Do Skills Weigh More than High Marks?
by Robert Snider | October 25, 2022
When you force yourself to delve beyond the textbooks, you’ll discover a fascinating, competitive world filled with problems for which you have no answers. Your exploration and growth then begin. While marks are fleeting, talents can help someone stand out from the crowd and advance them.
Without the necessary skill, a degree can only help you land a job; it cannot assist you in advancing your career. Employers, clients, and management are drawn to skilled workers, which either boosts or lowers an individual. Without the expertise, it would be impossible for the person to succeed and capture the attention of their superiors.
Although they may appear great on paper and have a number of advantages, good grades do not truly reflect one’s intellectual prowess. This is partly because students are given more attention for letter grades than for understanding academic material. However, a strong academic record is crucial because it reveals your hobbies, aptitude for learning, and areas of academic competence.
The most important factor in determining your college prospects is your high school GPA. Colleges may take into account a student’s grade point average (GPA) as one of their selection criteria. Your grades in college are even more critical if you plan to attend graduate or professional school.
You can make future plans using your grades. In fact, you may use your GPA to locate yourself and decide your course much like a GPS. Your ability to identify areas where you need to put more effort into your work will be improved the more you are aware of your strengths and areas for development. Your ability to pursue the career you want is significantly influenced by the college GPA listed on your resume. A strong academic record can simply be your key to employment with big, well-known organizations that can launch your career.
Without a degree, a person who possesses a skill may not be eligible to apply but may still be able to make a living from those skills. In this case, the compensation may or may not be comparable to that of a degree holder, but a degree holder with skills can still make money.
Eight out of ten businesses have internal programs to help employees upskill, demonstrating that employers place more importance on skills and experience than on degrees. Additionally, 50 percent of recruiters stated that they would favorably consider hiring a candidate with a nonscientific background who had completed comprehensive training courses for tech-driven employment.
Compared to knowledge, grades are only important in the short run. At various points in your academic career, grades are important and necessary for moving forward. In addition to being important over time and assisting with academic success, knowledge also serves as an authentic representation of your real learning.
As a general guideline, it is useful to keep in mind that while a qualification may be a more precise accomplishment, a talent is often associated with a particular ability. A qualification can be having a bachelor’s degree in English, while a skill might be typing seventy words per minute. One person can have both the skill and the qualification.