Why do some experienced roles still ask for GCSE grades?

[Rewis]

I’m currently applying for jobs and have noticed that quite a few ask for a degree as well as GCSE grades. One role I was Deputy Head of Contract Management, requires a master’s degree, several years of experience in contract management, and at least a grade 4 in English and Maths GCSEs. They actually asked your grades in the application form.

Why is that? I can sort of understand GCSE requirements for entry‑level roles that don’t need a degree. But still having to provide results from exams you took decades ago as a teenager?

You probably dodged a bullet there as that organisation clearly had no idea how accountancy qualifications and the finance profession work and would have been a rubbish employer.

i once interviewed for an organisation who refused to consider applicants without a first degree from a Russell Group university, despite also requiring ACA or ACCA qualification and minimum 10 years post qualification work experience. When I met them they were predictably arrogant and stupid.

That relies on you remembering what exam boards you studied under, aged 15. I vaguely remember several different pieces of flimsy dot matrix printed-type paper with my various grades on, but how the fuck would I have known that the logo on the top was going to be vital information 20-30-40 years later?

And sadly my NRA got repurposed as a wine list folder at a local trattoria so I don't have that either.

i don’t know that the age you take GCSEs is that important it’s the level of the qualifications. and having that foundation . I retook Biology GCSE ten years ago as I failed science gcse and it was pretty hard. I think having English and Maths is important for most jobs. I work in healthcare and use that level of maths and problem solving a lot for example. It is a pain having to type all the gcse grades out on applications forms etc though

I’m not convinced Maths and English at GSSE level is important in most jobs. I need almost no maths for my job, and DS needs almost no English for his. We both have the Maths and English GCSE, and they were required by our employers, but I think they’re required to show a certain level of academic ability, rather than being necessary to carry out our jobs. I wouldn’t even know where to start with a Y6 Maths SATS paper.

Is it possible to have a masters without having a C or above in English and maths GCSE?

I suppose it could be in some very rare circumstances. Where someone came up a vocational pathway. But surely that means they've skipped the necessity for such a requirement having gone up to a level 7 or whatever a masters is classed as.

I don’t think that’s always been true though, so there may be a number of older candidates who don’t meet those criteria.

I passed O level maths in 1977 but am pretty sure I would have been allowed to take my A levels even if I hadn’t, because it wasn’t relevant to the subjects I studied. And I don’t think it was a requirement for my degree either.

I do have my exam certificates so could prove if it necessary, which is just as well because I’d have to do a lot of revision to pass the GCSE now!

I changed career which required another degree. I had to do a L3 course to prove I had the capability of studying at that level.

I had 4 A'levels, a l6 masters and 2 L7 masters. Apparently the most recent was 15 years old and was too old to count...

And ihave certificates for all of them