SINGAPORE: A Singaporean woman recently shared her confusion online after being asked about her grade point average (GPA) during a job application.
In her Reddit post, she shared that after applying for a job at a local hospital, she got a call from HR, but to her surprise, the conversation didn’t start with the usual questions about her past roles or experience. Instead, the very first thing they asked was about her GPA.
“I’m not a fresh grad, but I still got asked how much my GPA is,” she wrote on Friday (Jun 27). “Then HR proceeds to tell me whether I can take a salary cut for this role (~20% lower than my current salary, not even my expected salary) before proceeding further. Didn’t really ask much about my work experience.”
Wondering if this was normal, she asked other locals, “Is GPA still a deciding factor for salary instead of your work experience in government jobs?”
“Grades play a huge part in the number of doors they can open for you.”
In the comments, several Redditors weighed in to offer their perspectives on why some public hospitals and government-linked organisations place such a strong emphasis on academic qualifications, even when hiring experienced candidates.
One Singaporean user explained that many of these organisations are bound by structured salary frameworks. They said, “These organizations are required to track your academic profile and pay you a higher/lower salary. Guys get asked about their NS (National Service) vocation and PES (Physical Employment Standards) grades, have no correlation towards the scope or security. That’s just how the system works. Not happy? Find another company to interview for.”
Another commented, “There’s a band for public hospitals—they likely do not consider your past experiences (i.e., 0 years of experience); hence, to them you are a fresh graduate, and hence, GPA matters.”
A third added, “Think about it logically. Why do people strive so hard to get to top universities and get good grades? Because it matters and will still matter. Sure, grades are not everything, but the reality is, they play a huge part in the number of doors they can open for you.”
In other news, a man took to NUSWhispers on Wednesday (Jun 25) to share that he feels stuck in a toxic and emotionally draining relationship with a girlfriend who threatens to harm herself whenever he tries to walk away.
In the post, he explained that they’ve been together for a few years now, but over time, the relationship has become increasingly unhealthy. Every time he tries to break things off, his girlfriend responds by threatening self-harm, saying she would “die” if he leaves her.
Featured image by freepik (for illustration purposes only)
