Job Application Form: State your sexuality. Me: Why does that even matter?

[Fairly Chaotic]

To put it into some sort or statistic and to get some sort of recognition that they are hiring LGBT workers?

In a word, yes. EA has been doing this for a while. To the common person this is pointless. However, having the numbers on paper can make a company seem hip, cool, PC, with the times and progressive. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if a tax break was somehow involved.

 

[Something Amyss]

I like John Barrowman. I think he is great, fun and so energetic. Love him in Arrows and Torchwood.

It's just a running gag I do, based on this series of jokes from Dave Tennant.


I think someone actually has a "BARROWMAAAAN!" gif as their avatar around here. Which is awesome.

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

All I know is that in the US, that question could get a company in deep doodoo. Seriously, UK? I thought they were supposed to be all proper and intellectually advanced compared to the US.

 

[lechat]

Asexual people don't exist, then? Weren't there even 'other' category?

Do people even need to know if someone is asexual?

I guess it's as important for HR to write down as the other stuff, but is there something important an office job has to accommodate for an asexual?

yeah for starters my boss can stop flashing her tits whenever she gets a bit randy.

pretty sure this question is illegal in australia but considering the average guy at my work is more likely to use the word ****** than thank you in a conversation i would be hesitant to answer if i was gay.

 

[likalaruku]

What would you call an asexual voyeur woman who only gets turned on strictly by cartoon gay boys? Or a bisexual man who can only get it up for extremely humanoid Furry art? Does the interview end at that point? I want to see George Takei post that question on Twitter.

 

[Boris Goodenough]

Not really. They tend to get paid more to do gay porn. A lot more, from my understanding.

Seems the documentary I watched some 1½ decades ago might not have been correct then.

 

[Rath709]

I'd be tempted to write in "Other: Eunuch" then turn up to the interview with a huge distended bulge of some sort within my trousers, just to confuse the hell out of them.

 

[Flames66]

There's a simple way to solve this. Write none of your business.

 

[Coppernerves]

The majority of bosses I've ever encountered have been of the fairly conservative variety and I could easily see people reading the bisexual option as "oh well I guess they just fuck everybody" and move on down the list.

But surely that's evidence of being an Adaptable, Assertive, Can-Do Go-Getter Who Is Keen To Please, no?

 

[jademunky]

The majority of bosses I've ever encountered have been of the fairly conservative variety and I could easily see people reading the bisexual option as "oh well I guess they just fuck everybody" and move on down the list.

But surely that's evidence of being an Adaptable, Assertive, Can-Do Go-Getter Who Is Keen To Please, no?

Or it could be interpreted as evidence of the applicant being an office troublemaker who stirs up all that drama, gets people gossiping behind one-another's backs and generally causes lowered productivity.

 

[Ishigami]

What do you think and have you seen this elsewhere before?

No... I?m pretty sure that this question is illegal in my country.
It would conflict with laws against discrimination.

I can think only of one exception: Religious institutions.
They have special rights when it comes to such things. Basically they are allowed to judge you on their own moral standard. We had several cases here that people got fired from their jobs at such an institution because they simply changed their confession.
It was ruled that changing your confession can be taken as a sign of lack of loyalty and that they are indeed allowed to fire you because of it.
In a very recent case a kindergarten operated by the Catholic Church fired a guardian after they found out that she is doing porn in her free time. Again it was ruled that this is okay for religious institution to do so as the guardian?s hobby conflict with their moral standard.
I kind of doubt that a church organization would outright ask an applicant about his/her sexuality but I would not be surprised that they could fire him after learning that he/she is gay.

And yes I think it?s stupid and these special rights should go away? but what can you do as most people here seem to be conservative?

 

[Kerethos]

Daaaaaaaaaaaaamn its hot like Cleopatra in Egypt.

Yes, it is. And I hate the heat.

What do you think and have you seen this elsewhere before?

I think asking this is illegal in my country, and as such in violation of discrimination laws (even for religious organisations). So I've never seen it. I would however answer it with something I found amusing at the time.

For example:
State your ethnicity: Panda bear
State your sexual orientation: Dat ass!

Rather than just leave it blank. And if the person looking through applications catches it (and has a sense of humor), I think it'd increase chances of getting called for an interview.

 

[sneakypenguin]

From the EEOC site "Employers may legitimately need information about their employees or applicants race for affirmative action purposes"


EDIT: ugh the eeoc has some goofy standards, putting a hiring block on criminals is racial discrimination who knew. Also you shouldn't rely on word of mouth recruiting.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

I will go out on a limb and say that was part of the entirely optional "Diversity monitoring" section or whatever they call it, that goes at the back. It's never seen by anyone who'll have anything to do with interviewing or hiring you, you can write "suck my dick, you bunch of cunts" in every space and it will have no bearing on your chances of employment whatsoever and at least at my work it's tagged to you by a number, no one who sees the info will ever know your name or anything else about you.

Also, every one of those I've come across has "prefer not to say" as an option for everything, ethnicity, marital status, religion, disability, sexuality, you name it, it's all optional, you can fill it in if you want, it'll help with their figures, but you can leave it blank too.

 

[TallanKhan]

Why does a job that involve stocktaking need to know this? To put it into some sort or statistic and to get some sort of recognition that they are hiring LGBT workers?

The rationale has little to do with the job and everything to do with the organisation you are applying to. There is so much legislation and guidelines around equality and diversity now that the onus is now on companies to prove that they treat people the same regardless of any protected characteristic (sex, race, sexual orientation, disability etc.). While many employers only collect this information for staff in post, increasingly hiring patterns are being considered a more important indicator of whether an organisation is really an "equal opportunities employer", something which is becoming increasingly important if you want to receive industry accreditations or bid for government contracts.

The inherent problem with this, obviously, is that hiring patterns alone can be hugely misleading. To take a simple example, imagine a nursing job in the NHS. Odds are the majority, if not all, of your applicants are going to be female. Now from an outside perspective, without context, if a hospital has recruited 15 times in the last year and each time has appointed a female member of staff, this could be read as an indicator of exclusionary hiring practices. It is therefore necessary for the employer to know the demographic information for all of the people who applied, not just the successful applicants.

What do you think and have you seen this elsewhere before?

In terms of what I think, to be honest, it makes me deeply uncomfortable. I think Equality and Diversity standards are a deeply flawed concept and that a truly equal society is one where we shouldn't need to ask these questions as such things should not be a consideration when making appointments. True equality is about people being paid according to their skill and ability without consideration for any characteristic, and people having the opportunity to work in whatever field they like, rather than trying to push people into roles to make workforces reflect a demographic norm.

And yes I have seen this before. The organisation I work for collects this data as part of our recruitment process.

 

[loa]

You think that's bad, some job application forms just outright go "Link your facebook account now =DDD" and I'm like "Nope. Bye".

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Maybe they're checking out if you're comfortable with your sexuality?

 

[cikame]

"Check us out, we're an equal opportunities employer", i figure it's that.

One i noticed recently was on a registration form for a petrol station points card, "Dietary requirements for any household members?"

Yeah, relevant.