Lied about GCSEs now facing an pre employment screening

[LadyV79]

Hi all, please dont judge as Im beating myself up about this and always have but I dont have any GCSE's due to childhood trauma and I didnt sit my exams at all.

I left school in 1995 with no qualifications and had a bit of trouble finding employment due to this so started to lie on my CV of having the basic GCSE passes.

I am currently in employment with a Government ran organisation and have been for 6 years but have been offered another job today which Im thrilled about but have been told I have to have a pre employment screening (I think this is more detailed than a regular DBS check) with Security Watchdog and I have to enter my "highest academic qualification" and Im now really really worried this will be checked and have been so upset as I think my job offer will get taken away.

I know lying is a very bad thing to do but I saw no other way to try and get work and now I am so worried everything is going to fall apart and Im going to lose this job opportunity.

Has anyone had any experience either way with the pre employment screening or this company who does it, will they do it? 1995 was a long time ago so I dont even know if my GCSEs will be relevent anymore. I did obtain a Diploma a few years ago from an online course but doubt I can get away with just having that down as my "highest academic qualification". Guys, I dont know what to do and Im in bits over this. Again, please dont be judgemental, I know Ive done wrong but I just wanted work at the end of the day.

@Comeinoutoftherain

Put the diploma down as your highest qualification.

For heavens sake take GCSE's off your CV. You've been in an actual job for 6 years, the new job won't have cared about your GCSE's.

Or go and actually do them now if you think it matters.

GCSE's only matter when you first leave school. I haven't bothered to put them on my CV since I was about 22.

That just isn't true. I've had to sit an entrance test in English and Maths for the civil service because I didn't have the GCSEs. Then in my late 20s had to take the exams because I wanted to go to uni.

Your current name might not be the same as it was 25 years ago, are they asking for your maiden name? Not sure how they can check this info out without it.

As you have answered their question with the highest qualifications I hope it won’t go any further. Fingers crossed it’s all ok.

You do have to be careful though. My last job application form for a teaching post stated that the job offer could be removed if physical evidence of all my qualifications including GCSE could not be provided.

I had lost all my certs except my degree in a flood at my last school. I had photocopies of them which they accepted while I spent a lot of money getting replacements.

I've heard of employers checking up on degrees but never GCSEs.

If the diploma is from somewhere like Centre of Excellence or Udemy I'm not sure it will be accepted as an academic qualification. They are not regulated and accredited by an awarding body.

Put the diploma on as it is your highest qualification and I'm guessing you must be about early 40s so plenty of working life left so probably worth doing English and Maths GCSE at evening class so then you have them for future. Good luck with job

I did put my O levels on my CV as they are my highest qualifications..

Some job do want to see certificates as PP says, one wanted to see my tatty O level ones from 1974. Usually this is at interview time

Yes, put the diploma down.
Quietly gain maths and English qualifications.
If not gcse, functional skills level 2.
I think you can do this online now.

@0None0

You have committed fraud and face instant dismissal and prosecution. This is my experience of what happens in such situations.

You claim you got no GCSEs at school because of ‘trauma’, but have done nothing about gaining them in all the time since??

Maths and English GCSE education is free for adults in the UK

In your position I would turn down the new job and come clean to your employer, and hope they are sympathetic. Of course, you know them. I don’t, do I can’t judge what reception you will get.

And get your GCSEs now

Don’t be so ridiculous

My daughter was employed at one point fact checking CVs and applications. No idea how many employers pay for this, but by her account her firm checked every claim on the CV. Evidence needed to account for every period of employment, study, unemployment, career break. Every qualification certified. Worth knowing that some employers would withdraw a job offer or sack an employee for a relatively small omission or lie.

Not all level 3 qualifications are equivalent to A levels. The OP says it was an online course which may or may not carry the required number of ‘points’. However they may not be concerned about this and simply check that the qualification was completed if there was an awarding body.

For some jobs GCSEs are checked because Maths and English are prerequisites for certain roles. As previous posters have said there are many opportunities now for adults to complete Level 2 Maths and English qualifications and I would encourage the OP to look into this so it doesn’t hold her back in the future. Definitely worth doing as is a robust Level 3 qualification.

Who bloody cares over some GCSEs! (In reference to THAT particular poster!) Op has proved herself able to do the job, she had a difficult childhood and has more than made up for not doing them - not everyone can suddenly just go back and re do them for all sorts of reasons! It’s not like op is trying to pretend she has a medical degree. People are so ridiculous.

Op just put the diploma down. Try not to worry about it.

@exybusiness sorry, that's why I said to go get the GCSE's if the OP thinks they matter.

I have no idea of whether her job requires them or not - but if it does then she should do them.

I had to produce physical evidence of my qualifications in the form of certificates for my current job.

Don’t continue to lie on your application forms; do do something about the fact that in the last 26 (!) years you haven’t done anything about rectifying the fact you don’t have Maths and English GCSE would be my advice to anyone in your situation!

I can’t believe that you didn’t think at some point in the last two and a half decades it might be a good idea to try to get them.

@Bagelsandbrie

Who bloody cares over some GCSEs! (In reference to THAT particular poster!) Op has proved herself able to do the job, she had a difficult childhood and has more than made up for not doing them - not everyone can suddenly just go back and re do them for all sorts of reasons! It’s not like op is trying to pretend she has a medical degree. People are so ridiculous.

Op just put the diploma down. Try not to worry about it.

Any employer who has requested qualifications in Maths and English as a prerequisite for the job, for a start. And presumably any employer who doesn’t appreciate being lied to on an application form?

There are potentially two different issues here though.

The first is the current job offer where OP has to undergo pre-employment screening. if they ask for proof of GCSE’s then it could well lead to the job offer being withdrawn when it appears that OP lied on her application form, and this in turn could lead to the OP’s current employer being made aware of the fact which could lead to problems in her existing role. If OP genuinely thinks that pre-employment screening is going to pick that up, then she might be better placed to withdraw her application for this particular job, then gain the qualifications for future reference, or amend her CV to the extent it doesn’t mention the GCSE’s.

As for saying the OP should declare this fact to her existing employer and face instant dismissal and being found guilty of “serious fraud” that is ridiculous in the extreme, and no employer is going to do spot checks on the GCSE’s of employees from decades ago when those employees have been working for them for some time.

Some jobs do care. I am educated to postgraduate level but until my late 40s did not have a level 2 maths qualification. A job I wanted insisted on it.
I got functional skills maths through family learning- free due to my previous poor maths result.
It is clear that op is panicking. I would be as well.
I used to 'hide' my maths absense on most applications for years by just giving number of o levels, then Alevels listed and degrees etc.
The job I have now asked me outright for maths and English so nowhere to hide!
The relief at attaining functional skills maths was overwhelming.
Whatever you do now op, please get those qualifications at least for future peace of mind.

Ime it's not whether the qualifications are relevant. I've seen someone marched out of the office several weeks into their employment due to having lied about their RE results in gcse. If it is going to have blowback, the positive is that in this case it should happen before starting the new job and presumably before handing in resignation to the old job. Good luck op, I would say it largely depends on the industry how deep they look into it and how much they take it seriously.

Good luck op, it’s clear some posters don’t understand how trauma (why write it as ‘trauma’ to the dickhead poster who did) can impact the School years.

It’s one of the issues which impact many people throughout their lives, it can be a huge confidence issue, good luck.

I think some are missing the point here. The employer may well be mistaken about every employee needing English and Maths GCSE. However, saying you have them when you don't is a sign of dishonesty. If an applicant has lied about qualifications, what else might they lie about? As a potential employer that's how I'd see it, I'm afraid

For teaching, as a PP says, O levels or GCSEs at C+ in English Language, Maths (and Science for primary) are absolute necessities for a teaching qualification and a qualified teacher job. You would be immediately removed from an ITT course or dismissed from a job if found not to have them, regardless of your Education degree, masters and PhD, three years working as a TA, and four as an unqualified teacher... In some jobs, GCSEs (or an equivalent qualification) are, in effect, 'worth more' than higher qualifications.

But that is not the case for the OP - she has been asked for her highest academic qualification, which possibly/ presumably(?) trumps GCSEs for this role and sector.

HOWEVER, regardless of the qualification requirements of the OP's job, she has lied on her application form, as well as lied on the application form for her previous job, for 'pecuniary advantage'. Again, in teaching, the lie itself would lead to dismissal, and that dishonesty is more likely to be an issue for the OP, if discovered. I can't imagine that this type of dishonesty and misrepresentation is acceptable in any job.

I can see why you lied, OP, and you are clearly capable of your current job without those GCSEs. But, painful as it is, I would withdraw from this new job. I would then sign up for GCSE equivalent exams and enrol in some tuition to make sure you get them. You are older and wiser now than when you were in school, and have a real need for these GCSEs which you possibly didn't see before, so you may well find it comes easier now.

Alternatively, you could throw yourself on the mercy of your current employer and confess to them, pointing out how happy they have been with your work and that you have proven your capabilities etc. There may be some roles where this would just be accepted as an earlier error in an otherwise good work history. i don't know.

OP Just put your level 3 diploma as a level 3 is higher than GCSE which are level 2. Unless the diploma is in something really non academic.
Honestly I wouldn’t worry your highest academic qualification is the diploma so you’re not lying.

I don’t see how they could check GCSE results from 1995 without certificates which would be over 20 years old by now or you remembering the different subjects and exam boards. You should really try and get your English & maths gcse though or even a functional skills diploma to avoid this is the future . Good luck !

@0None0

You have committed fraud and face instant dismissal and prosecution. This is my experience of what happens in such situations.

You claim you got no GCSEs at school because of ‘trauma’, but have done nothing about gaining them in all the time since??

Maths and English GCSE education is free for adults in the UK

In your position I would turn down the new job and come clean to your employer, and hope they are sympathetic. Of course, you know them. I don’t, do I can’t judge what reception you will get.

And get your GCSEs now

Don’t listen to most of this - v hard to check in most jobs. Except- ‘retake’ bc you don’t have certificates- lots of people do this as it’s much cheaper! So no one will ask any questions if you just get yourself to an adult education centre and take the courses!

I really think the posters who are saying to feed up are missing the point. If the gsces were important for the current role it would have been checked. They weren't and she's been doing it for 6 years.
For the new role the GCSEs aren't relevant either as she is going to list her diploma.
Clearly don't claim you have GCSEs for the new role or future roles though OP.

*fess up

Don't fret OP.
See what happens.

Surely the fact she has the diploma proves she is competent.

I don't have any of my GCSE or A'level certificates. Never did! I don't even know what boards they were. I was once asked for my BA certificate, which I have.