EVERY now and then, I get the same nightmare I've been having for years: I see a teacher in school and she hands me a result slip, shaking her head ever so slightly.

The slip reveals a column of Ds.

Related link: » Why give top students priority in networking event?

I usually wake up at this point, heaving a massive sigh of relief that I never did get those Ds.

But for most of my student life, the prospect of a less-than-perfect result slip was nightmarish.

Hence, this heartfelt call to bosses and HR people: Please don't be fixated on grades.

Though many prospective employers now consider other factors, such as leadership positions and participation in ECAs, grades still play a big part in the candidate selection process.

But grades reveal only one dimension of a job candidate. They show only that a student has good test-taking skills.

That's not to say straight-As students aren't intelligent or capable. It's just that there is only so much prospective employers can gather about job candidates by looking at their report cards.

And this is why employers here should take a cue from Ivy League universities. These universities frequently rely on alumni networks to carry out informal interviews with would-be students to supplement their paper applications.

Feedback from these alumni interviews help selection panels decide on the best candidates from a sea of applicants who are, basically, indistinguishable based on their results.

Isn't it time for employers, HR professionals and university administrators here to take the selection process to the next level?

Meritocracy can always be cited to defend a decision based largely on grades. But making a judgment on a wider set of criteria calls for superior sensors and industry knowledge.

It's tougher to implement. But if the new economy calls for a new kind of worker, we should go beyond grades.

hanqing@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in The New Paper.