How on earth do I explain this to an employer?

[Mstxxx]

Help please! It is beyond stressing me out how, of even if, to word this on my CV?

Basically I left school at 14 because of being a victim of a serious assault (GBH). From there I attended a special needs school 1 day a week until 16 (I don't have special needs in the conventional sense, i.e I am not disabled physically or mentally so god knows why this happened). Because I was only part time at school, I was only allowed to sit one GCSE. Obviously being a child I had no idea the impact of all of this to be honest,, I just went along with whatever my parents said.

I did go to college however was not allowed to sit A Levels without GCSEs - so had to do a Level 2 and Level 3 BTEC course in a beauty subject that I had no interest in.

Somehow got accepted into Law at university and did that until my 3rd year. My brother got diagnosed with brain cancer and the only treatment (at the time) was in the US. I lived with my parents at uni as couldn't afford to move out so I had to go with them, I also wanted to go to support my brother. I dropped out of uni to be able to do this and when I got back Student Finance wouldn't fund another year of university so I couldn't go back. In the end I got a full-time job at a company and worked my way up from the bottom to quite a good job now in the same company (just over 4 years).

The issue is now I can tell other employers don't understand my CV & feel like it's putting people off at the first hurdle when looking at my CV. At the moment I have missed education off entirely and just have work experience and professional qualifications on there. I only have just over 4 years full-time experience so they are somewhat aware I am not old enough to leave education off my CV entirely, and people who have my job now typically have a degree. I don't want to put 1 GCSE down without an explanation otherwise it just looks like I failed miserably when that isn't true. I don't really want to put my college subject down either as it isn't relevant to my job. And obviously I don't have a degree to put down. Do I send a cover letter explaining? I don't want to sound like I'm having a pity party. Do I wait to be asked?

What would you do? TIA!

Once you have a few years work experience, very few employers care about GCSEs. I would lave off all the pre uni stuff. Mention the law degree but put that due to a family move overseas you were unable to complete your last year.

Agree with this. No one cares about GCSEs. Having to explain one thing (not completing your degree) is much easier than having to explain multiple things.

Have a think about whether a skills based CV might work better for you than standard format. Lots of examples online. They can be good where your background isn’t standard for your industry.

Pad out your CV with detailed work experience - E.g. don’t just state company and years, but bullet point your responsibilities etc. Where education would go then I’d just put your professional qualifications and then “Prior education details available on request”

No one cares about your gcse's. Like PP I'd stick to work experience.

How much of your third year did you complete? Credits are transferrable. I wonder if it might be possible to do a course on open university etc. and graduate with an LL.B. I did something similar in my early life and then I did a second degree later on so I have a B.A. (Hons) and LL.B. I am not specific with dates on my c.v. so I suspect most employers make an automatic presumption that it was a conversion course.

Just put studied to gcse level

I agree with this. My situation was not as extreme, but I only took 5 GCSEs due to illness. I just left them off and stuck with A Levels and Degree. In your situation I would leave off all the school qualifications, include your university years (date from to, and subject) and state you were unable to complete it due to family circumstances.

if you had any interim results you can cite from 1st or 2nd year exams or coursework, and they were decent you could state that eg “on track for 2:1”

I agree with PP
mid someone has work experience and relevant professional qualifications I wouldn’t have thought GCSE will be relevant.

Is there no way you can finish your degree though given you had so little left until completion?

Due to what we call 'taking the scenic route' my husband didn't get GCSEs or other standard qualifications and had very limited work experience until mid 30s. He got NVQs as an adult. He wrote a covering letter with his CV and when job posts had a contact number on such as for informal chat please speak to this person he rang them and was honest about his life experiences. Sometimes he got through the paper sift Sometimes he never but he has a good job he loves now and has worked his way up. Focus on your strengths and the strengths your experiences have given you such as resilience

How many credits did you achieve at university? If you passed all of your year 1 and year 2 modules, you have achieved a Diploma in Higher Education. If you didn’t achieve all of your year 2 but achieved all of year 1, you can be awarded a Certificate in Higher Education.

Contact your uni for confirmation of what you passed and request your certificate.

A few years ago I tried to cut school out, thinking well it was 1998 learnt heck of a lot more then I ever could after leaving school, told wrong thing to do. You cannot miss education out, however irrelevant it feels.

I barely even glance at education history on a CV. Most people will cover relevant qualifications in their personal statement.

I'd structure it as:

Work experience
Job title 1

Job title 2 (etc)

Education
Attended TownName University, 2013-2016, certificate of higher education

You get a certificate of higher education for the first year or two you complete, if I remember correctly. If they ask why you don't have a grade listed on your CV say you unfortunately couldn't finish it because of the move for your brother, and instead went straight into work when you returned.

However people don't look at CVs that closely, I doubt they'll even notice it's not a completed degree written out like that.

GCSEs and A levels mean nothing once you have a degree. I have good GCSE and A levels but I don't even bother putting them on my CV, because no one cares. So I'd definitely just leave them off.

Hope that helps!

Write a skills based CV rather than a chronological one. Then it's not the start.

How many credit points do you have for your law degree? Have you considered converting it with the Open University? Were you not offered any form of certification as mentioned above? All is not lost in terms of what you did pass so contact registry at your university.

I'd ignore the school issue altogether and if you have to mention it just write the name of the school and GCSEs (you have higher qualifications, no one is ever going to ask to see them). Then you can put College, Btech and the levels (you could omit the subject if not relevant).

If you do decide to study with the OU (I do recommend it) then you can legitimately say you are working towards a degree to convert your higher education certificate from Xxx obtained between dates X and Y.

If you do an intro or covering letter turn it into a positive. Your academic route was not conventional and you have faced a number of personal challenges which disrupted your study but that you have demonstrated a commitment to progressing your academic skills which complement your work place experience. You are determined and resilient and that these are qualities you would bring to their organisation.

I personally would stick with what you’ve already been doing. Just pad it out with a lot of detail on your experience. Putting a degree on that you didn’t finish seems a weird choice to me.

I would put your degree down but like others said, due to personal circumstances couldn't complete.

Focus on putting together a really great personal profile which focuses on all your attributes etc.

As someone who hires people, I do query gaps in CVs but as long as they are explained (doesn't have to be detailed) I'm good with that. It's much harder to find a quality person, hard working, with good personal skills etc, than someone with degrees etc.

Good luck!

Blimey you’ve done so well OP

Job 2

Job 1

Education:

Uni
I’d put your law course on - couple lines explaining the modules you studied - you could also say you were at a 2.1 at end of year 2 or something like that
then a explaining you left due to moving to the states with your family so you could support your parents while you sibling received medical treatment

Access Course
Presumably you got into university through an access course or something so say that.

No need to include anything earlier than that - if you’ve done an access course employers will assume you probably didn’t finish school in a conventional way - and if I was reading your CV I’d probably assume it was something to do with the family illness thing. No one will be bothered.

I also wondered how you were accepted into your law degree? Did you do any kind of summer school or access programme or entry exam/personal study? If so I would highlight this as it demonstrates your ability to apply yourself.

I'd also look at degree apprenticeship routes with your employer, or anything you could do to get other quals.
Everyone here is saying GCSEs aren't important but everywhere I work needs English and Maths. You can do functional skills courses, usually government funded, as alternatives.

Sorry but I would discount your application instantly as that of a complete fantasist!

Do you seriously want anyone to believe that you were accepted by any university to do a law degree without GCSE English and maths, and with the equivalent of two GCSEs and one A level in vocational subjects? I cannot think of a single university which would have considered this without at least completing an access course for a year and passing the maths and English GCSEs.

This link says that the minimum UCAS requirement in the U.K. to be accepted for a law degree is 104 - which is the equivalent of 3 A Levels. One Level 3 BTEC in beauty is not even close to that.

https://www.whatuni.com/advice/clearing/entry-requirements-to-study-a-law-degree/92408/#:~:text=The%20minimum%20UCAS%20points%20to,*DD%20at%20BTEC%20level).

Edit to add that even doing an access course the minimum requirement is 2 BTECs at level 3 and 4 GCSEs

You can absolutely get an exit award from the university.

My situation is very similar to yours. I left school at 15 for various reasons, despite being intelligent. I got Maths GCSE and and a GNVQ in IT at about 21. Got into university to do a science degree at 25 and left after the first year. Then did GCSE English about three years ago (I'm 44)

I just contacted the university about two months ago and now have a certificate of higher education, which is a Level 4 qualification. Just having that above my previous Level 2 education has made me feel so much better. And as you did the second year your education would be Level 5

Sorry, but you're wrong. As in my post above I was able to get into university without this. Through clearing and by writing an essay, in 2004. Not a redbrick uni obviously 😂

Different degrees have different minimum entry requirements though and law is particularly competitive. Just because you were accepted for a science degree (with academic qualifications not vocational ones) doesn’t mean that you would have been accepted for a law degree.

OP asked how she could convince future employers and my point is that her claims are so wildly unlikely that very few if any employers would take them at face value without hard evidence to back them up.

Well, all she needs to do is get that exit award. Which is very easily done for £30

Depending on the company you apply for, the beauty BTECs might come in handy. You might not want them on your CV now, but in years to come, once you have more work experience under your belt, the combination of law and beauty could make you look like an intriguing all rounder.

And do contact your uni to see what certificate you’re entitled to. Law is a tough subject and it makes sense to claim the certificate now and then maybe top up later. There are many ways to do it online these days.

I agree that the scenic route can be hard for employers to understand sometimes. But the older you get, the more those early experiences will make you look interesting in a good way. Especially if the companies match up with your life experiences in some way.

Good luck. I’m sure you will do well.