The million dollar question

I recently wrote an email to some of my Exco after my encounter with Yee Loong, my tax professor, who is also the Director of Taxes at Deloitte and Touche.

Instead of re-writing, let me do some cutting and pasting:

---

I asked him a question," Prof, how important really is grades in the working world?"
I think this is the million dollar question we all want to know isn't it? Haha.

I can't remember the whole conversation but here are some gems I caught:

"When we pick a person for an interview, we don't just look at grades. We also look at the amount of participation in school activities. However, if the person doesn't have much else, we will just use the grades to gauge. It's just good to get you an interview. After that it is really up to how well you do in the interview process."

"We don't care about past performance. While the government sector thinks otherwise, but in the private sector, we pay according to the person for his performance during the year. It doesn't matter if you're a Summa Cum Laude ( First class) or just a person with a general degree. When you're in a job we don't care if you've got 5 As for your A levels or your GPA in university for that matter. You are graded according to your performance for the year."

"In the business and working world, it's all about EQ. How you relate to people, how you talk with people. Intelligence is definitely not a gauge of success."

Well, he just confirmed what I always have sensed in my heart. I just never got around to asking an employer until today. And a successful one at that. He even shared a story:

" I had an old student whom contacted me recently, she graduated 3-4 years ago. She said she wanted to ask me a tax question. I thought she just filed her tax returns wrongly and needed help, but it turns out that her husband ( who was 29 years old) wanted to know if the 12 million dollar business he just sold was taxable! This guy struggled through university in NTU, failed almost every semester and had to retake alot of tests. He worked at ST Engineering for 3-4 years but didn't like the job so started his own business. At 29, he sold a 12 million dollar business. And now at 36years old, he's comtemplating selling a 50 million dollar business!"

Wow.

But the point is: This is how important grades are. This is how important your dean's list is. Your Summa, Magna or whatever Cum Laude. At best, it gets you the interview. That's it.

It's important to work hard. We should. But grades should never be our pursuit. It's a perishable crown. Like a lifespan of 5 years? Your dean's list works for you till you graduate and it ends there.

It is important we excel, but let's put the things of God, the things that are eternal first. It's easy to want to run after what everyone else is running, but what they don't see is that: There's nothing at the end of the race. You can throw everything else ( Your ministry, your family, your relationship with God, with friends) away trying to get that nice looking GPA on your resumé, but there's nothing at the end of the rainbow.

*Cut*

---

Okay la, for the people who want to work in banks I guess your GPA matters more. But no matter what it is, the relevance of your grades still end at the interview. After that no more use.

Can't believe we're spending 4 years trying to do that. Amazing what culture can disillusion you with.