Do you put week GCSE grades in work experince application ?

[MummyTheBlueengine]

DS is completing his application for a very cool techy company . The company CV template has 5 lines for GCSE grades and currently these lines are populated with nice A*, which are most relevant to the industry, but don't include a C in English.

I guess the company would encourage to put as many GCSEs as one have, but DS wouldn't guess that on his own.

I am not sure the company explicitly mandates which subjects and how many grades to include.

So I am wondering whether I am supporting or hindering his chances by keeping quiet and leaving things as they are.

He should include the C in English. It would be an odd one to exclude as just about everyone studies English to GCSE level and the company may assume he achieved less than a C if he misses it out. It would be usual to start a list of GCSEs with English and Maths and then add the other subjects.

I worked for a very cool techy company.

No, they don't care. Especially not for work experience! They care whether he is interested in their field and has an aptitude for it, not whether he managed to stay awake in English class. Even the "relevant" GCSE grades are less interesting to them than whether he knows something about their industry and can show his passion for techy stuff by foaming at the mouth while blethering on about his obscure special interest.

If it were a permanent job, they'd be looking for some evidence that he can produce coherent documents and communicate effectively with clients and colleagues. A good GCSE mark can be one way of demonstrating this, but it isn't the only way.

They will think he got an E if he doesn't put an English grade down. might be different if the subject were something like PE.

Also some techy people are brilliant at maths but can hardly write English so I don't think you need to worry about the English C grade.

If it is an on line application then definitely include the English. Our recruitment computer programme can be set to filter out applicant's without certain qualifications and I personally always set C grades in English and Maths GCSE as a minimum. Applications without them are automatically rejected before a human even sees them.

If there is a lack of space on a paper application, an alternative is to write:

"Insert no." GCSEs grades A*- C including Maths, English and (then list his most relevent subjects)

Thank you all for your replies. We added a line as Essexmum suggested. Fingers crossed.

May I borrow this thread. Which year do pupils do work experience, yr 9, yr11 or others? How long for? one week or two? How do they or their schools find the placements? Do they find it themselves or the schools? Do they need a CV to apply for the more desirable placements? My dd only in yr7.