<p>Just want to share my experience for those interested in career fairs here:</p>
<p>I'm a senior CS student and just attended a career fair today. I attended Engineering Expo's in the past just to get a feel for what's out there and will probably attend one last time this week. Anyway, I could not believe how many times I was asked that question. Since my cumulative GPA is a 2.6(got killed in Computer Engineering) and my in-major is a 2.98 I leave them off my resume since they are below the all or nothing deciding "3.0". One company I talked to (not a big name like Google or Microsoft relatively unknown) I approached and started talking and the first thing he asked was "what is your GPA?" Then after telling him he points at this 3.7+ GPA requirement (I guess I accidentally missed) and started going on this spiel about how their company looks for the serious minded and the best of the best and how GPA is the best predictor of job performance and how he took classes he didn't want to take but still got A's. I felt like I was being grilled and I just asked for my resume back and said nice talking to you.</p>
<p>Now that has never happened to me before and it was just 1 of nearly 100 companies there so it's not all like that and not all recruiters are that arrogant but I guess it just goes to say that GPA really is just an easy cut off at these career fairs sadly. </p>
<p>I attended a resume workshop and was told to put my best job experience, internships, skills and such at the top in that order. Lots of companies were interested and asked me lots of questions since I have lots of work experience and certifications. However the "what's your GPA" question seemed to be always asked at the end of I'd say 1 out of every 2 recruiters I talked to. Then they flip the resume over and mark it down. This flew in the face of everything I was told about how job experience matters more than "GPA" blah blah blah. It really is a shame since GPA means nothing after your first job in the "real-world" unless you are going into Grad school or professional school.</p>
<p>Now a lot of interesting companies didn't even ask about GPA and I did get a lot of interest so I remain optimistic for now, but for engineering, try to keep your GPA's above 3.0 even if the average is like a 2.8 here at tech.</p>
<p>When it all comes down to it,** It's a numbers game. **The more people/companies you talk to, the better your chances (if you have good stuff on your resume) no matter your GPA.That also falls under networking and reaching out but if you don't know anyone, you just have to play the numbers and throw your resume out there. Anyway just wanted to share that.</p>
<p>Some more tips:
1. Make sure you print out a lot of resumes (more than 30) and bring a backpack. I learned that lesson when I ran out of resumes.
2. I personally dress in a suit and tie and a lot of recruiters commented on that positively.
3. Do company research before hand. Don't ask "What do you do?" I'm only guilty of this when companies I didn't research but are looking for students to talk to snag me.
4. If you are freshmen or incoming freshmen, please do go. It will give you good experience and a leg up when junior/senior year comes around.</p>
<p>Just some tips for those attending or going to attend career fairs. Also I'll post any other experiences after the Engineering Expo.</p>
<p>You got asked your GPA because you didn’t put it on your resume. That was a bad idea because instead of being the guy with a 2.8 you’re the guy that we had to hear say he was a 2.8. When I recruited at the expo GPA was literally the last criteria we based our decisions as to who to interview on, but resumes without a GPA went in the trash because it is such a basic piece of information that it just needs to be on there. Does that make sense? Not really. Is it reality? Absolutely. And if a company actually has a 3.0 cutoff (and several do) you’re just wasting your time because obviously those companies are going to ask. Your GPA was only a big deal with most of those companies because you sketched them out by being the one guy that didn’t put it on his resume.</p>
<p>Everything you said under that is 100% correct though. Find every company that you could even be borderline interested in, look them up, look up what positions they are hiring for on their corporate website, MENTION THOSE OPENINGS OH GOODNESS DO THIS WHETHER YOU’RE QUALIFIED OR NOT THEY LOVE THAT, attend any information sessions you can, ask questions at them, and talk to whoever was presenting afterward. </p>
<p>Disclaimer: You can do all of this and get nothing. You can follow a pretty girl across the room and stop at a booth to see if they have free samples and get a job in California. Life is weird.</p>
<p>Also, don’t forget your GPA is really only important for your first job. After that, most employers will ask what you have accomplished at your job, and your GPA will not be soooooo important.</p>
<p>Lots of really good advice on this post. Thanks to chaz for taking the time to write down his thoughts and experiences and to all of the others who shared theirs. Good stuff to pass on to future career fair attendees.</p>
<p>Trust me, I’ve done my research and I’ve read many sources and talked to “knowledgeable people/other recruiters” that suggested if your GPA is below a 3.0, it’s better not to put it on there. I’ve read some that said the same thing you just did as well since they could assume it’s a lot lower than it is. I figure if it’s not stellar, it’s more of a liability than a positive. Why put something on there that could potentially hurt you. If it’s important to a particular company or position I’m applying for then of course I’d put it on there. For general career fairs though, I don’t. </p>
<p>Reason being because that could be one of the first things they see and your instantly categorized on that alone. However if it’s not on there, better chances is that most people won’t notice and they will see the other great stuff. If they really do care about it they will ask and I tell them. I don’t lie, I’d be happy to provide a transcript. </p>
<p>Also I do check GPA requirements of the companies I’m interested in as well. I’ve discovered there are some that don’t have any mentioned on their website but it’s important to the the recruiters for some reason.</p>
<p>The company with the 3.7+ GPA requirements was called Q3Technologies. I briefly looked for recruiters from the NoVA area and added them to the list without doing a ton of research but obviously learned a lot more about them from that experience alone. Not my kinda work anyway. </p>
<p>Another interesting thing: I’ve also talked to Google and Microsoft (among other top companies) since they do many talks in the CS department throughout the year and I have friends who interned there. For them, there are no GPA requirements but the interview questions are very tricky and in depth (ex: how would you use such and such algorithm to solve this problem). Interviews are sometimes done over the phone too. Those kinda questions are the perfect way to screen a candidate in my opinion. You can have a 4.0 GPA from some university and not know crap.</p>
<p>The recruiter from Google I talked to this past Monday who was also a VT grad said it’s not that they look for the correct solution but how you go about solving the problem. Communication while explaining your solution is key especially if the interview is done over the phone. Also if you don’t know, it’s actually ok (and better) to say you don’t know than to give BS. I personally say “I don’t know the solution to that at the moment but I know I could find the answer”</p>