Understanding Your Rights as a Job Applicant

• Author: Randy Freking
• Profession: Labor employment lawyer
• Pages: 21-27

21

CHAPTER

4

Understanding Your Rights

as a Job Applicant

When you are a job applicant, the antidiscrimination laws passed by Congress and your state legislature

generally apply. In addition to protecting you from unlawful biases while you are employed or if you are

fired or laid off, these laws are applicable during the hiring process.

A prospective employer who is subject to these laws cannot discriminate against you on the basis of

race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, or other protected characteristics. For this reason, employ-

ers are not supposed to ask questions during the prehire process that would reveal any of your protected

statuses. Obviously, your name will likely reveal your gender, but that is an exception.

The most common form of discrimination that occurs during the hiring process is likely age discrimi-

nation. For this reason, it is generally advisable not to include information on a résumé that would enable

an employer to guess your age. If you list college graduation dates or employment dates 20 or more years

ago on your résumé, for example, it is fairly obvious that you are at least 40 years old.

What Should and Shouldn’t I Put on My Résumé?

Résumés or curriculum vitae are often critical when seeking a job that does not require completion of an

application form.

Résumés must be carefully drafted. They should be designed to attract the recipient’s interest by fo-

cusing on your career goals and your relevant accomplishments.