So I have the job itch and feel the need to move on. It has been a while since I applied for a job. I see a lot of them now use third party websites for you to fill in forms and cut & paste your resume into. Fine except when you can't submit the form until all the boxes are filled.

GPA is the obvious trouble maker (my degree was 20+ years ago ffs) along with a host of other little UK centric things on my resume. There is also the matter of trying to highlight I am a USC so they don't instantly ignore me thinking I need a visa.

Should I even bother with the online apps? Would I be better picking up the phone calling someone in HR and saying where can I email my resume?

I complete the boxes to my advantage, explaining can wait for later, if it insists on GPA, I give one, I guesstimate if I have to. When they ask about graduating high school, I say yes. Usually there is a box to click to say you are entitled to work in the US

Remember that your purpose is to get past the first hurdle. To give a reason to strike up a conversation with a human.

Their purpose is to facilitate computer (not human) scanning of resumes to find any old excuse to drop most of them in the rubbish bin.

So I would put 5 (or 4 if 5 is rejected), and if queried on it say "I would be happy to explain that at my interview".

The answer to most questions prior to interview should be "I would be happy to explain that at my interview".

If it is raised at the interview simply say, "The computer would not accept Inapplicable" or "Upper Second" or whatever. And leave the thought uncompleted.

There is a calculator you can use via WES which will convert your degree grade into a GPA, weighted by institution I think. I don't have a GPA or any transcripts for my undergraduate degree so took the midpoint % between grades and used that. I think it is something like $5 to do, and you get an email to say it's an unverified GPA score. To verify it you need to send in your transcripts (I haven't done this as I don't have the transcripts). Think it is all via this link: www.wes.org/igpa/ (need to register).

I applied for several jobs when I first could at the end of last year and all were via online forms. I left the GPA field blank as I didn't have a number and the fields would not accept text. I heard nothing about any of those jobs. Since adding a GPA this year (on a maximum 4.0 scale) I've had responses from recruiters and, after interviews, now have a job offer. It may be unrelated but I think that since HR use queries within their software to sift through applications, a blank GPA field means I'd previously been overlooked. I did mention in an interview that our grading system is different and the GPA is an estimate.

Also, what a hiring manager told me also is the software HR often use ranks candidate according to their match to the job, so to make sure you use all the specific terms they use in the ad or job description in your resume and covering letter to stand a better chance of ranking near the top for shortlisting. There is usually no initial screening by a person you would be working for so trying to explain differences beteen UK/US education in a covering letter may not work.

Once you have years of experience under your belt, things like GPA don't make any difference at all and I wouldn't include it on a resume. GPAs are only looked at when someone is right out of college since there is very little else to look at. Your experience is going to be the primary thing that will be evaluated so that should be the area of your primary concern to make that appear as best as possible.

In fact I left off everything concerning my educational background and only once was I even asked about my educational backround and it was from a very low level employee and I always got the job that I was applying for.

Katsu, thanks for that. The unverified Gpa may be a new thing just what I might need. I'll look into it.

Michael, I totally agree with you. The problem is making sure tu get to the point where they even look at the rest of your resume.

I'm looking for a job right now, and I've not come across one application asking for my GPA. I'd be in trouble if it did, since I have no idea what mine was - I graduated 10 years ago, and I've long since forgotten what my GPA was. And I haven't ever been asked about my GPA during an interview (at least, not that I recall). If you are being asked for a GPA for an online application, just take your best guesstimate - I highly doubt they are going to ask for proof.

Btw, if anyone in the Seattle area would like to network with me, I'd appreciate it!

It seems to be when the government gets involved with requirements for funding.

Best way is to avoid the situation in the first place, by trying to figure out and find the hiring manager and emailing them directly if you can.

LinkedIn can be quite helpful for that depending on size of the company, browse through employees, note who might be worth contacting and also browse HR type people as they often provide email address in their profile for contact purposes and that'll give the company email structure away so you can try to figure out how to contact who you want directly.

Doesn't always work, but worth it for something that you think might be a real good fit.