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Is this outrageous or am I overreacting?

T

truifh0

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After being in sales for the past 5 years and in software sales for over a year, I put in a job application for a software sales rep position for a company that sells math textbook software. I received a response back asking for more information and then was told that they wanted me to come in next week for an on-site interview. Unfortunately, they ended up filling the position before I got a chance to interview.

I was completely fine with this, but saw that they had another position open that was actually a more entry level sales position for them. While it wasn't my top choice, it is a good company and I figured I could get my foot in the door and then work my way up to the position that I originally wanted. After a few weeks, I sent an email to their HR person and received the below response:

"At this time, we are no longer considering your candidacy for the Entry Level Sales position. Our sales manager is not willing to compromise on the GPA requirements set forth for the sales team. She hires candidates at the 3.3 cumulative GPA and higher range and your GPA is a bit low for consideration. Thank you for your persistence and passion for the opening, but at this time the sales manager has determined you are not eligible."

In my opinion this seems absurd and makes no sense on several levels which I have listed below.

1. How is it that I was qualified to get an interview for the initial, higher level position but am somehow not qualified for an entry level position?

2. I can somewhat understand why GPA matters that much if they are hiring someone fresh out of college, but I have been out for almost 9 years. How does experience not trump GPA in this case?

3. GPA is such an arbitrary number and should not be used as the primary metric for success especially when it is not your first job out of college. There is a reason we have school rankings and that some schools are much tougher to get into than others. Because of this, it is not always an apples to apples comparison when looking at GPA's from different universities. I'm sure that someone that has a 2.5 from Harvard is probably a better candidate than someone with a 4.0 from Radford, but using their system someone at Radford is better qualified based on their GPA.

Am I totally off base here or do people agree with my rationale? Rant over.
 
It's pretty silly, but your bottom line is you probably didn't want to work for someone who screens resumes using GPA. She's most likely not the sharpest knife in the drawer and would thus be a horrible boss.
 
A hard GPA floor is pretty fucking stupid for a job. I can kind of understand it for law/medical schools, where their ranking is determined by average incoming GPA. But for a job? Stupid.

I'm in professional school, and I didn't get an interview at a certain school because I didn't meet their minimum GPA requirement (I know it was that, because they said it specifically in the letter they sent). I did get an interview at a higher tier school, and got in. Go figure.
 
truifh0 said:
After being in sales for the past 5 years and in software sales for over a year, I put in a job application for a software sales rep position for a company that sells math textbook software. I received a response back asking for more information and then was told that they wanted me to come in next week for an on-site interview. Unfortunately, they ended up filling the position before I got a chance to interview.

I was completely fine with this, but saw that they had another position open that was actually a more entry level sales position for them. While it wasn't my top choice, it is a good company and I figured I could get my foot in the door and then work my way up to the position that I originally wanted. After a few weeks, I sent an email to their HR person and received the below response:

"At this time, we are no longer considering your candidacy for the Entry Level Sales position. Our sales manager is not willing to compromise on the GPA requirements set forth for the sales team. She hires candidates at the 3.3 cumulative GPA and higher range and your GPA is a bit low for consideration. Thank you for your persistence and passion for the opening, but at this time the sales manager has determined you are not eligible."

In my opinion this seems absurd and makes no sense on several levels which I have listed below.

1. How is it that I was qualified to get an interview for the initial, higher level position but am somehow not qualified for an entry level position?

2. I can somewhat understand why GPA matters that much if they are hiring someone fresh out of college, but I have been out for almost 9 years. How does experience not trump GPA in this case?

3. GPA is such an arbitrary number and should not be used as the primary metric for success especially when it is not your first job out of college. There is a reason we have school rankings and that some schools are much tougher to get into than others. Because of this, it is not always an apples to apples comparison when looking at GPA's from different universities. I'm sure that someone that has a 2.5 from Harvard is probably a better candidate than someone with a 4.0 from Radford, but using their system someone at Radford is better qualified based on their GPA.

Am I totally off base here or do people agree with my rationale? Rant over.
Click to expand...

They're getting 1000 applicants for one entry-level position. They need a blanket weeder question, and apparently that's it. They're not looking at it closely enough to realize you're the same person.
 
BeachBumDeac said:
A hard GPA floor is pretty fucking stupid for a job. I can kind of understand it for law/medical schools, where their ranking is determined by average incoming GPA. But for a job? Stupid.
Click to expand...

Srsly.

I'd say you dodged a bullet not having to work for morons like that.
 
Apparently, you can't sell math textbooks with a 3.low GPA.
 
GPA shouldn't matter for a sales role, although I guess with a learning systems company maybe they want people that they perceive to have taken school more seriously to interface with their clients....?

Still seems like bullshit that they asked for your GPA after 9 years of professional experience.
 
It does seem a little crazy that they would interview you for the higher position and not this one. When I hire I look at GPA, but only for fresh grads (we obviously keep in mind what school the GPA is from).

That being said once you have been out for 9 years I would take your GPA off of your resume. There is no need to have it if on there if you have sufficient work history & experience to back up your candidacy for a position.
 
truifh0 said:
...
"At this time, we are no longer considering your candidacy for the Entry Level Sales position. Our sales manager is not willing to compromise on the GPA requirements set forth for the sales team. She hires candidates at the 3.3 cumulative GPA and higher range and your GPA is a bit low for consideration. Thank you for your persistence and passion for the opening, but at this time the sales manager has determined you are not eligible."
Click to expand...

This is a form letter, i'm nearly positive they didn't recognize that you applied for both positions.
 
myDeaconmyhand said:
This is a form letter, i'm nearly positive they didn't recognize that you applied for both positions.
Click to expand...

You may be right on this one even though I communicated with this HR person several times previously and referenced the previous position that I applied for that was a higher level. I have several friends that work there, so could always get one to mention something to the actually sales manager as I am guessing that my second resume submission never even made it to her desk due to the GPA requirement. Granted at this point, this response makes me not even want to work there even though it may be more of an HR issue and not an issue with the actual sales manager.
 
lbE08 said:
They're getting 1000 applicants for one entry-level position. They need a blanket weeder question, and apparently that's it. They're not looking at it closely enough to realize you're the same person.
Click to expand...

Yep.
 
Was looking at joining a development program for Geico right out of school however I did not qualify because I did not have a 3.5 GPA. Think this means about 40% of UNC graduates would qualify, however only around 10% of Wake graduates would qualify?

Sweet hiring practices.
 
You sound desperate. They turned you down, move on. Reclaim your man card, go get a better job. Screw them.
 
Turfg said:
You sound desperate. They turned you down, move on. Reclaim your man card, go get a better job. Screw them.
Click to expand...

Well I wouldn't say I'm desperate, but recently became unemployed and don't want to remain that way for much longer. While I am certainly not going to take any job, I don't have the luxury of being quite as picky at this point as if I were employed.
 
It's silly of them, but you are overreacting. The job search can be insanely frustrating and seem to make no sense. But you're going to have to raise your tolerance for arbitrary hoops to be jumped through.
 
General question but 9 years out of college you're expected to still put your GPA on your resume?
 
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