Should You Include Your Age On Your CV

Should You Include Your Age On Your CV FacebookTweetLinkedInPin1EmailShare1 Here at Bubble, we come across interesting job-related queries and questions on a daily basis and while new ones crop up regularly, we can definitely say that there are a handful of FAQs that crop up more often than others. These FAQs can range from How long should my CV be? to What should I put in my cover letter? and while most are fairly simple to answer, there are a few that are a lot trickier and dont necessarily have a right or wrong answer as such. As youve probably guessed Firstly, its time to look at the facts. A decade ago, putting your date of birth or age on CV was seen as a massive no-no because there was a huge fear employers could and would discriminate you because of your age but that all changed with the introduction of the Employment Equality Regulations in 2006. In simple terms, these regulations made age discrimination illegal in the recruitment process, meaning an employer couldnt discount your application because of your age and date of birth. Hmm, so if its illegal for an employer to rule you out because of your age, surely theres no harm in sticking on your date of birth after all? Well, this is where it gets complicated. You see, in theory, youre totally right however theres still that ageism fear (from both younger and older candidates) circulating, which  means that, despite the regulations I mentioned earlier, sticking your age on your CV is still seen as one of the biggest CV blunders in 2014 (seriously, Google should I include my age on my CV? if you dont believe me!).   I suppose it all comes down to the fact that despite it being illegal for employers to do it, theres still a fear that theyll rule out an applicant for being too young or old for the role. And the biggest problem? Itd be incredibly hard to prove it if they did So whats the answer? Well, like I said earlier, there isnt really a one size fits all answer and it all comes down to what you think is the right solution. Here at Bubble, we dont necessarily feel that putting your age or clues to your age (eg. the dates you went to school/college/uni) on your CV is a bad thing for a couple of reasons. Firstly, listing your age on your CV can demonstrate how much youve achieved over a certain period of time and how ambitious and motivated you are two attributes almost every employer is looking for. Similarly, giving a clue to your age on your CV can also help to demonstrate how much knowledge and experience you have for the role in question eg I have 10 years of experience in marketing and might just convince the employer to give you a chance. On the other hand, we can totally understand why a candidate would choose to leave their age off their CV, however what we would say is that if you do choose to go down this path, you need to keep a couple of things in mind. Like I said earlier, giving the dates you went to school, college and university is the biggest clue you can give to an employer as to how old you are, while adding the year you won awards in eg. Under 16s Youth Tennis Champion 2001 will also help to give employers some idea of how old/young you are. Similarly, dont forget that employers and recruiters can and do use social media networks to suss out candidates so you may want to think about making your date of birth and any age clues on there private too. At the end of the day, when it comes to your age and CV, there are lots of pros and cons to including it and hiding it and it really does all come down to personal preference and whatever you feel works best for you. As ever, were keen to hear your thoughts. Have you experienced success or failure