Ought to You Embody A-level Outcomes On Your CV? 

This Thursday is A-level outcomes day. 1000’s of youngsters will open manilla envelopes to see in the event that they’ve secured the required grades. However as they rejoice or commiserate, analysis suggests conventional {qualifications} could not be the golden ticket to the jobs market.

Findings from job search platform Certainly present that UK employers now point out A-level or equal necessities in lower than 1% of job postings on the Certainly platform.

The info may present the reply to an age-old query that has troubled candidates for a while. When making use of for jobs, do you have to embody your faculty examination outcomes? 

Do GCSEs and A-levels nonetheless matter?

Whether or not or to not embody the GCSE maths rating you acquired once you have been 15 is a calculation that stumps many job seekers. Typically, once you actually desire a function, it may be tempting to throw every part at your software within the hope that one thing will stick.

Examination outcomes may also be used to flesh out thinner CVs for varsity leavers. Youthful individuals will understandably have much less work expertise, and usually tend to apply to entry-level positions.

Together with this data in your CV is unlikely to sway interviewers, nevertheless. Simply 15% of employees surveyed by Certainly stated their A-level outcomes helped to safe their job. In the meantime, 29% of employees stated they’ve by no means been requested about examination outcomes when making use of to jobs.

These which were requested for this data may match in a occupation (similar to instructing) the place particular GCSE or A-level outcomes are nonetheless required. On this state of affairs, the candidate can merely select to say “achieved passes in…”, slightly than itemizing all their grades out individually.

The truth is, the extra padding you may take away out of your CV, the higher. Recruiters could be postpone by irrelevant data on a CV, or anything that slows down the assessment course of.

Diploma hiring bias declining

Beforehand, employer curiosity in examination outcomes might need been as a result of a preoccupation with undergraduate levels, which has traditionally made uni leavers extra enticing to hirers.

Nevertheless, consultants have gotten extra sceptical in regards to the worth of together with academic {qualifications} on a job itemizing. 70% of senior leaders at bigger firms say that attending college doesn’t put together college students for the workforce.

Certainly’s analysis tells the same story. Of the 1,000 employees surveyed, solely 12% stated they now have a job that’s associated to any of the themes they took for his or her A-levels or BTECs. 

Consequently, many recruiters at the moment are dumping levels from job advertisements in an effort to make room for various routes into employment, similar to apprenticeships.

Abilities trump grades for employers

The Certainly survey additionally discovered that 67% of employers say mushy abilities are extra necessary than academic {qualifications} in hiring. This implies that the abilities gained from finishing A-levels, slightly than the ultimate grade acquired, issues extra to in the present day’s employers.

In its CV & Cowl Letter Tendencies Survey, launched final month, CV Genius discovered that 65% of hiring managers now favour skills-based CVs for much less skilled candidates.

These sorts of CVs current the individual’s abilities first, with work historical past shared beneath. This enables the candidate to spotlight sought-after skills similar to skill to teamwork and good communication, which they might have realized in school or in a summer time job.

The information is welcome for college kids. When Certainly requested employees who had taken A-levels or BTECs what abilities it gave them, downside fixing and time administration got here out on high. 

Danny Stacy, UK Head of Expertise Intelligence at Certainly, stated: “College students ought to keep in mind that their research have geared up them with priceless abilities. My recommendation to these receiving outcomes: take a breath, be proud, and know there are a lot of alternatives forward.”