Grades and your Graduate Career...do "fours open doors"?

Published 23 March 2011 by Scott Gleeson, Unigrad Ambassador at UQ

It is now the end of March, and for most people we
are about a month into Uni. Personally, I have fought the urge to sleep through my 8am lectures, go to the Uni bar (or Red Room as it’s known at UQ) instead of going to class and generally finding  anything else to do except Uni work. Even if it means clean my room, or making sure everything is in order so I can start studying. It has been a battle, but I would like to say I have kept up pretty well. I am sure the majority of Uni students can relate to a few of those habits. Especially in QLD at the moment, sitting through a lecture in this heat would be resulting in a few overheating brains. As if the lecturer’s voice isn’t enough to put you out of your misery.

The year kick-started with a bit of fun at Orientation Days at UQ and QUT, working as a Student Ambassador for unigrad. UQ was very full on, with the two of us going non-stop for the first 5 hours due to the massive queues at the unigrad tent. However, I am sure many people that day got the ball rolling on their future job prospects by signing up with us. For anyone like me entering their final year of study, the graduate application process can be very strenuous. I am in my final year of a Commerce degree, and have already spent hours on job applications. I can admit in my previous years at Uni, when trying to decide whether or not to go out and ‘socialise’ with friends over a few cold ales, the ‘Fours open doors’ motto always kicked in to make me feel better about my decision. Its only now I realise for the sake of my job prospects, I could have sacrificed a few hangovers for a few 6s or 7s. In saying that, I have worked for unigrad now for a little over a month, and have learned that it isn’t all about the brains. To succeed in the graduate job hunt, you not only need brains, you need personality, creativity and a little bit of diversity. A lot of major corporations out there aren’t just looking for brains, they’re looking for a ‘well rounded’ person. And that doesn’t mean someone who’s had one too many cheeseburgers. I am hoping that this will encourage those who don’t have a GPA of 6 or 7. Once you get to the interview stage it becomes just another number. It’s all about promoting yourself as a person to the employer.

Best of luck to everyone with their studies. Hopefully I will see some of you drop in to the Unigrad tent at the upcoming Careers Fairs in QLD.