Job applications screening for privilege.

Goodness knows - I am quite surprised they are allowed to ask these questions.

I have never seen questions like that asked. Which sector is this?

That sounds rather intrusive giving such personal information on a job application which may not even be offered.

I think they are looking to tick boxes. My first thought on reading about the questions about a person's parents was that it isn't any of their business. I think I'd class it with a woman being asked about what her husband does or what she'll do about childcare.

There's more than one kind of diversity and I fear that sometimes people are focussing on irrelevances.

Suitability for the job is surely the most important thing but, of course, people can learn a job on the job. that used to be more common.

Are the questions on a somehow detachable part of the application form?

If so, they are probably something that won't be looked at when screening, but used to monitor the backgrounds of applicants so that the company/organisation can (a) ensure that they target ads to get a wider range of applicants and (b) that if, say, they find that 75% of applicants are from a particular demographic but nobody from that group is ever employed, then they need to look at the interview process.

What sector. I have changed jobs recently. Questions about parents education, FSM certainly werent asked, and that was public sector employees.

I don’t think this is even legal

Can you point to the law which is breached by these questions TwiceAsNice?

Germanshepherdsmum

I have never seen questions like that asked. Which sector is this?

Finance sector.

If no-one can legally ask someone whether they used to be a different gender, then it cannot be legal or undiscriminatory to ask people applying for a job. It may be OK to discuss this in an interview if the applicant raises the subject, but surely what matters is the suitability of the applicant for the position applied for?

The whole point of the drive for inclusiveness is that people should not be discriminated against for their gender choice or their parents' education (or lack of it) but should be judged for themselves.

He hasn’t applied for a job in about 8 years, he has been previously been headhunted within his sector, this is a big surprise to him.

If it’s investment or merchant banking or fund management, they are known for recruiting the privileged so this could well be an attempt to increase diversity. I don’t know about other areas of the finance sector.

I didn’t get the impression that gender history had been asked about elegran, simply the gender the applicant identifies as.

I suspect this is detached (as Doodledog suggests).

The reason is probably privilege monitoring.

A study by the Debrett’s Foundation found that 72% of privileged Britons admitted to using familial connections in the jobs area. People who were from well educated families are more likely to have those connections.
As your son is already experienced in his field I'm sure it must be monitoring rather than part of selection.

The way to get a workforce who are not hampered by their parents' lack of education when they were 11 - 18 is to make sure that education in all schools is up to the highest standard and that all pupils take advantage of the education that is available to them, whatever the level their parents reached

You don't achieve it by biasing your recruitment toward those you assume have less education because of their background - what motivation is that for pupils to get any qualifications? Just bunk off school, you'll go to the top of the employmment short list, ahead of the others.

Germanshepherdsmum

If it’s investment or merchant banking or fund management, they are known for recruiting the privileged so this could well be an attempt to increase diversity. I don’t know about other areas of the finance sector.

I didn’t get the impression that gender history had been asked about elegran, simply the gender the applicant identifies as.

Yes it’s investment!
He works in impact investing, it’s not full of “Hoorays”.

Elegran - monitoring is not biased.
It is just monitoring.
If you are born into privilege you tend to have a head start.

If it is included in a job application form it looks like discrimination.

I wonder if they actually check ? Tempting to invent something for the nosy so and sos.

Positive discrimination, I would suggest. There are a lot of kids who don’t get the opportunities they are worthy of because they have no quiet space to do their homework. They tend to come from poor families with little in the way of academic qualifications. If you can work your way through that you’ll be a good bet as an employee.

Just more Data gathering by Mr Google to be used by some company in the future. It’s nothing personal.

I have checked on Google and it isn’t actually illegal but the interviewer must prove that they are not asking the question in order to get information it is illegal to ask. For example trying to guess the candidates age or religion. It is seen as irrelevant and the candidate is entitled to as the relevance of why do you want to know . They need to be able to justify the question

Indeed, it’s not illegal. I know that. These companies will know exactly what they can and can’t ask. They will have a professional HR team and maybe even in-house lawyers. If a candidate gets stroppy and asks why the information on the application form has been requested they’re not very likely to get an interview are they?

There are a lot of kids who don’t get the opportunities they are worthy of because they have no quiet space to do their homework. They tend to come from poor families with little in the way of academic qualifications. If you can work your way through that you’ll be a good bet as an employee

GSM has a point. It takes considerable qualities of self discipline and resilience to prosper in spite of such disadvantages.

This was certainly true of my background. I did my homework on the kitchen table and my mother would (fearfully) urge me to put it away when my father was due home. If he saw me with a book open he would tell me to "get off my lazy backside and help my mother in the kitchen". I never forgave my parents for holding me back.

I would be much more interested in the candidate who had FSM and whose parents had little in the way of formal education but who had achieved good grades than the candidate from a professional background who received similar grades after an expensively education. The former will be a hard worker; the latter, in my interviewing experience, likely to be entitled and arrogant - one candidate of that ilk will stay in my mind for ever.