It is the dream of many a college student to graduate with Latin Honors.
Universities award these to those who meet or exceed specific grade point average thresholds. It comes in three forms: cum laude (“with honors”), magna cum laude (“with great honors”), and summa cum laude (“with highest honors”).
Not only does it recognize all your effort, hard work, and persistence, but it also marks you as one of the best in your batch. Additionally, putting Latin Honors on your CV gives you a significant advantage when job hunting.
At least, that’s what our parents told us.
But does it really, though? Does attaining Latin Honors matter when we’re looking for an online job? Let’s find out.
Graduating With Latin Honors Isn’t a Golden Ticket to Success.
Although there are advantages to graduating with Latin Honors when job hunting, they’re not as significant as we think.
After all, one’s academic skills don’t always translate well at work.
According to Ivy Formoso, Human Resources consultant and HR Management Professor at the Ateneo Graduate School of Business, Latin Honors are important to fresh entrants as it “reflects the excellent performance of a candidate in school, hopefully predictive of future performance.”
However, she also stresses that an applicant’s emotional quotient is “just as important or even more important” to employers. This is because today’s jobs prioritize effective collaboration and team effort.
Thus, having the right academic qualifications alone isn’t enough to get a job today. Aside from knowing how to do your job, you must also prove you can work well with others.
Does This Mean That Latin Honors Are Useless Now?
Not at all. Having Latin Honors can still give you an edge when applying for online jobs. Graduating with Latin Honors is still crucial in many fields, like finance, engineering, and management. In fact, having one is still enough to make you a shoo-in for jobs in these industries.
However, this isn’t the case in other online jobs. Foreign employers aren’t usually concerned if you have Latin Honors or not – so long as you can get the job done.
Additionally, achieving Latin Honors is still not something to sneeze at. It tells potential employers that you’re skilled, hardworking, and disciplined, traits that every employer looks for. Not to mention it’s easier to get letters of recommendation from your university when you have a cum laude.
If you’re just starting your career, having Latin Honors can still help you land a job. Just don’t rely on it too much.
What Else Do You Need, Then?
So if your Latin Honors don’t matter as much as you thought when looking for an online job, what does?
First off, employees aren’t just interested in the number of awards you receive in college. They’re also looking for specific soft skills.
These include communication skills, leadership, adaptability, and, most importantly, teamwork.
Next, you must show potential employers that you’re suited for the job. This means making a well-written resume and coming in prepared for their interview.
And, of course, you’ll need experience. Having theoretical knowledge is good, but having the experience to back it up is even better. If you don’t have much experience, you can emphasize any activities you did in college that are relevant to the position you’re applying for.
Good Grades Alone Won’t Jumpstart Your Career.
Contrary to what our parents told us, attaining Latin Honors isn’t always an assurance that every company will be clamoring to hire us after graduation. There are several other factors employers are looking for, such as their experience, personality, and ability to work well within a team.
However, this doesn’t mean having Latin Honors doesn’t matter when looking for an online job anymore. Having one still shows you’re highly skilled and capable.
But if you want the best chance of landing a job today, you must also demonstrate that your grades are simply a reflection of your work ethic and soft skills.
So if you think you have both, but don’t know where to start looking for online jobs, Remote Staff is the place to go. Our jobs list has various positions available for you to choose from.
And if the job you want isn’t available, you can try looking another time since we regularly update our list.
Good luck!
