Mrthdrb

The ceremony of graduation is less important. I assume that even a stray cat might be able to walk it :D

Getting serious again, it is of highest importance for you to clarify your graduation situation. Get in contact with your university and ask for clarifications:

• about the papers / diplomas;


• about the graduation status;


• about the information in the portal, stating that you are one class short.

I am just puzzled: After about 8 years (2011-2019), you still do not have the proper paperwork from university? This kind of attitude is what can create much bigger problems with any employer.

My friendliest advice: hurry setting things in order with university / graduation, as well as any other stuff assumed, but not guaranteed, to be OK.

Two already good answers. but I think there something vital still missing.

If I were a hiring manager and you told me this story, my first thought would be not about the degree itself but: "This person must be either extremely incompetent or sloppy. How the blazes do you NOT KNOW whether you have a degree or not".

Sorry to be blunt: you screwed up big time: Your degree is LITERALLY a piece of paper that says you have a certain qualification. Walking the ceremony means diddly squat by itself. Actually, the point of most graduation ceremonies is to give you that piece of paper, just with some pomp and circumstance around it. It's puzzling that this didn't happen at yours.

Yes, you have to fess up to your hiring manager & HR, otherwise you come a cross as a liar. But a big part of the message needs to be "how did that happen, how did I miss that for 8 years, and here are the concrete steps I've already taken to fix it".

So start with the university. Get on the PHONE with them right now, figure out your status, create a plan to address any gaps as needed and have the university confirm in writing the current state and the plan.

Take that to your hiring manager, apologize profusely and hope for this best. Your approach should be: "Yes, I was inexperienced and sloppy 8 years ago, but I'm not anymore so I can be trusted to get things done"

In my part of the world, the university faculty will complete a "course completion check" before assigning a student to a graduation ceremony. Hopefully, this is what you mean by applying for graduation. For this situation to occur, several consecutive errors need to be made by faculty staff. Thankfully, both the course completion check and the graduation attendance will leave a paper trail.

You need to do two things immediately – firstly, contact your university and notify them that there is an issue with verifying your degree and that you may have been allowed to attend a graduation ceremony with missing academic requirements. Secondly, you need to notify your employer in writing that you have been made aware of an issue with your degree, that you are in the process of seeking confirmation from your university, and that you offer to take unpaid leave while this matter is investigated. Allow your employer to take whatever action they deem necessary.

A best case scenario, is your university is able to use their paper trail to determine they are at fault rather then you, and they write you a formal apology and explanation for you to provide to your employer. This may not prevent you from being terminated, but if you act professionally throughout it will prevent you being accused of fraud and suffering extreme consequences within your industry.

Now this is a tough situation, but the only thing I can think of is that you should tell them as soon as possible.

You may lose the offer not because you are one class short from your degree, but because for them you LIED in your resume.

Explain the situation, tell them that you are shocked as well because you weren't notified. Bachelor is not mandatory for this position, so you were going to get accepted. I think you should just try to explain the situation to them before they discover it themselves, it's better than being considerer "lying" in your resume.

Good luck.

I've been in a very similar situation. I'd passed all my courses, left uni, applied for jobs, got them, and started working. Ten years went by, I thought nothing of it.
Nobody checked my credentials, and I didn't suspect anything was up.

Then one night I was having a few beers with a friend, and he'd got a job at my old uni. I asked him why I'd still not got any paperwork for finishing my degree, thinking it'd probably been a mix up and it was sent to the wrong address or something. It turned out that I'd owed the uni some small amount of money (I think it was like £20/$30 or thereabouts) and so hadn't graduated. I was mortified. Anyway, I sent a cheque to the uni, and got it all sorted out (well, except for getting the micky taken out of me by said friend)

I suppose what I'm saying is:

1. Don't fret. Apparently it's not something that's always checked, so it may not affect you anyway.


2. Get it sorted out now. Write to the uni, see what needs to be done to get it sorted out, and do that as soon as you can. Eventually someone will check, and that won't look good on you. If it's only a trifling thing, you can get it sorted out. Might be an admin error, might be that you need to go back and resit one exam or something. You'll be fine.

Good luck with the job hunt :)

How have your other employers handled it?

Have you left this off your resume until now? From your post, it sounds like you know you're a single class short.

You lied to your potential employer

They are almost certain to yank the offer, not because you don't have a degree, but because you knowingly lied to them.

You should either leave the degree you don't have off your resume or finish it

Call the university immediately and figure out how to finish out your degree. As you're likely to have your offer rescinded, now is probably a good time to re-enroll.