Episode 54: Why a 4.0 GPA Got Zero Interviews (And What Actually Turns Heads)
Sebastian Tsang recently dropped a raw, eye-opening post on LinkedIn that should hit hard: for students, despite rocking a perfect 4.0 GPA and grinding hard, no parties, all focus, he got zero internship interviews for two straight years. He thought he was doing everything "right," but recruiters barely glanced at his apps.
He realised GPA might be a ticket to get past the first filter, and the filter is not set at 4.0 if it is a filter at all. It only proves you are a good test-taker and can follow instructions and grind. It doesn't show the stuff that actually matters once you're in the room: communication, storytelling, teamwork, problem-solving in real scenarios, and the ability to bring fresh ideas.
Breakfast Chats with Stephen
That post took me right back to breakfast chats I had for years (starting like 15–16 years ago) with a good friend who's a fellow alum of the same business school where I was teaching. He flat-out told me why he rarely hired our grads, even though he was obligated to take some co-op students and interns through the school's program. Over time, he did start bringing on a handful, but his main reasons boiled down to two blunt truths:
- He needed people who could add value from day one — not after months of training.
- He wasn't hiring great test-takers — he wanted real, usable skills.
"Valuable on day one" meant showing up able to communicate clearly, tell compelling stories about your experiences, and connect with people on a human level. In interviews, it wasn't about spitting jargon or reciting facts. It was about linking the interviewer's questions to actual projects, group work, clubs, or challenges you'd tackled and doing it in a way that felt relatable and genuine.
He loved hearing things like:
- "That nightmare group project taught me X about conflict and how I turned it around next time."
- "On our case competition team, here's how I persuaded the group to try my out-of-the-box idea and what happened."
He was obsessed with creativity and innovation because that's what grew his company. So he'd probe: What fresh thing did you bring to a school project? How did you sell it to your teammates? How did you influence the outcome?
Call to Action
School isn't just about chasing the highest GPA (though it helps open doors). It's your free(ish) lab to build the real stuff employers crave:
- Jump into projects, student clubs, case comps, hackathons, anything where you can experiment, fail a bit, learn, and create something tangible.
- Practice telling your stories: what went wrong, what you learned, how you'd do it differently.
- Network like crazy, coffee chats, events, and reaching out on LinkedIn. Put yourself out there.
- Build experiences that give you concrete examples to share, not just bullet points on a resume.
Sebastian figured this out the hard way after two years of silence from recruiters, then flipped the script: more projects, clubs (like Toastmasters for speaking), relentless networking, 200+ apps per term, and boom, roles at places like Interac and EY.
If you're in post-secondary right now, don't wait until graduation to "start" building your story. Use school as the playground it is. Grades matter somewhat, but the experiences you rack up and how well you can talk about them matter more. They turn 'blah resumes' into headturners and turn "no interviews" into offers.
What’s one thing you could get involved in this semester to start building those real-world stories? Drop it in the comments, I’d love to hear.
(Shoutout to Sebastian Tsang for the honest post, go check it out here if you haven’t already. Worth the read.)
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