There are several ways to stand out to an employer even if your GPA isn't what you'd like it to be. I know it may seem like everyone at UVA has an awesome GPA, but I promise you, they don't. Lots of students go on to find fantastic jobs even when their GPA has taken a few knocks.You might consider alternative ways to calculate your GPA. If your GPA in just your major classes is higher than a 3.0, put it on your resume as “Major GPA”. If you had a bad semester first year (it happens!) but have done well for the last few semesters, calculate your GPA for the past 3 (or whatever works best) semesters and include it on your resume as “GPA for last 3 Semesters”.
Just as a side note, our office regularly encourages employers to looking beyond GPA as a screening criteria. We know (and you should know too) that there are a wide range of factors that determine success on the job. Don't let your GPA squash your confidence! You just need to focus on showing employers your skills and talents that matter!
Demonstrating your interest:
Make sure that the first paragraph of your cover letter (and yes, you probably do need to do a cover letter) says exactly why you're interested in the company and the job. Know something specific about the company that you think is compelling (a project they are working on, a company culture that they promote, the type of clients they have, the level of expertise that they have in their area, family owned, start-up stage, etc). Find something about the job that you think is a great fit for you too it will show them that you have a really solid understanding of the job description.
Make sure that you have a contact name for your cover letter. Our office can help you find the best contact name to use. It will show that you did the extra work to find out who to address your letter to and it will stand out against all the letters addressed to “recruiting coordinator”.
Follow up after a week of submitting your resume. Again, our office can help you figure out who to call if it's not clear. Follow up again in another 4-5 days. Employers won't think you're being annoying they'll know that you're really interested in the job!
Focus on your experience:
Really focus on making sure your resume bullet points show the skills that you have that align with what the company is looking for. Study the job description to find key words that you can also include in your resume. Make it easy for them to see that you have the skills they are looking for by using the same language. Make sure that you are going into enough detail in your descriptions and focusing on results, not just duties.
We read top to bottom and left to right, so make sure the most related information is listed right after your education section. Make sure the first bullet points for each experience are the most important/most related ones and start each bullet point with a strong action verb.
Read the job description carefully and try to use the same language (key words) they use in your own descriptions of your experience. This will make it easy for the recruiter (or the applicant tracking system) to see that you have the skills they are looking for.
The most important thing you can do is network:
It might not have the most immediate impact, but can be the most effective way of getting hired. There are two good ways to get started:
VAM (Virginia Alumni Mentoring): UVA alums have entered profiles into the platform and made themselves available to students to ask questions about a variety of topics. It's easy to use wording for messages is even included for you!
LinkedIn: You have access to all of the UVA alums in LinkedIn. You can sort them by major or employer or where they live and you can view their profiles to see what they do. Connect with alums who are working for companies you're interested in and reach out to them to see if they have any advice for you in your job search. People love to help students, especially UVA alums! Get your profile in good shape (here are some tips) and start following companies that you're interested in. You can also join groups that match your interests as well.
How to address the GPA issue with an employer if they ask (don't bring it up unless they do):
Frame it as growth experience. A lot of times it's a bad semester or a particularly hard class that impacts a GPA. Maybe it's health reasons or outside factors that meant that you didn't have as much study time as you would have liked to have had. Talk about it in terms of what you learned from the experience how to better manage time, how to ask for help, how to balance competing priorities. Sometimes we experience the most growth when things go wrong. Show them how you've been able to work through the tough times and learn from the experience.
Applying Now:
Large companies that get a lot of resumes for every job will probably use GPA as some type of filter. I'd suggest looking for small, less well-known companies to focus on there are a lot of cool companies that you've never heard of. And frankly, companies that don't hyper-focus on GPA probably have a lot of other good qualities too!