Home / postal address in your CV?

CamillaRhodes

Hey y'all. I'm back updating my CV again, like so many of us.

I've been moving around a lot for the last few years, so haven't had my home / postal address on my CV as it was irrelevant when I was applying for jobs in different countries.

Now I'm back home, though, and just showed my updated CV to my Dad, who says he thinks I should put my address on it, that it's the sort of thing employers look for to see what sort of people you're from.

Now, I kinda object to this in principle. Where I grew up, where my parents are from, or where I live now should have absolutely no bearing on my professional abilities - the CV shows where I went to Uni, where I've worked etc, and surely that shoudl be enough>? If they want to get a 'feeling' for me as a person, that should be based on when they meet me for an interview, and not because I've got a posh or a slummy address??? I feel like it's just like I wouldn't say that I'm white or married (or not) because I don't think it's any of the employer's business at this (or indeed any) stage of the recruitment process.

Having said that, my Dad is a sorta old-school employer, and maybe this is what the old-school types really do want to see?? It's hard to know, with the sorta jobs I'm going for, whether it's gonna be young dynamic types reviewing the CV or old-style fuddies like my dad

What do you think? Do you have your address in your CV, and if so why?

AARRRGH

I think you should put your address on your CV. Leaving it off might confuse the (quite possibly) retarded HR person.

seamus

Your home address tells them where to send the contract/PFO. The kind of employer who would disregard an employee based on their address is the kind of employer you wouldn't want to work for. Primarily because they're an idiot, but also because they won't last long in business.

If you're going through a recruiter they'll usually remove your contact details, but if you're applying direct there's no reason to leave the details off.

CamillaRhodes

Fair enough all, guess I'll put it back in. It's not like I'm ashamed of where I come from, not at all, but I just didn't like the reasoning behind what my dad was saying. What you guys have said here makes sense though. Done, ta

jeckle

As well as what seamus posted above, some employers look at the address purely to see how far from the business premises a prospective employee lives, to avoid any future timekeeping/travel problems, without taking into account that the applicant might well be willing or planning to relocate.

With the newer laws relating to what personal information that they can ask (age, marital status, children etc), some employers just make general assumptions as to what you may have to do on your way to work, rather than make assumptions about your backround.

thebman

I found when I graduated and moved back home to parents, I was being dismissed because of my address.

It would come up in interview, would I be willing to relocate. I'd assume I didn't even make interview in other places as a result because they just assumed I lived too far away.

At the time however, I couldn't wait to move away because most of my friends from when I was in school have moved away so it its quite boring back home and am actually happier where I live now.

I found it made a difference and that certain employers were being dismissive with their body language when asking the question like where I was from was really putting them off me as a candidate.

mood

jeckle what are these new laws exactly? I have been asked in an interview if I am planning to get married etc - unprofessional IMO.

I think a lot of employers will only interview people already living in the city/town in question.

thebman

Lol that is nonsense question anyway. Might as well ask are you planning on having kids.

Better off not getting that job as you know they probably aren't family friendly anyway so wouldn't want to give you time off.

jeckle

mood wrote: »

jeckle what are these new laws exactly? I have been asked in an interview if I am planning to get married etc - unprofessional IMO.

I think a lot of employers will only interview people already living in the city/town in question.

By new I meant they would be new to the OP's Dad, but they are relatively new. Just did a quick search. This is from RTE No Experience Required

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The law in many countries restricts what type of questions are appropriate or inappropriate in employment interviews. Following are some of the categories that have restrictions on what can be legally asked:[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[*] birthplace, ancestry, ethnic origin, place of origin
[*] sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status
[*] age
[*] race, colour
[*] religion, creed
[*] citizenship education record of offences
[*] disability
[*] references and membership in organisations[/FONT]


Edit: # The Employment Equality Acts 1998 and 2004, deal with discrimination within employment.
# The Acts deal with discrimination related to any of the following nine grounds:

* gender
* marital status
* family status
* age
* race
* religion
* disability
* sexual orientation
* membership of the Traveller community

http://www.equality.ie/index.asp?locID=17&docID=110

godtabh

I always put my address on it but have seen some come in with out it

tatli_lokma

I've been asked in an interview if I am married and have kids (interviewing panel were all men! :rolleyes:)

also when recently applying for jobs I got asked in a few interviews about travel (job in city, i live in county dub) so after that I decided to take it off. I think it might put some employers off - they assume you will have trouble getting to work. IMO its better to get to the interview stage - then you can clarify these details when you are a 'person' to them and not just a CV. hopefully regardless of location you will have made enough of an impression!

but make sure you format the CV so its not so obvious its left off!

Jesus Wept

Cincikchick wrote: »

(interviewing panel were all men! :rolleyes:)

Are you trying to solidify or destroy your point?

tatli_lokma

The-Rigger wrote: »

Are you trying to solidify or destroy your point?

well in 15 years of professional working life I've never been asked that by a female interviewer, as its not relevant to my ability to do a job! i found it insulting and shocking to be asked this TBH! I didn't show that at the interview, as the 2 guys who asked it would not be my direct bosses, and it was a second round interview. I was offered the job, but i did answer no to the married/kids ques so I do think it made a difference to the decision. I refused the job and advised the HR dept of the question I was asked.

are you trying to be argumentative or is it accidental!???:P

leeroybrown

I normally include my postal address in my CV. That said, I can think of situations where excluding it might be a good idea. A classic example would probably be someone in the north or south suburbs of Dublin applying for a job on the direct opposite side of the city. I'm guessing that quite a few companies will screen CVs on the basis that there's a chance that someone will have problems with a long commute across town (even if the person is willing to relocate).

Jesus Wept

Cincikchick wrote: »

well in 15 years of professional working life I've never been asked that by a female interviewer, as its not relevant to my ability to do a job!

One person's experiences (you/me) over any amount of years is a very small and insignificant sample size.
I don't think we should align the incompetence of the interviews with their gender based on it.

Cincikchick wrote: »

I refused the job and advised the HR dept of the question I was asked.

Good stuff, in my experience most people never bother bother to take action on things.

Cincikchick wrote: »

are you trying to be argumentative or is it accidental!???:P

lol. :pac::)

tatli_lokma

The-Rigger wrote: »

One person's experiences (you/me) over any amount of years is a very small and insignificant sample size.
I don't think we should align the incompetence of the interviews with their gender based on it.

ahhh, get what ya mean now! but my mention of the all male panel and rolleyes was to make the point, that it would be unusual for a woman to ask this question so blatantly, or even for a man to ask if a woman was present - partic if that woman was married/had kids.
I'm not saying women don't ask this info - they just tend to be more discreet about it, rather than coming straight out with 'so are you married? any kids?' to which I answered no, then got asked by the other knobend 'have you any plans to have kids? cos we want someone who would make a long committment, and handing out maternity leave in the next year or two would not be good for us' :eek:
It was so blatant - and I love how he said 'handing out' as if it was such a favour to do not a legal obligation!
I honestly doubt they would've had the balls to say that if another woman was present, and if they did I'm sure someone would have jumped in to try and soften the blow. As it was, all that happened was the last guy shook his head and rolled his eyes.

CamillaRhodes

Cincikchick wrote: »

then got asked by the other knobend 'have you any plans to have kids? cos we want someone who would make a long committment, and handing out maternity leave in the next year or two would not be good for us'

Holy sh*t Cincikchick, I can't believe he had the nerve to ask you that!?!?! Can you imagine, next question being "do you sleep around much?", "are you on the pill?" Bloody cheek... Is it even legal, what he said to you??

leeroybrown

CamillaRhodes wrote: »

Holy sh*t Cincikchick, I can't believe he had the nerve to ask you that!?!?! Can you imagine, next question being "do you sleep around much?", "are you on the pill?" Bloody cheek... Is it even legal, what he said to you??

It's gross stupidity more so than nerve. Some interviewers have no clue about the kind of trouble those sorts of questions could land their company in.

tatli_lokma

CamillaRhodes wrote: »

Bloody cheek... Is it even legal, what he said to you??

I don't think it is legal, but I would imagine that not many people do anything about taking these matters further, as they don't actually work for the company, and if you did take the job you would be seen as a trouble maker before your first pay day!

I did make a comment in a joking way along the lines of 'a policeman wouldn't ask me that haha' sort of thing, but I did mention it later to the HR dept. I wonder if HR would have taken it so seriously if I had not been offered the job and refused on that basis (I didn't like the insinuation that if I got pregnant then I'm not a team player - I don't have any immediate plans to have a child, but still.....).

The interview was 2 mths before my wedding - I didn't mention this other than when they asked about upcoming holidays, but I wonder, had I mentioned what the holiday was for, would I even have been offered the job????:rolleyes:

mood

Did you wear your engagement ring in the interview?

axer

jeckle wrote: »

By new I meant they would be new to the OP's Dad, but they are relatively new. Just did a quick search. This is from RTE No Experience Required

[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The law in many countries restricts what type of questions are appropriate or inappropriate in employment interviews. Following are some of the categories that have restrictions on what can be legally asked:[/font]

• [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
  
• birthplace, ancestry, ethnic origin, place of origin
• sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status
• age
• race, colour
• religion, creed
• citizenship education record of offences
• disability
• references and membership in organisations[/font]

Edit: # The Employment Equality Acts 1998 and 2004, deal with discrimination within employment.
# The Acts deal with discrimination related to any of the following nine grounds:

* gender
* marital status
* family status
* age
* race
* religion
* disability
* sexual orientation
* membership of the Traveller community

http://www.equality.ie/index.asp?locID=17&docID=110

As I understand it is not illegal to ask those questions. It is only illegal to discriminate based on the answer.

Many employers do not ask those questions so as to reduce the possibility of someone taking legal action even though discrimination didn't happen just because they were asked - are you married etc.

tatli_lokma

axer wrote: »

As I understand it is not illegal to ask those questions. It is only illegal to discriminate based on the answer.

Many employers do not ask those questions so as to reduce the possibility of someone taking legal action even though discrimination didn't happen just because they were asked - are you married etc.

but if you're not going to use the answer given to "discriminate" (i.e discern whether or not you want this person based on their answer) then what is the point in asking? if you ask these sorts of questions, then you must be doing so for a reason, no?
Its one thing to say, " I see you live quite a distance from the place of work, would you be prepared for the commute?" And even ask if you have any 'commitments' which would make that difficult. your answer gives the interviewer an indication as to how you could cope with that situation. You can choose how much info you give - i.e you may have children but in your opinion that will not impact your ability to commute, in which case you could answer that there would be no problem. You wouldn't even have to mention that you have kids.
However, me being married or having children does not make me any more or less able/committed/available to work late than a single person.

As for whether or not I wore my engagement ring - yes I did, but i have 2 engagement rings, a Turkish one which looks like a wedding band and I wear on my right hand a 'traditional' diamond one I wear on my left. On this occasion, I was not wearing the turkish one and had the diamond one on my right hand middle finger, mainly because I was waiting to have it resized. Having said that, they didn't ask if I was engaged, only if i was married or planning to have kids! TBH I don't think they would have even noticed if i had been wearing my ring on my left hand, third finger!

thebman

Cincikchick wrote: »

but if you're not going to use the answer given to "discriminate" (i.e discern whether or not you want this person based on their answer) then what is the point in asking? if you ask these sorts of questions, then you must be doing so for a reason, no?
Its one thing to say, " I see you live quite a distance from the place of work, would you be prepared for the commute?" And even ask if you have any 'commitments' which would make that difficult. your answer gives the interviewer an indication as to how you could cope with that situation. You can choose how much info you give - i.e you may have children but in your opinion that will not impact your ability to commute, in which case you could answer that there would be no problem. You wouldn't even have to mention that you have kids.
However, me being married or having children does not make me any more or less able/committed/available to work late than a single person.

As for whether or not I wore my engagement ring - yes I did, but i have 2 engagement rings, a Turkish one which looks like a wedding band and I wear on my right hand a 'traditional' diamond one I wear on my left. On this occasion, I was not wearing the turkish one and had the diamond one on my right hand middle finger, mainly because I was waiting to have it resized. Having said that, they didn't ask if I was engaged, only if i was married or planning to have kids! TBH I don't think they would have even noticed if i had been wearing my ring on my left hand, third finger!

I'd agree that nobody would ask unless the answer mattered in which case its discrimination as they are going to allow it to effect their decision.

I was asked what age I was in an interview promptly followed by a no wait forget I asked that

axer

Cincikchick wrote: »

but if you're not going to use the answer given to "discriminate" (i.e discern whether or not you want this person based on their answer) then what is the point in asking? if you ask these sorts of questions, then you must be doing so for a reason, no?
Its one thing to say, " I see you live quite a distance from the place of work, would you be prepared for the commute?" And even ask if you have any 'commitments' which would make that difficult. your answer gives the interviewer an indication as to how you could cope with that situation. You can choose how much info you give - i.e you may have children but in your opinion that will not impact your ability to commute, in which case you could answer that there would be no problem. You wouldn't even have to mention that you have kids.
However, me being married or having children does not make me any more or less able/committed/available to work late than a single person.

As for whether or not I wore my engagement ring - yes I did, but i have 2 engagement rings, a Turkish one which looks like a wedding band and I wear on my right hand a 'traditional' diamond one I wear on my left. On this occasion, I was not wearing the turkish one and had the diamond one on my right hand middle finger, mainly because I was waiting to have it resized. Having said that, they didn't ask if I was engaged, only if i was married or planning to have kids! TBH I don't think they would have even noticed if i had been wearing my ring on my left hand, third finger!

I am just making the point that asking the questions themselves is not illegal. I think it is actually dangerous to ask such questions as it puts the possibility of accusations of discrimmination against the employer.