RECRUITERS' USE OF GPA IN INITIAL SCREENING DECISIONS: HIGHER GPAs DON'T ALWAYS MAKE THE CUT

TLDR: The authors examined the relationship between college grade point average (GPA) and initial screening decisions using data from 548 job postings in a college recruitment program and found that in-major GPA is more strongly associated with screening decisions than is overall GPA, but the magnitudes of the relationships varied across decision sets including a larger number of negative values than would be expected from sampling error alone.

Abstract: The relationship between college grade point average (GPA) and recruiters' initial screening decisions was examined using data from 548 job postings in a college recruitment program. Results indicate that in-major grade point average (GPA) is more strongly associated with screening decisions (p= 0.18, SDP= 0.200) than is overall GPA (p= 0.06, SDP= 0.187), but the magnitudes of the relationships varied across decision sets including a larger number of negative values than would be expected from sampling error alone. Subsequent examination of the bivariate data identified 6 different plot types suggesting that recruiters use a variety of GPA decision rules to initially screen applicants in college recruiting. The most common data plots found in 42% of the decision sets suggests that recruiters do not use GPA in screening decisions. But a surprising 81 of 548 decision sets indicated recruiters selected against applicants with high GPAs. Evidence that organizations recruiting for the same job produced different plot types suggests that the use of GPA data in initial screening decisions may be idiosyncratic to individual recruiters.