Unusual application form

[donquixotedelamancha]

Would appreciate some thoughts from anyone with HR expertise. I'm filling in a teaching application form which is strangely amateurish/chatty in tone. Two uncommon questions stand out:

-Age.
-Reasons for leaving past jobs.

Is this normal in other professions?

Thank you- hadn't realised. (It's been some time since I applied for a job!)

What difference does asking age do? My job history goes back to 1979 , I did my olevels in 79. Its pretty obvious I am in my mid 50s.

Depends on the job how much of your history is relevant. I work in the NHS, the standard application form just asks for relevant experience and qualifications so I just start with my professional qualification onwards.

Candlelights. My previous experience before doing a degree wasn’t relevant to the jobs I was applying for. Plus with a degree and professional post grad quals, my O levels were unimportant.

Thanks to all for the replies, you've confirmed my thoughts.

OP are you sure you want to work somewhere that is so unaware of employment legislation??

This is my concern. The form is just a bit odd, in a number of ways, though it would be potentially outing to say how. Most teaching applications ask the exact same questions, this one misses some things that are important and asks unnecessary things.

Further communication makes them seem to have very, very unrealistic expectations about how they are organising the interview. It's a promotion, but honestly I'm a bit put off.

Trust your instincts on this. I’ve ignore before and had a couple of nightmare jobs that I should have swerved.

The key think with age is that it should have no place in the interview process. You are being assessed for the skills, experience and qualifications you bring to the organisation not the year you were born. Sometimes they may ask for age in large time spans such as decades eg 20 - 29, 30 - 39 etc. It should be elective ie they should give the candidate the option " I'd rather not say.

The vetting security process should be carried out by a different team, not the recruiters, to mitigate against discrimination due to age.

Bear in mind, some companies are behind the times and use old forms and processes, which don't reflect the Equality Act. Anything you believe leaves you vulnerable to discrimination, leave it blank or write "rather nor say" next to the question.

I agree with dun1s comment that an organisation that is so clearly behind the times might not be the best to work for.