Ramdon question, Employer asking age

LadyMissA

mountainofdebt wrote: »

OK I think its time to call it quits on this one. You obviously have an issue with a potential employer knowing basic information about a candidate - whereas I,and I suspect most of the rational element of the population don't.

Taking the attitude that you seem to think is OK I know, if I was the interviewer, I wouldn't care how old you were or what your marital status was as your application would be in the bin the moment you left the room.

sorry but it's not basic - I do not put that info on a CV

Savvy_Sue

I admit I have worked through the phase of not admitting to having children (although anyone would have worked out that was the most likely explanation for my 'career path'. I am now of an age where it wouldn't surprise me if some employers would prefer not to employ me because I'm 'too old'. I'm certainly not young and pretty, if I ever was. I'll happily reveal details of my personal life once you've offered me the job, but until then it's my own business how old I am, whether I'm married / have a partner of any description, and what caring responsibilities I have.

If I think that my maturity and experience of taking responsibility is relevant to the job - as it might be for a weekend receptionist in a care home - I'll stress that in my application. But then, if you're an intelligent employer you'll make sure that your job description and person spec makes it clear what you're looking for. You'll want to know my dob when I start, and I won't make a secret of it.

But unless you can show that my age is relevant to my application, it won't be going in the main part of my application. I might, if it's clear that that page isn't seen in the shortlisting process, put it there.

Whether that's good advice for the OP, I wouldn't like to say ...

Jarndyce

mountainofdebt wrote: »

OK I think its time to call it quits on this one. You obviously have an issue with a potential employer knowing basic information about a candidate - whereas I,and I suspect most of the rational element of the population don't.

Taking the attitude that you seem to think is OK I know, if I was the interviewer, I wouldn't care how old you were or what your marital status was as your application would be in the bin the moment you left the room.

How rude and patronising you are.

So you think that your views are so representative of the entire population that the government introduced legislation to outlaw acting on such views? The reason people get 'arsy' about employers asking applicants' ages is because the only logical reason for them to ask is because they intend to take the information into account in their recruitment decisions, which is against the law!

SueC_2

I have always clearly stated my age, date of birth, marital status and number of dependents on my CV, and continue to do so now, even though potential employers no longer have 'the right' to this information.

My reason for doing so is that I believe, rightly or wrongly, that the employee/employer relationship is much like any other relationship - the more you know about each other, and the better your communication, the higher the chance of the relationship succeeding. My personal circumstances may not be as important as my professional experience when I'm applying for a job, but they are still very much part of who I am, and therefore I feel them relevant to my suitability to an employer.

What's more, I can honestly say that although many job applications have been fruitless over the years, I have never once felt discriminated against.

Rain_is_Insane

I've found on telephone interviews that when an employer asks me my age, and then proceeds to ask if i have any dependant children, and I say yes, they lose interest before I can explain. I'm 36, and my son is almost 18 but in full time education after leaving basic army training, so is technically a dependant. I don't get the chance to get that far though.

I think a lot of employers assume you will call in one day and say "little Johnny is sick and I need to stay at home"