ShareThisDear Mr. Walberg:I lost my job in the last two months and I am running into difficulties when applying for on-line job postings. The following are some of the questions I am being asked by companies posting jobs on the Internet:- What is your age?- What is your Social Security number?- What is your driver's license number?- What year did you graduate high school?From what I have read, and heard from others, these are illegal questions. I have contacted my Congressman only to receive a form letter acknowledgement. I have contacted my EEOC office that referred me to my state's Commission on Human Relations, but have not received a reply. What else can be done to help get rid of this illegal discrimination. I need to get on with my life and get back into the workplace? -- E-mail from D.M., Baltimore, Md.Dear D.M.:I applaud your efforts and share in your disgust of discrimination of any kind in our workplace. Keep doing what you're doing and enlist others to write letters and make phone calls. Above all else, be persistent and patient.Keep your battles separated. It simply doesn't work to attack an employer for illegal discrimination, and then ask for a job from that same employer. Set your priorities and fight your battles separately. If job searching comes first, nothing works as well as the basics. Use the Internet for research on companies that need people with your skills, talents, and background. Get names and titles of people within those companies, write cover letters, enclose resumes, and ask for in-person interviews. In the meantime, network like crazy, with everyone you know and make it a point to add new contacts weekly. Nothing beats the basics in practically everything we do.Many companies recruit on-line to avoid endless letters and phone calls, and they can remain pretty anonymous until it's convenient for them. Do not, under any circumstances, give out information like you have listed. Write that employer off as a bad risk and move on to other more honest employers. It's easier posting your resume on-line or responding to posted openings, but if it doesn't work for you, try going back to the basics - it's harder, but it works!Marvin Walberg is a job search coach. Contact him at mwalberg(at)bellsouth.net, marvinwalberg.blogspot.com, or PO Box 43056, Birmingham, AL 35243.
Keep your battles separate during job searches
Submitted by SHNS on Thu, 07/10/2008 - 11:17
Paying taxes unites us. It also divides us. People can pay five and even six times more in state and local taxes than other folks in similar circumstances making similar incomes.
Who's got your number?
In one of the fastest-growing forms of identity theft, crooks are stealing tax refunds by swiping personal information and using it to trick the Internal Revenue Service.
