Why do most jobs require GCSE or equivalent?

[nickinickers]

I find this quite soul destroying as someone with no education or ability to learn.
I would be so good at so many jobs but because I’m academically challenged I can’t even apply.
AIBU to think this is so unnecessary and cruel?

My heart goes out to you Op and I think you’ve been really brave in coming on here and sharing your struggles, it can be a nest of vipers at the best of times. Here’s what I would do if I were you.
I would get assessed for ADHD/ learning differences, it really sounds like you have something else going on, which if addressed, could give you some answers, help you overcome your difficulties.
Then I would try the GCSEs again working 1:1 with a tutor (if you can afford it) or if not at a college, but maybe at your own pace, without pressure.
in the meantime do some volunteering day at a charity shop to build confidence.
Please have faith, you are just as capable, you just need to stay positive, good luck

OP, hopefully you can ignore the ableism on this thread and have found some of the support helpful and comforting. The problem with undiagnosed neurodiversity is often we are trying to function in a world not designed for us, especially over the job market. People won't hire ND people/we get bullied at work or fired and yet the same people moan about people with cognitive struggles etc needing to claim benefits. As a society whilst we're whining about the right use of language used for some minorities including us as women, we still have a LONG way to go when it comes to putting right the hatred of people with "cognitive dysfunction" or struggling to "adult" or even taking any different path of sorts in life. I resonated with your post. A lot. Feel free to reach out over a chat if you want to in the PM's, if you want to. Best of luck to you. You sound lovely from your posts x

Yes, that's my point. It demonstrates poor reading and comprehension.

Cleaners around london can earn north of 20 per hour if they’re good.

@Bluevelvetsofai know two recently qualified police officers. One had A levels (C grades) the other has no A levels but NVQs in Beauty Therapy. So you don’t need qualifications beyond that.
OP there are routes to further education and also to gaining GCSEs. Why do you say you have no ability to learn? If you truly don’t then what jobs have you been doing til now? What about construction? Google what you need.

You need a CSCS card to work in construction. That involves an exam.
Being realistic OP is a woman in her 40s with no experience or references. How many middle age women do you see on construction sites? They want young men.

This was me! I have autism and some learning issues and went to a special school back in the day.

firstly it can be possible to pass even if it doesn’t feel like it now, I was able to pass and I even ended up doing some evening classes at a university (not a full degree! Just some classes)
things that really helped me, khan academy (it’s a website online for maths) as I could redo and redo the things I learnt and I started at the very very basics, like 2+5 vibes. I got a tutor that was the most understanding person ever and was happy to go over concepts at a snails pace and over and over and over again.
I finally have the GCSE’s now, but I do my own creative business, as I just struggle with basic workplace tasks. I outsource everything maths, finances etc out to someone else, I know my limits! You could look into if you’re crafty or something like cleaning or similar and make it your business.

if that doesn’t appeal, scrap the big companies and organisations like nhs or police that have very rigid hiring standards and write to some random local companies on SM or go and explain I don’t have the qualifications but I can do x or y and I’d love to work for you, before starting my wfh freelance stuff I had several local shop jobs from this method. Morrisons are also very very supportive employers for people who struggle.

I wonder if an online course might suit your learning style better?

I have various issues with information processing and retention and find that in order to take anything in I need to both hear and see the information, so video with subtitles or a book with audio option is great (I also have specialist software that I use at work).

Classroom based learning isn’t right for everyone. Doesn’t mean you can’t learn, but it may be you need to learn differently.

Give over! She’s clearly making all this up, it’s just attention seeking! I’m not sure what people get out of this, they must have serious issues.

Op needs work without having to get NVQs or sit tests.

Don't underestimate what goes into completing a Beauty Theapy course, its not just practical stuff, there's a chunk of anatomy stuff, and it demonstrates the ability to learn. Hence the Police will have accepted it as meeting the entry requirements.

I'll also stand up for labourers, they are semi-skilled workers, to walk into a big site your need a CSCS card, but most labourers hold qualifications, 'tickets' beyond that, for operating plant and machinery.

I think Police is completely out of the question for a combination of factors, the entry qualifications, the studying once your in and her age unlikely the police are going to invest in a 40 yo, maybe a 40yo whos ex-forces but not someone whos got no qualifications and a limited CV

Maybe traffic warden might be an option. But I imagine they are still going to look for some sort of English qualifications.

Op could you do Care work?

This is actually quite good advice.

Your spelling and grammar is a lot better than I’d expect for someone with no GCSEs, but I’m sorry but to think you could be a police officer with no GCSEs is ridiculous, you have to learn the laws or you wouldn’t know what you were arresting people for!

Have you tried doing a course where you do physical work and don’t do written exams, like manicurist, catering or decorating?

If you described to us what you enjoy and are good at at home, what would it be?

Maybe you love cooking, or you find ironing a super easy in front of the TV job, or you are good at mending clothes, or you don't hate sewing in name labels, or you love wrapping presents, or you are good at wrangling dogs, or you are good at putting up shelves and changing light fittings?

Is there any of that that you could turn into a job, and if you did turn it into a job, would your husband help you manage the financial side, to make sure your taxes etc didn't end up going wrong?

You're quite articulate so you should be fine in terms of dealing with customers as long as you take notes etc if your memory isn't good.

So e.g. I can imagine in some areas you might be able to find work looking after kids after school, maybe in their parents homes.

Or you could offer a housekeeping service - so offering a broader offer than just cleaning. Maybe being someone who was offering to come in for 2-4 hours twice or three times a week and make a big dish of decent food, maybe get the supermarket shop in, run a load of washing through and hang it up, plus a bit of cleaning on top - certainly I can imagine there are busy two parent households or highly paid single parents households who would pay good money to outsource having a "wife" who would keep on top of that stuff.

Or dog walking or cat sitting?

Or being a handywoman, but probably only if you're a really confident DIYer.

I wonder if the bigger problem now is never having worked? So it might be necessary to volunteer somewhere for a while, to get referees etc.

Nobody in my family before me has ever got their GCSEs (or former equivalent); they have all worked in various jobs their entire lives. In jobs like steelworks, mines, domestic service, retail, hospitality, factories. My great grandmother was still working in a hospital kitchen on her 80th birthday.

You obviously can learn, as you’re communicating here and you also learned how to care for your children. You just need the right support by the sounds
of it.

Hi @nickinickers

Having read through your responses there are a few observations

1. You were able to get good results in exams but not GCSEs, which exams were you able to get results in?
2. It sounds like there is some type of inattentiveness going on. It might be ADHD but it also might be anxiety.. i.e. the more you try the harder it is to concentrate. This would be completely understandable if you grew up in a family of high acheivers and there were some expectations that you weren't meeting.
3. You might have an issue with a specific learning disability. For example I don't quite meet the criteria for dyslexia, but I have a pretty poor STM. Even though I am in the "above average" by IQ standards I learn slower than expected especially when there is reading involved and I get very frustrated by this fact.
4. There is also quite a bit of self-pitying going on. I also experienced this "if life was like this it would be easier..." "No-one understands". To help with this I started with some self-compassion exercises. They are quite painful and stupid at the beginning, but it has rewired my brain to the extent that I don't worry all the time, and I can now focus enough on the task I am doing.

You can do this, but there are some steps you will need to take first. Get a learning assessment as a priority. They will be able to help you see where in your cognition things are a bit hard.. for me it was spatial awareness.

Understand that when you are stressed any small issues you have, will be magnified. So a job where there are lots of people talking etc... will be stressful, a supermarket shelf stacking will not be as stressful.

Build up some self confidence. After the assesment consider working with a pysch/counsellor to identify why you feel shit about yourself, and sit with that for a while. Its awful but so incredibly worth it.

@nickinickers Just wanted to offer some encouragement. I feel sure there are lots of things you could do - it sounds like school-based learning didn’t suit you, you may have some undiagnosed needs and your confidence is understandably not high. Even 25 years ago SEN awareness was much lower than it is now and your needs may have been missed.

What I would say is that I’m sure that you can learn - believing this may be hard but it’s an important step in you feeling you can succeed.

Success comes in many forms. As others have said, there is lots of entry-level work that would make a good starting point. I have taught students who sound a lot like you and they all had lots to contribute. Also, if you are good practically or could learn a practical skill you could be self-employed, e.g providing a service or making something. To echo others:

• Driving (lorry driving, getting a forklift licence, taxi driving, bus driving)
• Cleaning - you could maybe do this on a self-employed basis
• Making - maybe a bit of a stretch but could you sell on somewhere like Etsy?
• Gardening
• Look at local notice boards for people wanted ads - you might pick up work that way.
• Delivery work

Also, volunteering is a very good shout to start with.

I would also suggest trying all of the following (none of which I’m suggesting are perfect):

• See your GP to discuss the issues you’ve described with learning. They might make a referral to a service for you to get you help or further investigations. This could take time but it’s worth getting started.
• Look for local organisations and charities that help people in your situation. (E.g. Google Rathbone Training - not sure if they have an upper age limit).
• Job centre - ask for careers and training advice
• This government National Careers Website where you can search free training courses of all kinds. https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/find-a-course
• Open Learn at Open University- might not suit you but they have lots of free short courses and you might find something that interests you and you could treat it as confidence building to start with - https://www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses/full-catalogue?filter=date/grid/all/all/Introductory/all/all

If you want to have another go at formal English and maths qualifications, there are now lots of free online learning tools which are well-designed to help you learn, e.g.:

Corbett Maths - https://corbettmaths.com/
Seneca Learning - https://app.senecalearning.com/sign-up
Khan Academy

Good luck!!

Probably not as she said she can’t retain or process even basic information

You Say you’re practical. Are you also fit and strong? Could you do something like building? Gardening or landscape work? Obviously trades like plumbing and electrician need more demanding qualifications but some very practical jobs might work for you.

It think having GCSEs or qualifications is a measurable way for employers to check tour ability to read, write, retain and interpret information. Although a GCSE doesn't always directly translate into skills on the job it demonstrates your abilities. Maybe it's the way you have been taught? Have you had assessment for dyslexia or dyscalculia?

Life is different now than it was 20 years ago, but my partner has a decent career without ever having gained minimum standard at GCSE bar scraping a C in English. That said, you have to be willing to start at the bottom - it is what he did. He took a few unskilled jobs and learned on the trade, then started to work his way up. His CV is a lot more colourful than mine, but the experience he gained was invaluable and he got decent references. He now earns the same I do, and I have a degree and went the full academic route into my position.

Mind you, the world is changing and he is now getting hounded to complete formal qualifications. I think he will find it more and more difficult to get another job at his level or above without further qualifications, which he is stubbornly refusing to complete.

OP, you have two choices. One is to start at the bottom and work your way up. Bar work or retail are typical entry jobs, and you need one to gain work experience. The other is to complete formal qualifications. Lots of places offer modular GCSE equivalents, which may suit you better than traditional GCSEs.

Most apprenticeship, s require maths and English GCSE,at grade four or above ( or equivalent) as a minimum.

Lots of people without SEN struggle to get grade four passes .

Please don't underestimate whats required to get building qualifications. Joiners, bricklayers, painters, etc all need to have qualifications to start their apprenticeship, even decades ago, when many young people left school at 15 without school qualifications, local colleges offered pre-apprentice courses.

I think Op needs to look at unskilled work. Care work might be an option.

You've brought up a family? Look into care jobs, cleaning etc, anything you've coped with at home. Looking to the future, presumably you haven't made any pension provision? (Are we being led up the garden path?)

But why is that? GCSEs aren’t, objectively, difficult Either the child hasn’t been able to apply themselves (eg difficult home life, SEN) or the teaching style hasn’t suited. As an adult you should be able to address these things..Eg accessing support for issues like dyslexia or finding a learning style to suit..