is that networking is vital in today's workforce. Knowing the right people and having the right connections definitely helps.