Don't underestimate the power of a great cv

[chzaau]

Date of birth ?

[Nev]

Mike to my knowledge does not demand that people put their marital status on their CV, these are tips from someone who does hiring, and i occasionally do as well so can agree with him,

It is not about discrimination, it is about getting to know the person who's CV you are reading, I am not a recruitment agent, i hire people who will be working alongside me,and quite simply if i like the CV of the person who gives me personal information over the person who does not good luck trying to prove i discriminated against you on your marital status or your age....

It is simple, give enough information to make you a better bet than the next person, or don't, and you will probably not get the job anyway because the other person did...

When applying for a non recruitment agent job a photo can also help a ton, more of that personal relationship

Edited April 22, 2014 by Nev

[Mikej]

Date of birth ?

Is that your answer indicating that I discriminate when employing?

Presumably you are suggesting that I discriminate against people based on their age so can you please show where in my post I said so?

It would be ridiculous to suggest that employers may not know the age of the person they propose to employ. Which is obviously completely different from discriminating against someone on that basis.

[chzaau]

Mikej, get off the defensive and read what I said again.

At no time did I say you did or did not discriminate against anybody, I can't tell that from what you have written, what I said was the information you are telling people to include is problematic in light of the fair work policies and the laws of Australia.

Asking somebody for their date of birth is the same as asking them for their age, their are other court cases that have set that precedence already. Why would you want to know their date of birth in any case, is age an important factor of the job, if so then you should state it in the job advertisement and request people provide that when applying for the job.

Why would you expect somebody to tell your their marital status, what does that have to do with you and is it a requirement to be married or not for the job you are advertising ?

Further to this, their is a lot of identify theft taking place, it is easy to advertise a job and gather lots of people's information, what a perfect phishing method, so one needs to be careful what information they are giving so as to protect their own identify. How should we know that you are a good person with all the relevant data protection in place to protect that information ?

Finally a person who is applying for a job needs to demonstrate their ability to do the job, so if being married, your age, gender and so on is important, then it must be stated in the advertisement and the person applying told they need to demonstrate that they meet this requirement. You only need to answer to the requirements stated.

So an example where preference is given say to a female applicant would say be somebody who tailors clothing for women and would be taking measurements and being close to the ladies body, that may say okay fair a women would be best suited for this job over a male.

[Mikej]

Unfortunately for your example someone's DOB is required information when employing them.

All this information is required for tax purposes when paying employees. Examples of information required are: age (DOB), gender, DISABILITY (yes knowing someones disability is required for their benefit for tax purposes).

Other information that is required on my Reckon accounting package includes, address and emergency contact e.g. spouse

You can ask for just about any information as long as it is not used adversely against them.

As I said after DXB2OZ asked about information on a cv, in my opinion, the more information the better for you so the employer finds it easier to relate to you.

I doubt that you believe putting only your name and qualifications on a cv is going benefit your job application.

[Nev]

have to agree...

It is not just about being able to do the job, job postings can get 100's of responses, and they can all do the job.... so how do i go about choosing the shortlist of people that i want to see face to face, i start by reading more into their application.

I have chosen people with lower qualifications out of the bunch based on the fact that i thought they had a great attitude and would be awesome to work with, their CV stood out, the "just filling in what was required" were the first to get axed as there was nothing to make them stand out.

The point here is not if recruiters should get that information and how they use it, the point here is from people who handle job applications, you need to make your CV stand out, and leaving out information is a great way to get chopped early on in the process

[Brad76]

From an employment point of view I understand your point on the inclusion of certain personal particulars - problem is most of the advice people are given on the issue points to the contrary, hence you get CVs that focus on the professional attributes of the candidate only - supposedly this is all prospective employers have time for / want to see!

[Mikej]

From an employment point of view I understand your point on the inclusion of certain personal particulars - problem is most of the advice people are given on the issue points to the contrary, hence you get CVs that focus on the professional attributes of the candidate only - supposedly this is all prospective employers have time for / want to see!

Your post has made me see a different perspective and that is from a bigger company where the interviewer is never going to see you again. Perhaps in that situation hobbies and such are irrelevant.

The advice I offered was purely from my personal experience as a small employer.

[Nev]

Yep, same from me, small team company with no recruiters involved

[chzaau]

So how far does one go with the CV introduction, would you suggest people include something like this in their CV introduction

Name: Mrs Ann Smith

Race: White

Gender: Female

Main language; English

Status: Married

Children: Yes, 3

DOB: 22 May 1950

Education: Grade 12 from Sydney girls high school 1968, Degree XYZ from University of Sydney 1972

List of all your jobs in order from most recent to oldest stating all your responsibilities along with reference letters

These CV can end up being very long or many pages.

or would you rather have a resume that does something like this ....

Intro

Dynamic, energetic and committed sales consultant, having worked for 3 large national tire retailers based in Victoria. Responsible for driving sales within dealer networks of Victoria and ACT. Won the sales person of the year for 4 years in a row, exceeded sales targets continually and improved the dealers product knowhow, thereby allowing them to better sell our products.

I am looking for a role that will allow me to sell XYZ and take on more responsibilities in a role that has responsibilities at a national level.

Education and skills section listing your key education and soft skill sets and or technical skills if needed that are relevant to the job advertisement.

Past work responsibilities per firm highlighting my success by qualities and quantifier. i.e. improved the sales process by removing unnecessary steps, this saved 15% per sales. Exceed targets for sales by 18% per year for 4 years in a row.

Try to keep your CV to a couple of pages 3 or 4.