Ask HN: Presenting or explaining past illness in a job application

Are you looking for a job in technology? They probably don't care about your grades at all. You may be overthinking this.

It would not look suspicious to leave grades off your resume. It's uncommon to place grades on a resume and employers would not blink twice at this information not being present. I graduated with a 3.8 GPA only a few years ago and do not put it on my resume.

You 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?

It 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.

Your Masters will appear first on your resume, so the recipient will see you are capable of getting good marks before they see your bad marks for your undergraduate degree. When you state the marks of the latter, perhaps include a sentence along the lines of, "I was seriously ill in hospital during this period, and so got uncharacteristically low marks." Any further explanation (which should not be necessary) can be left for the interview.

If 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.

You know what the funny thing is? If you are up front about the fact that you have an illness it can be in fact beneficial for you. Down the line if your cancer ever resurfaces (I hope not) and you lose your job due to some insurance giant. Then that will be a bad place to be in.

So, on the other hand through disclosure (in the interview perhaps?) you can test the company's policy pre-emptively without going through significant pain during that time. It will be harder finding a job, but when you do find one it ought to be worth it.

However, this is a really dangerous line to walk and I really think that you need to move to a country in the EU. Over there, you will be protected in the work force and thanks to the health system things have a better chance of working out...

You finished your Master's. Your undergrad grades are irrelevant now.

It 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!

People who have done things do not need to cite grades on resumes, at all. They are a proxy for future doings among those who have not yet done.

Your illness doesn't matter. Telling an employer cannot help you. You only need to convince someone you are the best person moving forward. Easiest way to avoid bringing the question is to leave GPA off resume. No employe should ask about health. If they ask about GPA, just tell them you had to balance abnormally tough family issues that are resolved and no longer a factor.

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.

Do not mention your grades on your resume. About half the people won't even ask or care. The ones that do will ask and that is the time to explain what you got and why it was low.

When I was graduating they told us that if you got above 2.5 put it on there, below don't put it on there. Now that I've been out awhile I think that's probably a decent rule of thumb. Personally I don't put it on there even though I did fairly well.

doubt 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.

I would suggest you do your best to just gloss over it without lying. I spent a LOT of time very ill. I was too ill to work right after getting my Certificate in GIS. My resume had a 50% call back rate but I was doped to the gills on prescription medication and tanked in every interview. During that time, I was very upfront about my medical crisis. I didn't get a single job offer. I can't prove that was why, but I can't help but suspect it either. The first interview I went to where I did not mention my medical situation got me a job. I just told them I was a former homemaker going through a divorce and did not elaborate on any additional details concerning my lack of prior work experience.

Since you have a Masters, it is more recent and will generally be weighted more in their mind. Lots of folks screw off during college when they first leave home and don't make the best grades. I would be inclined to offer no explanation whatsoever for the poor grades the first time around. If your performance later was better, let that speak for itself -- unless, of course, you are asked point blank. Then be honest.

I think mentioning your medical problem up front is problematic because it implies that it is still a concern. If it is in your past, then leave it there. Honestly admitting to a medical crisis in an interview if asked about the grades seems to me less likely to be problematic. Just answer honestly but minimally. Talking at length about it suggests it still weighs heavily on your mind and I think this implies that it could still interfere with your ability to work. If that is not true, then don't give it a lot of emphasis. LOTS of people have medical conditions. It generally doesn't merit mentioning on the resume.

Good luck with this.