CV Writing - Optional Elements Part 3

Should I include my age on my CV?

Even though legislation to protect against age discrimination in the workplace is common in many countries these days, it would be foolish to assume that an employer never considers a candidate’s age when recruiting. Of course, this can work in two ways. An older candidate may be discriminated against when the typical age profile of a job he is applying for is younger than he is. Likewise, a young candidate with all the relevant experience may not be considered for senior roles simply on the basis of his youth.

It is fair to say, however, that the majority of age discrimination in employment matters affects older candidates. Would it be sensible, therefore, to omit a ‘date of birth’ or ‘age’ entry? The answer - usually not. The absence of a date-of-birth or age reference is much more visible to a recruiter than, say, the omission of one’s marital status. Some people argue that it should be possible for recruiters to gauge the age of a candidate on the basis of his work history and indeed that omitting to mention one’s age forces the recruiter to only focus on the quality of the candidate’s work experience. Whilst the latter point is very relevant, nonetheless, a recruiter will expect to see your age mentioned at some point within your CV. If you suspect your applications are being rejected summarily because of your age there are now opportunities to have alleged discrimination investigated.