Visual CVs could risk discrimination

The trend towards sending visual CVs could lead to discrimination issues, a Birmingham lawyer has warned.

Influenced by the digital age, statistics in the US show that four out of five employers are now receptive to receiving visual CVs – and the innovation is now migrating to the UK.

There is already common use of online CV submissions, which filters applicants according to key search terms. But, the digital age has led to a rise in requesting potential candidates to submit video CVs, which takes this one step further.

Videos

To date only four per cent of British candidates have adopted the CV-video format, but employers recognise that this generation is more likely to consider the technique as a way to stand out from the crowd, and are therefore responding by offering the opportunity for a modern method of selection.

Kathy Halliday, employment partner at Cobbetts, told The Birmingham Post: "Although the practice is still relatively uncommon, more and more businesses are requesting this form of job application. However, personal information, such as age, race, sex, appearance, religion and disability, should not be taken in to account when reviewing a candidate's suitability for a particular job role. As the video CV format could reveal some of this information, employers might open themselves up the risk of increased discrimination claims.

"By making themselves so visible, candidates could, if not offered the job, claim they had been treated unfairly.