Any way to hide age when applying?

[ChanelCinq]

You should also know that under federal law it is not illegal to ask an applicant their age on an application or during an interview.

http://www.shrm.org/TemplatesTools/hrqa/Pages/dateofbirth.aspx

I could not find any California statue that would supersede this.

I tried to click on the link but it costs 180 USD to join that site. It could be that laws have changed over the years.

 

[ChanelCinq]

On every application I have ever filled out has asked for my birthday. Not sure where you are getting that information.

DesertEMT666 I have not filled out an application since the late 80s or early 90s. I started working when I was 16 and all the applications asked was, "Are you over age 16?" A very small percentage of companies required that you be over age 18 and in that case they asked, "Are you over age 18?"

But that was it, and NEVER was a birth date asked on the application or in an interview. It could very well be that laws have changed since the late 80s and early 90s.

And ever since the mid 90s I have providing a resume and have not seen a job application.

 

[ChanelCinq]

My thought is that of you're so concerned about a company discriminating against you because you're older, why apply there in the first place?

If you're afraid of them discovering your age in the hiring process, what happens once you get hired? They either find out your true age, or you lie about it and live in fear that during any one of the interactions with human resources they'll find out your age and fire you for lying or otherwise start discriminating against you.

As others have posted, there's more than enough ambulance companies out there that don't really care about your age, try applying there, without trying to hide your age and see what happens

How am I to know if a company discriminates? I am applying EVERYWHERE. I truly am apply to every single company within a 45 minute drive.

I don't care if they find out my age. I just don't want that to prevent me from getting an interview.

 

[ChanelCinq]

I was over 50 when I applied for my first EMT job, and made no effort to hide the fact. Got hired by a reputable service after the first interview.

Relax.

That's what I am hoping will happen.

 

[ChanelCinq]

You realize your applying in one of the most oversaturated markets for EMTs. You maybe being passed over because there are far more qualified canidates not because of your age.

Well I have been talking to a few of my classmates. All the classmates I have stayed in contact with also have a previous Bachelors degree. I couple girls in their mid 20s already have had a few interviews. I have not yet received an interview. BUT they took NREMT 5 days before me and in San Francisco they give you your county card on the spot, the day you apply. So they are about a week ahead of me.

Now off I go to pound the pavement.

 

[NomadicMedic]

Every agency I've ever seen regularly hires people of all ages, both sexes and of any race. Could just be there are no available job because California has more EMTs than they know what to do with.

Keep applying. Somebody will hire you eventually. Working as an EMT in California is like a fast food job. They're always hiring.

 

[DrParasite]

You know it is illegal in the US to ask the age of an applicant. It is illegal to ask it in an interview and illegal for it to be asked on an application.

I could be mistaken, but almost every application I have fileld out required me to put my date of birth on it. it usually went next to my address and before my phone number, and was kept under demographics.

BTW, the SoCal market is oversaturated with paramedics. everyone is a paramedic looking for work, including the guys at the fast food places (or so I have been told). if they are that saturated with paramedics, how many open EMT jobs do you think their are? probably not discrimination, just a super sucky job market for emt job seekrs.

 

[Tigger]

It is not illegal to ask for age. It is illegal to use age to aid in discriminatory practices.

 

[bbmtnbb]

In this line of work age can be a help or a harm. If you don't take care of yourself and become 'old' then no one will want to hire you. (the old are not determined by age but by their ceasing to be young)
If you are older by age then you have more maturity and more life experience. I have always found it to be a plus in interviews not a negative. I do not hide my age and once I applied had multiple interview offers and a very good job offer. I am in the "over 40" group.
Make sure you are fit, sharp in mind and KNOW your job and you should not have a problem. If you pant when you walk across the room then you appear old but not by a date on your DL. Good Luck and have the confidence you should.
I agree that more under 21 get discriminated against than over 40-does NOT mean ALL under 21, just the ones someone deemed immature or that a company policy/politics dictated to stay away from that age group.

 

[mycrofft]

And if you get hired, you will hide your age for the remainder of your employment?

My wife did HR. She says you can challenge the question on the basis of why they want to know. However, I can't see many scenarios where that sort of start will get you a happy job.

 

[ffemt8978]

So here is a scenario....

You apply for the job but refuse to give your date of birth. The company then runs a background check based upon your name only (which isn't going to happen but let's assume it does for the purpose of the scenario).

The name-only based background check comes back with several results (because there is no way to filter it down more), some of which have disqualifying criminal records, some which don't, and some which have no records at all.

Do you really think the company is even going to bother hiring you when there is a chance you could be one of those with a disqualifying record? Why would you assume they are going to take that liability.

And remember, this is even assuming that the company bothers to run a background check based upon only your name which is highly unlikely.

 

[chaz90]

At my job, I was never asked my age during the application or interview process. I believe there was some point where I had to state that I was 18 or over, but no specific age was mentioned. After I was hired and had the formal job offer in hand, one of the division managers involved in the hiring asked how old I was out of curiosity. He mentioned that he wasn't allowed to ask during the hiring process. My guess would be that their way of avoiding all possible accusations of age related discrimination is by simply not asking age during the process. Now they had of course seen me in person during the interview, so they had a pretty good feel for my approximate age.

 

[Hunter]

Bottom line here, unless you're under 21 or over 40ish depending where you go there no reason to hide it.

 

[ChanelCinq]

In this line of work age can be a help or a harm. If you don't take care of yourself and become 'old' then no one will want to hire you. (the old are not determined by age but by their ceasing to be young)
If you are older by age then you have more maturity and more life experience. I have always found it to be a plus in interviews not a negative. I do not hide my age and once I applied had multiple interview offers and a very good job offer. I am in the "over 40" group.
Make sure you are fit, sharp in mind and KNOW your job and you should not have a problem. If you pant when you walk across the room then you appear old but not by a date on your DL. Good Luck and have the confidence you should.
I agree that more under 21 get discriminated against than over 40-does NOT mean ALL under 21, just the ones someone deemed immature or that a company policy/politics dictated to stay away from that age group.

LOL, I certainly don't pant when walking across the room. I go to the gym 5 times a week, do vinyasa yoga, mountain bike, used to practice Capoeira and other martial arts and many other physical activities. And I don't look my age at all.

It seems like they don't care because I already have one interview with it appears more to come. That's all that I cared about was that they would not call me for an interview because of my age.

 

[ChanelCinq]

And if you get hired, you will hide your age for the remainder of your employment?

My wife did HR. She says you can challenge the question on the basis of why they want to know. However, I can't see many scenarios where that sort of start will get you a happy job.

Why would I hide my age. My fear was that I would get overlooked because of my age. But that appears not to be the case.

 

[ChanelCinq]

So here is a scenario....

You apply for the job but refuse to give your date of birth. The company then runs a background check based upon your name only (which isn't going to happen but let's assume it does for the purpose of the scenario).

The name-only based background check comes back with several results (because there is no way to filter it down more), some of which have disqualifying criminal records, some which don't, and some which have no records at all.

Do you really think the company is even going to bother hiring you when there is a chance you could be one of those with a disqualifying record? Why would you assume they are going to take that liability.

And remember, this is even assuming that the company bothers to run a background check based upon only your name which is highly unlikely.

I would never refuse to provide something they ask for as that would automatically disqualify me for the position. I am trying not to make waves, not to draw unwanted attention.

 

[MrJones]

I would never refuse to provide something they ask for as that would automatically disqualify me for the position. I am trying not to make waves, not to draw unwanted attention.

"Mr. ChanelCinq, we think you will be an excellent fit here at Cabulance EMS but before we can hire you we're going to need the usernames and passwords to your social media accounts so that we can assure ourselves that there are no skeletons in your on-line closet."

It happens. What will you do?

 

[ChanelCinq]

"Mr. ChanelCinq, we think you will be an excellent fit here at Cabulance EMS but before we can hire you we're going to need the usernames and passwords to your social media accounts so that we can assure ourselves that there are no skeletons in your on-line closet."

It happens. What will you do?

Huh, wow. I would move on to the next company. I don't have anything illegal in there but they may not appreciate some of my Burning Man pics and other stuff.

By the way it is Miss ChanelCinq. Chanel Cinq is Chanel #5 in French. I don't think many guys would have a perfume as their handle.

 

[Tigger]

Why would I hide my age. My fear was that I would get overlooked because of my age. But that appears not to be the case.

I'm not sure, but it is how you titled this thread.

 

[ChanelCinq]

I'm not sure, but it is how you titled this thread.

Sorry, at first I thought it was so odd that they wanted a copy of your DL and H6 and other stuff with your age on it. I thought it was illegal to ask age. Tigger as you have stated they cannot discriminate but they can still ask for documents that have your age.

The only reason I was worried about my age in the first place is I thought it would prevent me from getting an interview. Since that does not appear to be the case I don't care if they know my age. I always liked that my first Bachelors I received 11 years after I graduated from high school. So if they did the math it would appear I was 7 years younger and being in your mid 30s is a big difference from early 40s. But I have one interview already and hopefully more to come. So They can ask for all the age related documents they need if they still give me an interview and consider me for the job.

I have filled out quite a few applications now and they DO NOT ask birthday. They ask if your are over 18 or if you are over 21. Also for high school they do not ask when you graduated. The graduation date is greyed out for high school and only listed for college. But then you have to provide an H6 and copy of your DL.