As I was typing my curriculum vitae, I was wondering if it was good idea to include my GPA. I'm currently in software engineering and have a 4.0 GPA, but don't like mentioning it too much as I fear people might see this as bragging...
But at the same time, I feel like it is something that could help me land a job (or an interview, at least). What should I do?
Yes, put it on. You've either attended a cruddy university, or you've demonstrated your consistent effort toward your education by maintaining that.
Typically you mention your GPA if you have a 3.0 or better and you believe your university experience is relevant to the position you are applying for.
If you have a good GPA and you're fresh out of college, put it there. After you've had a job or two, take it off (and move the Edu part after the job history).
As an interviewer, I don't care about your GPA as it has nothing to do with the job I'm hiring you for.
If I were interviewing you for a position my company has right now (which we do), I would want to know THREE, and only three things:
GPA answers none of those questions--neither does the name of school you attended.
(updated: wrong number of things) :P
As a former recruiter, I want to see it. If it's missing, I generally assume it's < 3.0. I'd also include any university honors that came with the 4.0.
Once you've been working for a while, say 5 years, it's not really as important. However, I'd probably still stick with listing the 4.0 for longer if you've only had one or two positions during that time.
Resumes are designed to advertise you, so they should be listing positive things about you, and education is important.
If you have less than two other relevant jobs and/or five years of work experience, I'd probably put the GPA down. If you're a more seasoned candidate, just the institution and degree will suffice.
However, never feel bad about advertising yourself on a resume. That's what it's for. The reason I'd tend not to include the GPA info once I was more experienced is more stylistic than anything else.
If you are new out of school, put it in.
If it is relevant, put it in.
Employers are generally more interested in experience than GPA.
Now, here's one interesting side note. I'm aware of at least two instances where the person with a lower GPA was hired and not the 4.0 applicant, all things being equal.
The reason for it was that there's a perception that a 4.0 person is a perfectionist, when someone with a high, but not dead-on GPA knows how to succeed and is used to failure. Many jobs are not about getting it right the first time, but in knowing how to bounce back from failure with new ideas.
With a 4.0 (really, anything better than a 3.0) it is worth mentioning. A simple "4.0 GPA, summa cum laude with University and Departmental Honors" or what have you, doesn't take up much space and shows that you cared about the quality of your coursework.
I have been in industry for 15 years, and I still put down the fact that I graduated with a 4.0 on my resume next to each of my degrees. I don't think anyone will judge you negatively for being proud of an accomplishment like that.
As someone who's interviewed college graduates, it is very informative to me to know your GPA. I always ask how you did in the important classes like Data Structures.
After you've had a job, it's no longer relevant, because I'm more interested in your job and project experience.
if you are a fresher then put it. Otherwise if you have more than 4 years of experience and changed 2 organisations then it is not neccessary to put it in the resume. If at all you want to put it, place it after your job experience and your reponsibilities.
I would put it there, even if it's just to show that you are proud of your archievements and confident enougth to talk about it. People who are too shy to talk about their accomplishments are, generally speaking, a bit of a problem in a team. E.g. they might find a great solution for a hard problem, but tell nobody about it because of their shyness, thus doing effictively nothing to solve the problem.