So, who still has their GCSE certificates?

[Borisjohnsonshairbrush]

So, I'm 36, I've been working 20 years and my new employer wants to see my GCSE certificates. So yes kids, they are important

Admin/receptionist job.

Lost them years ago during a house move and its going to cost me several forms of I.D and £45.00 to get them from AQA.

Who else still has theirs 15+ years later?

I have a six figure salary and have never been asked for a certificate. Heaven help me if I am!!!

Yes I have all qualification certificates.

Another one for the Record of Achievement here

Nope. My ex kept them (in my national record of achievement) when we split up and probably burned them or something. I need to get copies really.

I still have all of mine, carefully stored in the good old National Record of Achievement folder 😂

I've always worked in certain professional and/or local authority roles and they've always asked to see them.

I've changed job a fair amount over the past ten years and have had to produce them every time.

Even when the job requires higher qualifications, there's often a check for GCSE maths and English particularly.

I think it does depend on what type of industry you're applying for though.

Actually, coming from a family which is very bad at throwing things out, I might be able to put my hands on Dad's o'level and Grandpa's matric certs, too...

I have mine from 1974, thank goodness as I had to produce them for an interview in about 2015

I knew where mine were until late 2009. I had a job interview and couldn’t remember putting the envelope back in my bag at the end (they’d been taken away for photocopying while I completed a typing test) and I couldn’t find the envelope anywhere when I got home. I assumed that I’d left the envelope at the college who didn’t employ me and it factored heavily into me leaving the area I phoned and got a noncommittal response when I asked if they’d check for me.

Fast forward to a couple of months ago(!) and our house move; my mum hands me a small box of stuff she’d kept for me (old books, pension paperwork) and included in the bundle were my gcse results - the weird thing is I remember being really worried that I couldn’t find them, absolutely no memory of giving them to my parents to store?? Very lucky that my current job didn’t ask for proof.

Should’ve said I didn’t live at home when I couldn’t find the paperwork.

I’m 52 and still have my O Level certificates. In my most recent job I needed to see GCSE certs and I found it amazing the amount of people who no longer had them!

Mine got eaten by mold when the upstairs dipshits flooded our flat. Subsequently, I had to retake maths and English exams with my prospective employer to prove my level.

I decided to burn mine. It was during a low period of my life. I decided that I’d probably never be asked for them, and I never have been, either.

I still have mine in that record of achievement thing

I still have them but have never been asked for proof of them (or my a levels or degree)

@clary

Those who are querying why a job would require you to produce the certificates, there are a number of roles for which GCSE maths and English and sometimes science are essential. Teaching for one and I am sure that's not the only one.

What do people suggest happens - an assumption that they have been passed? You also need a degree to train as a teacher, hence needing that cert too - in my case it was 35 years ago but I still need to show it. Funnily enough I have never been asked for my A level certs as they have never been a requirement for any role.

What about people who don't come from countries where you don't do GCSEs though? Can they just...not have a job?

I'm in the third sector and have no problems showing people my degree certificates. I've got the GCSEs so I'd be able to show the certificates, but I remember fuck all from Maths GCSE other than crying in the exam because I was so stressed about it.

Maybe I'm weird, but I also used to hate being asked to fill out my GCSEs and A levels on job application forms. Are they going to kick me to the curb in favor of someone with 2 extra A*s?

I've still got my O level certificate from 1980, kept safely with all my other certificates. I've never been asked to show them to anybody since.

Have them all and at 58 still need to show them to new employers. I also have my ballet exam cert from around 49 years ago though nobody has ever wanted that one

I still have my original O level and cse certificate from 1984.

Me, 27 years later, in my record of achievement.

What about people who don't come from countries where you don't do GCSEs though? Can they just...not have a job?

They accept equivalents of GCSE grade C from different systems, not just a GCSE.

In teaching we also need to provide our qualified status - it took me longer to find that key number than it did my exam certificates.

When looking I found all sorts such as French and German proficiency tests, swimming certificate, cycling proficiency, etc. Even found the odd old report from school.

@Borisjohnsonshairbrush do you need math and English at a certain level for the job? Could you just order those rather than them all?

I am 53 and still have mine

In over 30 years I've never needed to show my exam certificates to anyone.

No idea where they are. I don't remember the exam boards or all the subjects so wouldn't know how to get copies. Don't suppose there's even a record of them anymore.

School is all a bit of a stressful memory for me. I've lied about my grades multiple times and never been found out.

I do - and my A levels and degrees, all in the drawer of important stuff.

From experience (I look at people's qualifications at work) most people keep/know where their degree certificates are but have long lost GCSEs/A levels (unless they are in their 20s).