A resume should play to your strengths, and not get too personal. If your grades were bad then, leave them off, but show how awesome you are anyway. If they ask at an interview, just be completely upfront about it. Say they were good in grad school, but bad in undergrad because you were sick.
Ask HN: Presenting or explaining past illness in a job application
11–20 of 43 posts
Re: Ask HN: Presenting or explaining past illness in a job application
#12If you mention it at all, I suggest being bold - under a heading of 'Other Achievements' include a brief sentence about overcoming the illness - alongside any sporting success or open source work etc. This frames the illness as (ultimately) a success, rather than as a weakness. Hope you find the right job.
Re: Ask HN: Presenting or explaining past illness in a job application
#13If you mention it at all, I suggest being bold - under a heading of 'Other Achievements' include a brief sentence about overcoming the illness - alongside any sporting success or open source work etc. This frames the illness as (ultimately) a success, rather than as a weakness. Hope you find the right job.
Thanks. I'll think about that.
Re: Ask HN: Presenting or explaining past illness in a job application
#14You question is missing a very important piece of information: What makes you think that past illness is something that'll scare off employers? In other words, what happened, and how did that affect you?
Cancer, basically.
OK, that's hardly controversial. Why not just put it in there? Why would anyone think "he had cancer, he's unreliable"?
Why do you seems to think that makes your past murky? I mean, I don't envy you, it's a horrible disease, but it doesn't make your past murky.
Re: Ask HN: Presenting or explaining past illness in a job application
#15doubt anybody really cares .. for all the places i've interviewed, nobody has really touched upon the gpa .. at entry level positions, HR uses a GPA threshold in job postings but I guess that too is just a formality.
Re: Ask HN: Presenting or explaining past illness in a job application
#16It depends on whether you are going through a recruiter or not. A recruiter can broach that topic a little more gently than speaking with your prospective employer. If that's not a possibility, leave the GPA off there and put a bullet with "medical leave: XXXX - XXXX". Your employer will ask, talk about it frankly at that time.
Maybe I've just had bad luck, but in my experience recruiters have proved to be a layer of unwelcome misinformation.
Depends on the recruiter and industry. Its pretty easy to figure out the jokers from the professionals (simply by asking "Who is the hiring manager?" will a lot of times show you who is who). No doubt the big firms are typically loaded with jokers.
Re: Ask HN: Presenting or explaining past illness in a job application
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Cancer, basically.
OK, that's hardly controversial. Why not just put it in there? Why would anyone think "he had cancer, he's unreliable"? Why do you seems to think that makes your past murky? I mean, I don't envy you, it's a horrible disease, but it doesn't make your past murky.
Don't read too much into my name!
I don't think anyone will consider me unreliable, but for someone going through a stack of applications it's something that sticks out for the wrong reasons.
Plus, an application can be seen by a lot of people and you don't want to start a new job being THAT guy. I don't mind people knowing, but I like to have it on my terms if possible.
Re: Ask HN: Presenting or explaining past illness in a job application
#18It may depend on the sort of jobs you're applying for, and there may be cultural differences. For the area I'm familiar with, high-tech non-defense jobs in the US, I'd say leave the old grades off. I've heard that in some other countries, there may be more emphasis on having followed the "correct" path.
I'm trying to remember if I've ever seen someone with an advanced degree put their bachelors GPA on their resume.
If someone asks about your bachelors grades (very unlikely), you've actually got a great story that proves your ability to achieve your goal (graduate from college) in the face of outrageous obstacles. I'd say that's a much more impressive achievement than most recent Masters graduates can point to in their undergraduate record!
Re: Ask HN: Presenting or explaining past illness in a job application
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Cancer, basically.
OK, that's hardly controversial. Why not just put it in there? Why would anyone think "he had cancer, he's unreliable"? Why do you seems to think that makes your past murky? I mean, I don't envy you, it's a horrible disease, but it doesn't make your past murky.
I can imagine a company that would say, "there's a chance of remission, therefore no-hire due to risk."
Re: Ask HN: Presenting or explaining past illness in a job application
#20Are you looking for a job in technology? They probably don't care about your grades at all. You may be overthinking this.
Indeed. Grades have never come up in any interview I've ever had. The only conversation I've ever had went something like, "Oh, UofI, great school." "Nope, I went to the one in Chicago." and that was that :)