

Ask HN: Should I fill out "Voluntary Self ID" forms? - azazo

Since I am a white male does it hurt me to fill out this information?  Should I just leave it blank, or would a company hold that against me?<p>I am also putting together a more creative resume and I was thinking of including a picture, but I remember reading that some companies cannot accept  resumes with pictures and will disqualify you.  Any thoughts?
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jeffmould
By law you are not required to fill out the information and a company can not
base its hiring decisions on the information even if it is provided. That also
means that by law the company can not hold it against you either in making a
hiring decision.

The questions are used for several purposes. First, some companies use it to
determine overall demographics of the company. This benefits them if they were
ever challenged on not promoting females or discriminating based on race,
etc... I also believe (my HR legal requirements are rusty so I could be
completely wrong here) that some states, and possibly the federal government,
require employee demographic breakdown info when hiring new employees.

As for providing a resume, I would not put a photo on the resume itself unless
asked specifically for it. Instead you may consider putting a link to your
blog or LinkedIn profile with your photo already there. While I have never
heard of a company disqualifying an applicant because of a photo on their
resume, I could understand how it could be a controversial subject. Some
companies may be afraid that by accepting photos they could open their
liability to discrimination or EEO complaints.

