My brother keeps his certificate in a fire-proof lockbox, with other important documents (good idea). He’s never had to produce it. Mine is in a drawer and I’ve never had to produce it. Do employers ever ask to see proof of your degree? What about work visas that require a degree, do they also need to see the certificate? (This last one I’m asking for my friend’s son who has decided to defer his degree for a year to go travelling but will resume the course on his return).
Thank you!
43 comments
I had to provide evidence of all my qualifications for a background check for my current job. First time that’s happened.
Never so far, in fact I can only remember one job where they asked to see my GSCE certs for some reason when I was younger.
Worse still, not a single person has asked to see [this bad boy](https://i.imgur.com/P43wnuQ.png)
Yes, when registering for my PhD I needed my first two degree certificates. Then I’ve needed to produce them for various government jobs.
I’ve needed them for my professional certification – even then I only needed copies – but other than that, never.
Yes, for registering for professional qualifications or training courses related to them. Even had to provide a results transcript for one of them!
Yes, but if you ever lose them you can request a copy of your certificate from the institution or a confirmation letter of your qualifications.
For every job I’ve applied for. But then I’m in a specific industry
You used to when getting a relevant job but now that employers can contact the uni for a transcript when verifying you it’s not necessary.
I got told in an invitation to interview that I’d need them all. Had to do a frantic hunt for them, plus a trip to my mum’s 2 hours away to get them. They never asked to see them.
Yep, I started my MA recently and was asked. I’m a nerd and keep it in a frame on my office wall, which I’ll definitely be adding to if I pass the masters!
I work in the UAE and had to have my degree certificate legally attested before my work visa could be issued.
Once. For a job I applied for 21 years after I graduated. It’s the only job where I’ve called after the interview to cancel my application.
I did when I applied for a professional qualification. I’d lost them, but it was easy enough to get replacements from the university.
Yes. I had a job that listed a specific type of degree as essential criteria. And they asked to see my certificate.
I had to provide all my certificates (Degree, Masters, Prince 2 practitioner, MSP, Lean Sigma Six, First Aid). Had to take them in, let my boss copy them and my passport. Also had to present my driving licence, insurance, MOT and tax documents.
I work for a county council. It’s not a very senior position either which I thought was weird.
When applying for jobs after graduation or doing advance courses but never for employment after a junior role. It’s not the end of the world if you lose it and most places now accept photocopies or scans. If they need to test if it’s genuine then they will contact the university for their record.
Yeah any job that required a background check is generally gonna wanna see your certificates. Retail and hospitality likely won’t though.
I keep all my certificates, including the 5 meter swimming award in my Record of Achievement folder.
Theme here seems to be government jobs. I worked in hiring for a while for a medium sized company (about 200 staff at any one time) and we never asked. The only qualifications that were checked were industry specific/job specific, so AAC for accountants or ISTQB / Prince2 for project or test people but they all have online registers you can check.
Depends on the job.
I had to show my accounting qualifications for a bank job once.
Changed career into tech, and have never been asked to show anything.
So your telling me if I bullshit enough, I can just lie about the degree.
Was asked at work yes. I lost one semesters proof, misplaced. But I luckily found the last semesters, so they saw the proof that I’m qualified. I never made copies of it.
That’s why you lie and say you have a degree. A lot cheaper than 9000 a year
Yes I’ve had to show it to employers and before starting qualification courses.
I got my most recent job at 55 and was asked for them.
My old job had to start checking everything after they hired a graduate, onto a graduate scheme who hadn’t finished his final year. Just dropped out.
Yes , when I did entry level jobs. I work in IT
For my teaching roles, and for a role in intelligence I had to produce certificates.
I had to take them with me for a job interview (a level certs).
I’ve got the physical copies as well as a digital copy stored on an SSD. I should probably store them on my email account as well now I think of it.
I’m an admin mook in the NHS. I’ve changed jobs within the NHS twice now, and had to make an appointment with workforce to have them take copies both times as well as my passport and proof of address. Apparently they don’t save them?
The second time I had to go in twice- the chap said he would only take a copy of my MA and BA certificates as to have them I obviously had a GCSE in English. Turned out that they changed their policy and I had to go back in with my GCSE English certificates.
It was a pain in the arse as in between getting an appointment rebooked they moved office from the convenient city centre block I could walk to, to an out of town block in an enterprise park that was an 1 1/2 hours round trip on the bus plus a lot of waiting for the bus home as they were infrequent.
I have had two jobs since uni both required to see me certificate and to get a working (teaching) visa in Thailand it was also required.
I’m nationally registered so do not need it, but if I wanted to work internationally I would.
I’m 46 and I started doing a foundation degree with my employer last year and I had to provide my original GCSE maths and English certificates ( or equivalent) and if I didn’t have them, they would have made me take them again.
There’s no need to go to that level of security with your certificate. If you lose it you can just request a new one from your uni.
I believe that the background check companies that look into qualifications are able to do this without looking at your certificates. I’m not sure how though.
I’ve only been asked once – ironically by the same uni that I got the degree from when I applied to do a Masters there.
No. I’ve worked for 5 different employers since graduating and none have asked for it.
I certainly wouldn’t be bothered about it being lost – the university does replacement certs for like £15.
Also note that they can verify your degree status online: https://hedd.ac.uk/
Yes, to join the institute of actuaries (I couldn’t find the original and I think the university charged me £50 to send a replacement). I don’t think I ever had to for a job.
I use my national record of achievement (with certificates inside) as a mouse mat.
The only time I have ever had to produce it was for a work visa where the country I was working in said I needed a relevant degree for my job role e.g. Need an engineering degree for an engineering job.
Never needed to produce it for a job within the UK.
I have needed it for applying for further study, but not jobs. My partner had to have his for a skilled visa. He might have needed his for jobs as he works in academia but not sure.
But you can usually order new certificates if yours gets lost or damaged.
I had to for my masters application
I think entry in the British Civil Service still requires you to produce the original documents of your qualifications ( you have to obtain a copy if lost )
Depends on the job. I’m a teacher and for all jobs I’ve applied to, I’ve had to show my certificates. I guess if you’re going into a specialised profession, you need to keep certificates to do with that. Otherwise…seems pretty fine. I would definitely keep them where you know their location tho – I know a lot of people that STRESS when they needed their certificates but couldn’t find them!
I once got asked for proof of my MA degree while applying for a minimum wage unrelated job that had no requirement for anything higher than basic GCSEs, but because my education is on my CV they insisted. Problem was I’d finished my degree and been told I’d passed but I hadn’t had my graduation ceremony so I didn’t have the official final transcript or the certificate. Didn’t get the job because they wouldn’t accept screenshots of my grades online or a letter from the head of department confirming I had passed and would graduate in a few months.
Keeping in mind my CV said something like ‘2013-2014 MA History at xyz university, confirmed to be awarded Jan 2015’. In hindsight it’s kinda funny and I definitely didn’t want that shitty job but at the time I was broke and desperate and it was so god awful.