Can Employers Verify Your GPA?

You are applying for a job and want to make your resume stand out as much as possible. So you do the unthinkable, you inflate your GPA. What happens next?

The ethical side of the coin is that it is the wrong choice. Misrepresenting your qualifications to unfairly gain a job is not right and can have costly consequences. We’ve all heard about the CEOs who have gone so far as to lie about what college they went to (if any). When it is discovered, these people exit their job in shame and experience a lot of difficulties in getting another job because they cannot be trusted.

That being said, there is no guarantee that potential employers will verify an applicant’s GPA. If they are in the midst of a time-sensitive hiring process, they may not take the extra step of contacting the universities and requesting transcripts. Requesting transcripts can be a time-consuming process.

However, if there are a lot of competitive candidates for a position, employers may take the time to request transcripts to essentially break the tie and assist in the selection of the right person for the job.

Like the CEO example above, the GPA may not be verified immediately but later in an individual’s career. Misrepresenting a GPA could get you the job; however, in a couple of years, there could be a promotion that multiple internal candidates are vying for. At that time, the employer may verify the GPA which would be disastrous if it has been misrepresented.

In the end, there is no cut and dry answer as to whether employers verify the GPA of its applicants. If you misrepresent your GPA, you realize that you may not have gotten the job on your own merits and must endure the stress of knowing that your deception may be discovered one day. You must question if the job or your sanity is really worth the potential consequences.