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I have been applying for jobs posted on USAJobs, as well as state jobs. During the process, you are asked for your birth date, which I thought to be unlawful. Why is the government, and states, allowed to ask for your age? I am an older recent college grad and have been applying for work I am qualified for, yet never receive a reply.
No, unfortunately it is not illegal to ask D.O.B on job applications. It is what they do with that information that matters but discriminatory things are hard to prove. Your age may not be the reason you are not getting replies/responses/interviews. It is still a very tough market out there for job seekers. Just don't put all your eggs in one basket. Use other websites also to find jobs, network, try joining LinkedIn, etc.
No, unfortunately it is not illegal to ask D.O.B on job applications. It is what they do with that information that matters but discriminatory things are hard to prove. Your age may not be the reason you are not getting replies/responses/interviews. It is still a very tough market out there for job seekers. Just don't put all your eggs in one basket. Use other websites also to find jobs, network, try joining LinkedIn, etc.
And no doubt you are getting discouraged. I feel your pain. I know in the past when I 'would' fill out an online application (I avoided it at all costs and tried other means or other positions that did not require an application) I fudged the DOB field, SSN and references with zeroes or left blank if it was possible. For references, I tried whatever possible to just state in the field 'available upon interview'.
Not that it always worked and even if it did it may have put my application directly in file 13 but I tried anyway. But I would only complete an online application if I REALLY, REALLY wanted the job, otherwise, I would try every other means possible to find another way to apply for the job by doing all the research I could.
And yes, I did always notice that state or gov't jobs always ask for that info but I felt better (safer perhaps?) giving it to those entities than I did private sector companies.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Government agencies asking for it do so in order to complete their reports on diversity. They are constantly working to improve their record for hiring women, minorities, and over 40 people to meet goals. The age and race data does not go to the hiring managers, it's only accumulated in a database for summary reporting. Some larger private companies are doing that now too, in order to dispel news reports about them hiring only young white males.
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