CV help, do I put what grade I got in GCSE/ A Level, or not?

CV help, do I put what grade I got in GCSE/ A Level, or not?

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Discussion

sparks87

Original Poster:

12,738 posts

212 months

Friday 14th March 2008
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or do I just put "I gained qualifications in Maths, English, Science etc etc......?

Boxylady

205 posts

194 months

Friday 14th March 2008
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I wouldnt include grades just what subjects you passed in.

Oldandslow

2,405 posts

205 months

Friday 14th March 2008
quotequote all
What other qualifications have you got? For a CV you need a certain amount of brevity, if GCSE's are among your highest qualifications to date then give all the details, grades, when taken, exam board etc. On the other hand if you have a Phd in particle physics then no one gives a toss if you have a GCSE in needlepoint. It's just irrelevant and more to read. You need to aim for 1 or at most 2 pages of the most relevant info, even amend your CV for different jobs to bring more relevant stuff to the fore

AlexE46

16,969 posts

194 months

Friday 14th March 2008
quotequote all
This is for graduate jobs;

I put 11 GCSE's at B grade or above, including an A in English and Maths and put actual grades for A levels. I would recommend doing it a similar way. I got pulled up on my CV when didnt have grades on it.


Boxylady

205 posts

194 months

Friday 14th March 2008
quotequote all
AlexE46 said:
This is for graduate jobs;

I put 11 GCSE's at B grade or above, including an A in English and Maths and put actual grades for A levels. I would recommend doing it a similar way. I got pulled up on my CV when didnt have grades on it.
blimey you're a bright boy

mouk786

1,263 posts

196 months

Friday 14th March 2008
quotequote all
I've done it both ways

for GCSEs I just put grades A-C and put specific grades for A levels.


car.chic

5,993 posts

214 months

Friday 14th March 2008
quotequote all
I don't have A levels but have higher quals in Music. My Education part of my C.V. basically goes (copied from C.V.):

GCSE - 2003 - Music A*
GCSE - 2004 - Italian A*
GCSE - 2004 - Drama, Art A
GCSE - 2005 - French, German, Graphic Design A
GCSE - 2005 - English, Maths, Science, Citizenship B

GNVQ Intermediate - 2005 - ICT Merit

ABRSM - 2006 - DipABRSM Diploma in Music Performance - Clarinet
ABRSM - 2005 - Grade 8 Distinction - Clarinet
ABRSM - 2005 - Grade 8 Distonction - Music Theory
ABRSM - 2007 - Grade 8 Pass - Oboe
ABRSM - 2007 Grade 8 Pass - Flute

NVQ Level 3 - Nail Services
Bio Sculpture and Creative Trained

FSA Accredited
Motability Accredited

Basically EVERYTHING goes into my C.V.!

spikeyhead

17,224 posts

196 months

Friday 14th March 2008
quotequote all
car.chic said:
Basically EVERYTHING goes into my C.V.!
That's fine if you don't also have 20 years of relevant experience to describe.

Just keep the CV short. I had a pile of CVs to go through a few weeks ago for the first time in years. Normally contractors don't get to see who is applying for the full time post to replace them but the engineering manager was on holiday. I just wrote NO on those that were too long, and some were too long by 10 pages.

Two sides of A4 is the most anyone ever needs.

car.chic

5,993 posts

214 months

Friday 14th March 2008
quotequote all
spikeyhead said:
car.chic said:
Basically EVERYTHING goes into my C.V.!
That's fine if you don't also have 20 years of relevant experience to describe.

Just keep the CV short. I had a pile of CVs to go through a few weeks ago for the first time in years. Normally contractors don't get to see who is applying for the full time post to replace them but the engineering manager was on holiday. I just wrote NO on those that were too long, and some were too long by 10 pages.

Two sides of A4 is the most anyone ever needs.
I can understand that, I'm only 19 so have been in school (unfortunetely) for longer than the "work experience" I have had!!

Yep and I stick to 2 sheets of A4! smile

Thankyou for the advice though!!

AlexE46

16,969 posts

194 months

Friday 14th March 2008
quotequote all
I was speaking from a graduate POV without loads of experience.

Advice about keeping it short is good, 2 sides has always been advice given to me. So i guess cut it down relevantly.

paul38

194 posts

197 months

Friday 14th March 2008
quotequote all
Hi guys,

ive just noticed this post after stating a similar one in the business forum.

I tend to agree with the keep it short and relevant to the specific job.

paul

grumbledoak

31,499 posts

232 months

Friday 14th March 2008
quotequote all
Depends on your age, and how long ago they were; these days I just list the number of 'O' and 'A' levels as they really aren't meaningful in the scheme of things.

My guide: I would say that after two years, what you have done since is more important and should get more space.

As others have said, do them a favour and try to keep it to two pages (young) and three (middle aged). Concentrate on the recent and the relevant.

HTH, and not meant ironically! hehe


ETA - "I gained qualifications in Maths, English, Science" sounds evasive. If you are young enough for the qualification to be recent, state GCSE/A-level grades. Older, just state "X O levels, including English and Maths".

Edited by grumbledoak on Friday 14th March 23:18

ganglandboss

8,294 posts

202 months

Friday 14th March 2008
quotequote all
Mine's five pages!

I do not agree with the 2 page theory. Mine consists of contact info, a brief personal summary, details of my current and previous employment followed by qualifications and CPD/short courses. The qualifications take up the final three pages and that is condensed. The important thing is that it is clear. Five pages with clear headings and plenty of white space is much better than trying to cram everything onto two pages.


spikeyhead

17,224 posts

196 months

Friday 14th March 2008
quotequote all
There's an art to being concise and still getting all the information across that you want.

For graduate level stuff its very common from the miriad CVs I've seen to end up putting in acronyms that were used in your course / uni. These are often meaninless outside of that institution. Avoid them.

I'll give you some indication of what happens when the CV arrives at the company.

The first port of call is HR where it will be logged so ts on their system. This is because CVs for the same person can arrive from different agencies. The first one in wins the prize. They will match it up to the head of the department that you're applying to and hand a pile of them to him. Its not unusual for the pile to be over a foot high. That's over 30cms in new money. Sometimes the department head will be the only person to look at them but more usually they'll get passed round a few senior members of staff without the head looking at them.

This is when they first get read. They'll be scan read, YES, NO or POSSIBLE, PROBABLE, COULD BE GOOD IF HE COULD WRITE IN ENGLISH, NO BUT CHECK OUT THIS BLOKES HOBBIES etc get scrawled on them by each senior staffer. Make them stand out by being easy to read. That's the only thing that really matters at this stage.


For graduate positions they want to know where you went to University, what degree did you get, what grade, what grades of A level did you get and how many GCSEs have you got. Have you had any relevant work experience. What degree options were taken, was there a final year project, if so then two or three lines is all that's required.

They'll also want to know a little about you, but very little, age, marital status etc. I know with age discrimination laws in place they arent allowed to ask your age, but lets face it, if you've put down that you did GCSEs in 1990, A levels in 1992 an dthen a degree that you finished three years later its not difficult to work out, btu keep it simple for them. Hobbies and interests can be included at graduate level and below, after a couple of years out of uni, forget about them unless they're career related.

A paragraph about what you want out of a career is great at this level.

You're far more likely to get the CV marked NO for putting in too much irrelevant stuff than you are to get a YES for including waffle.

Remember, yours is one of a pile that's a foot high, they don't have time to interview everyone so at this stage they'll sort out wheat form chaff whichever way they fell like. I've written NO on a CV as they've used "eclectic" incorrectly. Keep the language simple, or if you make it complex, add in big words in a manner that show you know what they really mean. Make sure there's no punctuation or grammar (I initially typed grammer, mistakes are easy to make but have no place in a CV) errors, make sure that its clear on a printed page, not just on your screen. When its printed get several other people to look at it. Its often difficult to spot your own errors.

Once they've been round the loop of senior staff members they'll go back to the head of department who will only look at those that have a majority of YESs scrawled on them, unless people have pointed out the really terrible grammar that can be found in too many CVs and then they'll read it and write NO in really big red letters on it. He'll select from the ones that are reasonable who he wants interviewed. Probably no more than six per vacancy,

The pile will then be handed back to HR who will contact you about interviews, but that's a topic for another time.

So, in summary, graduate CVs, keep them concise, relevant and easy to read.

...now, how is the cricket coming along? 106 for 1 at lunch, excellent.

Romanymagic

3,298 posts

218 months

Friday 14th March 2008
quotequote all
You need to remember the key to any CV is "relevance". The relevance in the case of qualifcation listing would be is that what the hiring person/decision maker is looking for from a candidate?

For example if you have 10 years commercial project and programme manager experience then you really don't need to list your qualifications - the commercial experience gained will outweigh any qualification. On the other hand if you have 6 months commercial experience, then your qualifications are highly relevant as the qualifications will show your academic level and potential capability.

Traditionally rather than list a long row of O level's/GCSE's, just list the amount including Mathematics and English i.e.

Qualifications

8 GCSE's (including English and Mathematics)

Just regarding CVs in terms of page length, 5 pages is currently considered the industry norm, but going back to relevance, maintain your CV and make sure the information on your CV is relevant to the job your applying for and anything relevant to the role you are applying for is further up/near the front page of your CV. The 2 page CV stems from the notion that anyone looking through your CV will only look at the first 2 pages, however this is a misnomer. Yes, hiring managers/decision makers will initally only look at the first 2 pages of your CV - however if they identify relevant information in those first 2 pages then they will want to dig deeper, hence 5 pages being acceptable.

car.chic

5,993 posts

214 months

Friday 14th March 2008
quotequote all
Erm wouldn't say C.V.s in the Motor Trade are handled in quite the same way hehe

More like, you know someone who works there, they ring you up, you organise interview with manager, have intial interview or send CV for Sales Manager and DP to look at, go for interview in said dept (New / Used etc.) perhaps have an interview with General Sales Manager (if there is one) and bobs your uncle, your offered a job or not that day!! smile


Romanymagic

3,298 posts

218 months

Friday 14th March 2008
quotequote all
car.chic said:
Erm wouldn't say C.V.s in the Motor Trade are handled in quite the same way hehe

More like, you know someone who works there, they ring you up, you organise interview with manager, have intial interview or send CV for Sales Manager and DP to look at, go for interview in said dept (New / Used etc.) perhaps have an interview with General Sales Manager (if there is one) and bobs your uncle, your offered a job or not that day!! smile
Yes, sadly trading floors and investment banks do tend to drag the whole candidate submittal/interview/offer process out a bit longer hehe

Gretchen

18,998 posts

215 months

Saturday 15th March 2008
quotequote all
car.chic said:
NVQ Level 3 - Nail Services
Bio Sculpture and Creative Trained
Who with/where/why did you do your Creative training?
Handy skill to fall back on, especially these days...Do you still dabble?


car.chic

5,993 posts

214 months

Saturday 15th March 2008
quotequote all
Gretchen said:
car.chic said:
NVQ Level 3 - Nail Services
Bio Sculpture and Creative Trained
Who with/where/why did you do your Creative training?
Handy skill to fall back on, especially these days...Do you still dabble?
Oooh yes very much so! I've not too long trained really! Why? because I'm very into Nails / Nail Art didn't want to do it as a career path but wanted what I deemed enough training to have a few clients, I got very into it all probably more so than I expected with a Nail Techs forum I am a member of!

Did it part time because I like doing nails, very into the Nail Art side to it and want to get into competition Nails.

Creative training was done at Leeds, organised throught Sweet Squared. smile

car.chic

5,993 posts

214 months

Saturday 15th March 2008
quotequote all
Romanymagic said:
car.chic said:
Erm wouldn't say C.V.s in the Motor Trade are handled in quite the same way hehe

More like, you know someone who works there, they ring you up, you organise interview with manager, have intial interview or send CV for Sales Manager and DP to look at, go for interview in said dept (New / Used etc.) perhaps have an interview with General Sales Manager (if there is one) and bobs your uncle, your offered a job or not that day!! smile
Yes, sadly trading floors and investment banks do tend to drag the whole candidate submittal/interview/offer process out a bit longer hehe
lol! rofl