Question for those in HR

[zitiqueen]

I have a hypothetical question for those who work in HR and are responsible for vetting applications.

Suppose you get an application and transcript from somebody who is pure sunshine and delight. Their overall GPA is 3.6 or 3.7 and their individual grades are all As and one big fat D- in a composition class (their major is criminal justice and the composition class is required). Are you going to see that D- and throw that application into the reject pile, or are you going to see all As and one D- and assume that there's a story behind it and not use that D- as your entire basis for throwing that application into the reject pile?

The story behind the D- is, the student wrote their last paper, turned it in, and the instructor said "You didn't cite something properly, plagiarism, blah-blah-blah, you fail the class." The student finally gets the instructor to agree that it wascited and included in the bibliography, just not properly according to the standards dictated in the syllabus so it's not plagiarism, and the instructor agrees that up until he graded this paper, the student was pulling an A in the class and probably didn't intend to plagiarize, but still, he can't give the student credit for the paper. The instructor points out that the syllabus dictates that all papers turned in (three over the course of the semester) must have a passing grade otherwise he has to fail the student outright, but he's going to be a nice guy and give the student a D- instead.

What would you do? Your options are to A) fight the D- with the English Department and lose, get a failing grade, and have to take the class again in the fall and graduate in December, B) file for late withdrawal from the composition class with the Criminal Justice Department and take the class again in the fall and graduate in December, or C) take the D- and graduate in August.

[Deleted]

I'm not in HR. However, that just sounds ridiculous to me. To me the question sounds like, do you want to hire the person based on their knowledge of the material, or do you want to hire them based on a collection of letters? Clearly the person has demonstrated that they know the material (all those As). That D- wasn't because they didn't know what they were talking about - it was a product of a misunderstanding. Granted, misunderstandings are important and relevant to the work environment, don't get me wrong, but if the person knows their stuff, and that's the issue of greater relevance, that D- shouldn't matter all that much. If it was a result of the person not knowing the material, that'd be one thing. It's not.

I'd be interested in hearing other replies. I have a 3.9 GPA in grad school and a license in my profession, but I'm always curious to know what HR and recruiters are thinking as I am currently job-hunting.

[calico]

Another not in HR, but I have been a hiring manager in the past. I would have assumed there was a story and keep the candidate in the mix, since the grade was a clear anomoly.

My H had a similar situation happen to him- actually improperly citing a source IS considered plagiarism, just not as bad as taking credit for someone else's work. He questioned not getting credit on an extra credit assignment at the end of the semester last year (for which she accused him of plagiarism), the prof removed his final grade and filed a case against him with the integrity board. The board found him guilty, even though he had showed this pattern of citation (a weird mix of styles) in all of his papers for the class and the syllabus never specifically stated the style the class would follow. It did not affect his grade b/c it was an extra credit assignment, but he was forced to take a class on plagiarism and put on "probation" for the next semester.

[mcsangel2]

A person doing hiring for a company isn't going to see your list of grades, they're only going to see the GPA of 3.6 or 3.7.

I'd take the class over again.