Regular discrimination with job applications, especially on age, ethnicity

Job applicants are regularly discriminated against, according to a study among human resources departments on behalf of temporary employment agency Unique. Discrimination based on age and ethnicity are among the most common, RTL Nieuws reports.

Four in ten respondents told the researchers that they sometimes do not invite a candidate for an interview when they believe the candidate is too old. More than one in ten of the 620 human resources managers questioned said that they did not invite an applicant for an interview because of a foreign-sounding name. A person's place of residence, photo and gender can also be of influence.

Unique is organizing a "Week of the anonymous CV" for the second time, to promote more equal opportunities on the labor market. This week Unique consultants will only send out anonymous CVs, to draw attention to discrimination based on personal data. The CVs will not contain any personal details of the candidates.

Whether this will reduce discrimination on the labor market, is not clear. The HR managers that were surveyed responded divided on the idea.