Job Applications - Age Discrimination

[Barquentine]

I have been submitting my CV for various full time roles over the past three months but getting no replies.

This morning at 12.09 I submitted my CV under a pseudonym (sent from an alias email account) - with all dates removed to avoid giving any indication about my age.

I had the following reply at 12.20 - just NINE minutes later!
"Dear Eric,
Thank you for providing us with your CV. We are very impressed with your CV and would like to schedule an interview. Please contact the writer to arrange a suitable time."

I am going to send the identical CV with my name and the dates on it. Let's see how long they take to offer me an interview like they did for 'Eric'!

But how do you enforce age discrimination legislation?

[Zacs-Master]

You can't enforce age discrimination legislation. You can implement it, but there are lots of ways round it.

[bednobs]

you don't think they might notice it's the same cv? People aren't stupid you know!
it seems a weird way of going about it for someone who wants a job.
You can usually get an idea of someones age bracket by what jobs they have done and for how long for

[bednobs]

also, what employers are up at midnight sorting Cvs?

[Zacs-Master]

Is there anyone under retirement age called Eric?

[pastafreak]

Are you sure it wasn't an auto reply?

12.09...midnight, or noon?

[bednobs]

simon cowells son

[Zacs-Master]

Maybe they think it's him!

[woofgang]

well you are married so you can't be that young

[fiction-factory]

>But how do you enforce age discrimination legislation?

Maybe you are putting the cart before the horse. Wait and see what response you get (although I think they might spot the similarities) and only if you get a rejection would I think about pursuing the matter.

I'm not sure how anyone can avoid giving an indication of age on a CV- years' experience or dates for roles is a giveaway, as are reference to exams (O levels v GSSEs, numeric v alpha grades)

[Prudie]

They might guess from your career history - but you only need to go back at most 10 years and no-one puts their DOB/age on CVs anymore (do they??)

[piggynose]

https://youtu.be/MlrsqGal64w

[Barquentine]

Woofgang, you're right; I'm really old and have never experienced discrimination before. It is difficult to detect. But the very first test attempt (I am not interested in the actual job I am using as a test) gets me an interview in nine minutes of sending my CV in. Yes, they must have spotted the identical email that I sent a few hours later with my name and dates on - I used the exact same cover note wording to give them a chance. I am not trying to catch them out or pursue anything against them - it's purely to inform me whether the intuitive feel I have got has any validity (6 months and no interviews - then suddenly the same CV is 'impressive' - the only difference is there's no way to guess my age - unless Zacs Master is right about all Eric's being old...though my wife does no a 'Brenda' in her 30s!). I think the takeaway lesson is to exclude name, dates and gender to avoid bias against foreign names/sexist attitudes and age discrimination. It needs to be objective. It is human nature to make subconscious choices based on genetic and environmental programming. It should be as objective as we can make it. I am 57 but I do not plan to stop. I want to emulate an awesome person I know who is 94 and still goes into his office everyday! Respect!

[meglet]

I work for the civil service and, when given to the panel to decide who to interview, all applications are anonymised. Also you don’t give them a CV, you write a response to how you match the required competencies. It gives everyone a level playing field.