Comments on: Should You Put Age or Marital Status on Your Israeli Resume?

By: Sharing Personal Information on a CV | A Mother in Israel

Sharing Personal Information on a CV | A Mother in Israel — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 11:34:15 +0000

[...] are two links from JobMob on the topic: Israeli Salary and Labor Law Q&A and Should You Put Your Age/Marital Status on Your Israeli [...]

By: Jacob Share

Jacob Share — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 13:47:24 +0000

Catching up on comments after a short vacation... Minna, josh- glad we agree :) Aviva- what you say is true but it's important to remove all stumbling blocks so that you get the job asap. Kate- local culture and context is critical to properly writing a resume. In France, a law was being debated a few years ago that would have required resumes to be anonymous because anti-racism organizations like SOS Racisme or the Licra were consistently showing that people with ethnic-sounding names - especially Arab names like Mohammed - were being discriminated against. Igor- good point about the graduation year! All the more reason NOT to waste space by spelling it out if the information is going to be there anyway. Interesting suggestion, definitely worth testing, but I don't think it will be popular.

By: Igor

Igor — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 09:17:49 +0000

Actually, if the company wants to know your age, there are a lot of ways to get it to know.
For example, the year of your graduation tells a lot!
If you don’t want to show your age, an emloyer can think that you want to hide it, because you have a problem with it!

Since we are not in the US, I would’t recommend to hide it, but just change the order of records in your CV. I mean, put all your personal data including your age at the end of CV and put your professional skills and work experience at the begining. This way, you have a good chance that your potentional employer will be under impression of your skills and experince before he reachs the final record of your CV.

By: Kate

Kate — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 13:28:21 +0000

Where I am from in Canada, no one would imagine putting information like their age or marital status on a resume. When I moved to Germany, where it was/is a normal practice (along with including a photograph”) I was shocked. And really, it is a practice that just encourages discrimination and I wondered how it got started.

Then, I saw a US Military resume that has very different conventions and includes what I would consider personal information for security reasons. I think, when the Marshall plan was implemented in Germany the US Army was one of the largest employers and the “security check” resume became standard for everyone.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the practice in Israel came about because of a) military standards and expectations that almost everyone knows, and b) for security clearance reasons.

I do hope things are changing. After all, in Europe, I hear it was also common practise to list your religion and your parents’ professions on a resume!

By: Aviva

Aviva — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:57:33 +0000

I thought age was a no-no but they can expect martial status and children.

Mine really would confuse a prospective employee as my daughter is 13 – and I am 65.

Truth is I got my present job without an questions regarding my age – I was 63 at the time and turned out I am older than the boss.

If the job is for you – you will get the job.

By: josh

josh — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:34:25 +0000

Unless you are single and young (which I assume many companies like), I would leave marital status and birthdate out, as well things at that also might otherwise take up valuable lines on a single page cv, like teudat zehut number.

By: Minna Felig

Minna Felig — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:11:11 +0000

Generally, I would recommend not putting age and marital status on a resume unless you really believe it can help you. Many working mothers will put it there so as not to waste their time with employers who wouldn’t consider flexible hours for mothers. Other than that, however, it will only hurt you. I’d save your own screening of the employer for the one on one interview.