According to research into human resources departments, commissioned by recruitment agency Unique, job applicants are regularly discriminated against, with age and ethnicity being the most common forms.

Discrimination in the employment process

The most common types of discrimination those looking to work in the Netherlands face are age and ethnicity. To be precise, four out of 10 respondents in the study had occasionally refused an invitation for an interview to a candidate because the candidate was deemed too old.

When it comes to ethnic discrimination, more than one in 10 of the 620 HR managers involved in the study said they had denied an applicant an interview on the basis of a foreign-sounding name. Factors such as an applicant’s place of residence, photo on their CV and sex also influenced the candidate’s chances of an interview.

Tackling Dutch labour market discrimination

During this past week, Unique consultants went about their tasks using only anonymous CVs as part of the “Week of the anonymous CV”, organised for the second time by the employment agency. By doing so, the agency hopes to draw attention to discrimination based on a person’s particulars.

It is not possible to say whether or not anonymous CVs are the solution to the discrimination on the Dutch labour market; the opinions of those involved in the study are divided.