I am three weeks from graduation, and beginning to experience the brunt of the difficult job market. And on nearly every application, the employer is far more interested in your practical experience than your school performance.

Now, this isn’t to say that school doesn’t matter, because it does. Obviously no one will hire you if you flunk out of college. It just means that achieving a perfect 4.0 GPA in college does not guarantee you a job.

I first learned this in high school, when a human resources head from a software company visited our class. In his visit, he showed us three résumés on the screen, with obvious differences between them.

The first had a perfect GPA in college, but with limited practical experience. The second had a 3.0 GPA, with a lot of experience. The third had a 2.5 GPA, with the most experience. He asked the class which applicants we thought had the best résumés.

We all assumed that he hired the 4.0, because we all assumed that getting good grades was the most important aspect of a résumé. Wrong. He told us that he hired both the 3.0 applicant and the 2.5 applicant, because they would be more prepared than the 4.0 applicant.

The point is, it is much more important to get practical experience in your field of study than it is to have a perfect GPA.

I am a political science major, so for me, internships were the easiest way to get good experience in my field. I had three internships in college, and each of them helped in two ways. Not only did I gain great experience in the political field, but also I now have plenty of strong references, also important for job applications.

Another way to gain experience is through clubs and/or fraternities, where you can get a leadership role. I joined my school’s democratic club, where I got the opportunity to help organize and run a $4,000 fundraising event.

The overarching theme of this post is to try and broaden your résumé as much as possible. In the real world, practical experience always trumps GPA.