Finance Director | Head of Finance | Financial Controller | Farming | Commercial Property | Residential Property | Housebuilding | Construction | Thames Valley | SE England
JOB APPLICATION QUESTIONS Why do some companies have application forms on their websites asking questions such as: 1. Ethnicity 2. Religion 3. Sexual orientation 4. Sex/Gender identity 5. Age 6. Marital status? It's a genuine question and I'd be interested to hear the reasoning. It just seems that some applications are incredibly simple and non-intrusive and others are ridiculously complex and too personal. I understand that companies are looking to increase diversity but surely the danger is that positive discrimination can result or excellent candidates just choose not to apply. Can anyone think why a company should need a National Insurance number at application stage? I can't! I came across that question whilst I was completing a job application today - do they want to steal my identity? #opentowork #jobapplications
Note from Ed: I just completed a job application which asked whether I've ever experienced homelessness or rough sleeping! Can you believe it?
Andrew Lyon
8mo
The NI bit is becoming more common, so are people faking their details to get into companies. Insider threats and fraud are becoming more common place Could be used to check your right to work status, or your Tax and NI contributions are against your name. I've also had some of the ones already mentioned, the highest earner, or did a parent go to university. Must be fed into some data base looking at demographics. I agree, some of the questions asked seem crazy, but can also understand the ones making sure you say who you are. Reason being in a previous role, I saw first hand multiple attempts of people faking important information to get into roles to commit insider fraud.
Jo Janssen
8mo
I agree. The one that baffles me is ‘what occuption was the main income earner in your family doing when you were 14 years old? I’ve had 2 applications processes recently ask this.
Rebecca W.
8mo
What I don't understand is why I get asked if I had paid school dinners when 14 and if my parents went to University? Why is that relevant to my application.
Marcel Aerts
8mo
Equally - why do many employers not state up front how much they are prepared to pay (band) and ensure the job description matches the salary. No employer wants to overpay and no applicant wants to find the employer wants a multi-talented Premiership player at National League salaries. No surprise so many job ads go unfilled for months on end…
Rebecca Smith 🎨📝
8mo
Yes these questions make me squirm a bit. Fitting us all into boxes to tick boxes...
Laith Alami
8mo
Hi Ian Brown-Lee, While I can't speak about all businesses, from my experience, these are 'optional questions' that are used for analysis post-hiring. Recruiters and hiring managers do not have access to them during the hiring process. The information is audited and analysed by a separate people operations team that analyzes the stats and checks if there have been any patterns of biases in the hiring process as a whole. Then the data is used to enhance the hiring process so that it includes the overlooked minority. This is not done proactive - recruiters at Google for example do not go out there to find female developers to increase diversity. The data is used, for example, to make sure that the wording of a job advert is inclusive, or that the interview process is accommodating to candidates that require physical assistance and so on. While I can defend the integrity of the process, I can't defend the practice, if someone takes advantage of the data that's a different story.
I understand the diversity Qs. Candidate background info should be saved separately from the CV etc and only be used (anonymised) for HR stats. Could NI # be a proxy for residence/right to work?
It depends on where/how the question is asked. Items like NI number, as others have said, may be a proxy for right to work, especially where sponsorship isn't an option. I've seen it most often when people can apply via an open process (e.g. LinkedIn/website) where there is no other filter to stop ineligible candidates. In NI religion is a mandatory question as part of the peace agreement. There may also be anti-fraud aspects, as highlighted elsewhere. This is why you sometimes have to give all of your exam results back to GCSEs, problematic for those of us without them or A levels (US schools in my case), and surely irrelevant for anyone with years of experience/higher credentials earned since! Others (free school meals, parents' jobs, homelessness, etc.) should only be asked within an optional questionnaire that is kept separate from your application and used anonymously to monitor hiring diversity metrics, especially for those who are unsuccessful. While it may seem odd to you, too many companies are behind the ball here (e.g. gender pay gaps and certain backgrounds being overrepresented) and you don't know how big the problem is until you measure it. There must be confidence that this info will be used appropriately, though.
Finance Director | Head of Finance | Financial Controller | Farming | Commercial Property | Residential Property | Housebuilding | Construction | Thames Valley | SE England
8moThank you for reposting Jörgen Schreuders