Im currently a first semester junior majoring in finance minoring in accounting. I struggled my freshman year (first semester) i have a GPA of 2.9 and most internships require a 3.0 which i’ve achieved every semester except the first one. my resume is strong being bilingual (fluent in both) 3 years working as an salesperson in real estate, worked with cpa’s and doctors for a project, work study, two clubs, cerificates including bloomberg. Think I have a chance to get a good internship at a firm or banks? I also have a job fair coming any tips?
Problem is that many banks or firms automatically will weed out by GPA as they need to start somewhere.
I would recommend networking with the CPA’s, Docs or any family contacts that might be able to help you. To blindly give resumes with a lower GPA will be a very difficult sell. Start Networking now. Get family members to network.
Do not leave any door untouched. For the job fair, bring resumes and dress the part.Shake hands with eye contact.
Best of luck
Check to see your school’s policies on the matter first, but a way to get around automated application scanners’ GPA minimums is to use your major GPA. Different schools have different restrictions on doing this. For me, to list my major GPA, I needed to make clear that it was a major GPA, not a cumulative GPA, I needed to calculate it using only courses whose enrollment reflected my major department (I was polisci, and there were some crosslisted courses; I could only figure in courses that had PSCI in the course number on my transcript), and I needed to include the number of courses I took in major (to give recruiters context… do I have a 3.5 GPA based on 2 courses or 10 courses?).
I would also plan to attend as many recruiting events as possible. Typically you’ll be directed to apply online, but if you can get a recruiter to take your resume, there is a chance that they will take a closer look, even if you are weeded out automatically.
One other thing to consider is follow-ups. When I was looking for a job, I applied to dozens of companies that recruited via on-campus recruiting (OCR). In one instance, I did not get selected for an interview (that happened probably 45 times in my search). Two days after the interview day, I followed up with the company’s recruiters to see if they could give me advice on how to proceed, and they said that they were disappointed that I chose not to interview! When I told them I was not selected to interview, they balked - the application system had a glitch that prevented them from seeing my application! They brought me in for an interview and I wound up spending the first four years of my career with them.