Should I own up?

[TreeHuggerMum1]

So going back to work after kids and I applied and have been offered a nice job. Problem is I exaggerated my education and its literally tearing me up.
I have the experience and my references from old jobs but i needed a GCSE i didnt have and so i put it on the application form and now i regret it so badly and I'm a wreck about being found out. I literally can't sleep, cant eat and I'm being sick with the stress. I'm a shaking mess!
Should I quit? Should I own up?
I know this is all my own fault and I would never do this again, I know I could get sacked for this and I know it's morally wrong and if I could take it back I would.
Has anyone had a similar experience?
What did you do?

I was going to say what flowery said. If they want good standards of numeracy and literacy then ask for that - a GCSE is not required to have that.

If it makes you feel better you could give them a ring and say that you've just remembered that you might have made a small mistake with your GCSE because now you think about it you're not sure of the grade because it was so long ago and is that likely to be a problem? Follow up with "Obviously I can demonstrate that I can do XYZ and have plenty of relevant experience."

Years ago many people didn't do degrees but did study for professional qualifications. In recent years mandatory requirements for a minimum 2:2 degree (in any old subject from any old university!) have excluded some candidates who have lots of experience which is very short-sighted and potentially discriminatory. I think this "must have GCSE in maths and English" is similar unless it is directly relevant to the role.

I too have never been asked for evidence of my qualifications but then I?ve been in the same job for years and the job market has changed hugely. I?ve read a few times that more companies these days are checking qualifications, and there?s even companies that do this for them. It?s probably more for degree level jobs, however I would just err on the side of caution and come clean - the wording from K8 is great. I don?t think you?d ever be able to relax in the job if you don't 'fess up.

How maths and English might be used in an admin job is not likely to bear much resemblance to whatever the employee did in those areas when they were 16 donkeys years ago.

Practical recent experience of, say, writing letters with a good standard of English and using Excel competently are far more likely to be relevant and useful and far better indicators of whether someone will be good at the job.

For school leaver jobs, fine. But otherwise just bunging down GCSE English and Maths as a job requirement is lazy recruiting IMO.

Flowery, when I became a teacher it was a legal requirement to have English and maths GCSE or Olevel. Think this is still the case no matter how good other gcsex or Alevels. I seem to remember I needed to send proof to the dfe before they would issue QTS. This was to teach any subject and for both primary and secondary. I knew a girl desperate to teach maths. She had 4Alevels which nobody did 20yrs ago, all grade A but she could only manage a D in English Olevel. After 2yrs in limbo, gcse came in and she finally managed her grade C, allowing her to teach.

Oh and she's now headteacher at a large, high achieving comp. wonder if she shares how she struggled to get QTS.

That's a good example of why blanket rules like that are not sensible- loss or potential loss of excellent candidates. Glad to hear your friend didn't give up as it sounds like she is an asset to the profession. :)

It's an admin job, they probably only ask to make sure you can read and write. If it was that essential they would've asked to see certificates. I wouldn't mention anything, they won't be checking.