Your employer (the university) sells a credential (diploma and transcript) that your customer (the student) uses to help them get a job. You are not doing it f

Your employer (the university) sells a credential (diploma and transcript) that your customer (the student) uses to help them get a job. You are not doing it for free. Grading is part of what UC gets for the $250k+ they pay a professor in salary and benefits. HR departments will use whatever signals exist. If smart people tend to have college degrees, they'll use that as a filter. If smart people tend to have gone to a certain set if universities, they'll use that list as a filter. If colleges hand out transcripts with grades, and smart people tend to have better grades, they'll ask for transcripts. HR departments didn't invent grades or transcripts. I agree with your final sentence. The signal in grades (and even graduation) has been greatly diminished (even at brand name universities). If you want to improve that situation a good step you can take right now is add your name to this open letter from UC STEM faculty: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdwvDywR-CAt3t_U3Awt1Mqp2NwO4fIpzGr7vaHwrlP2eqV6w/viewform https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdwvDywR-CAt3t_U3Aw...