Agent demanding DOB before submission to client

[No2politics]

I have heard of some end clients using DOB as a unique identifier eg we have 200 John Smith's on our ATS we need to know which one.

It's very rare and as others have advised, provide a random one.

Surely mobile phone number would be a better choice- as that should be provided, and it's actually unique

[SueEllen]

Surely mobile phone number would be a better choice- as that should be provided, and it's actually unique

It's an agent - say no more.

[benten]

He wasn't Indian was he?

Yes very much so..

[northernladuk]

Yes very much so..

[DirtyDog]

Surely mobile phone number would be a better choice- as that should be provided, and it's actually unique

Or NI number, which isn't going to change, but people are more reluctant to dish out.

[CoolCat]

Or NI number, which isn't going to change, but people are more reluctant to dish out.

yes some employers do that. but its a mistake... as national insurance numbers are not all unique, due to various bugs and system screw ups over the years many people have the same NI as someone else. you need other info to work out which individual with that NI it is.

[CheeseSlice]

yes some employers do that. but its a mistake... as national insurance numbers are not all unique, due to various bugs and system screw ups over the years many people have the same NI as someone else. you need other info to work out which individual with that NI it is.

really?? So the government agencies that use NI have 'fixed' their systems to cope with the multiple taxpayers that have the same NI number?

[SueEllen]

really?? So the government agencies that use NI have 'fixed' their systems to cope with the multiple taxpayers that have the same NI number?

Yep.

[evilagent]

yes some employers do that. but its a mistake... as national insurance numbers are not all unique, due to various bugs and system screw ups over the years many people have the same NI as someone else. you need other info to work out which individual with that NI it is.

Why not go the whole hog and use postcode + house number + initials?
Or make credit card numbers the same as their birthdays?

ALL Employee number / identifiers should be arbitrary or incremental numbers, so you don't have linkage of the persons work ID to their true identity.

Linking NI numbers to IDs just makes identity theft easier should any random piece of information become compromised.

[evilagent]

With regards to DoB, tell the agent that there are laws regarding the discrimination on the basis of age.

If they really want your DoB, ask them to request it formally, using a company email, so you can have an audit trail of their request, and to pass it on to the relevant Govt Dept for their opinion.

If you have 10 years experience, and went to university, you must be about early thirties anyway.
It would be funny if your CV was chronological, and they still asked!