The Challenges of Getting a Well Paid Job with a Third Class Degree and How To Overcome Them

Everyday people leave higher institutions with poor results which may have been their fault or due to some external factors. Leaving college or the university with a poor third class degree seems to put the prospective jobseeker at disadvantage with his peers in the labour market.

With the volume of unemployed school leavers emerging each year if you have a third class degree getting well paid jobs will be difficult enough and require extra creativity on your part.
That you have a third class degree doesn’t mean you may not be qualified for the jobs you are applying for. The trouble only lies in convincing your prospective employers that despite your result you are qualified for the job.


Here are things that will help anyone handicapped with a third class degree overcome the limitations and get the kind of jobs they desire.

Acknowledge That It is Not the End of the World: Many successful persons today succeeded in spite of seemingly poor academic results. First you have to make yourself know and accept the fact that academic results do not determine where you end up in your career. Much of how much you advance in your career will determined by the skills you acquire and what you do to improve and market yourself.

State Your Academic Qualifications While Applying, Leave Out the Grade Unless When Requested: Unlike in previous years more employers are realizing that certain qualified and skillful job candidates may possess third class degrees or second class lower degrees so they quietly leave out the part that requires job applicants to state the class of their degrees qualifications. So you will do yourself a world of good by stating only your qualifications eg, B.Sc in Computer Science and leave out the grade of your qualification unless the employer specifically requested for it.

It serves no need stating the class of your degree when you should concentrate on projecting your skills for the job to the employer.

Create More Compelling CVs: To direct the attention of your prospective employers away from your academic shortcomings and onto your practical skills and talents for the job you have to create a CV that convinces the employer to call you for an interview.

How do you do that?

First use active phrases in your CV. Instead of using phrases like ‘was in charge of creating new customer benefit programs’ write something more active like ‘I created a customer benefit programs that increased the retention rate for new customers from 15% to 23%.’ This means that you are telling the employer in concrete terms what you did at your previous place of work and how what you did brought positive results. Such direct and active descriptions of your work experience will impress the employer the more.

State any skills you have that are relevant to the kind of job you apply for.

Write effective application letters: When most people just write short, brief cover letters write longer more compelling application letters explaining your previous job experience and skills for the job and why you think your enthusiasm and love for the organization means you are the best candidate for the job.

Get Close to Key Employees of Your Target Organisations: Get necessary information on key employees of the organizations you want to work for and try to get close to them without looking like a nuisance. Render help to them when needed and ask them questions about the hiring policies of their organizations. Don’t hesitate to explain yourself to them and ask for their help in letting you know of inside tips on job openings. Start to network from your place of worship (church or mosque). Get to know influential and successful persons in your congregation and get closer to them

When you get insider tips on job vacancies from employees of your target organizations they can always help you submit early applications and CV to key recruiting staff without passing through normal bottlenecks where your applications may be thrown into the waste bin. Networking is the best way to beat the challenge posed by your third class degree in your job search .

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