State your marital status: what you should know about it
A few years ago it was completely normal to state your marital status in your CV. In the meantime, however, the situation has changed. This article will tell you whether you still need to state your marital status.
State your marital status in your CV - is that a requirement?
- Information on the marital status was never mandatory in an application. But she had become naturalized over time. Since the introduction of the General Equal Treatment Act, the selection criteria for applicants have been severely restricted.
- Although the law does not prohibit employers from asking about marital status, applicants should only be selected on the basis of training, qualifications and skills. Therefore, the marital status is only a voluntary statement.
- In addition, there is no longer any obligation to provide the application or CV with a photo. This is to prevent the appearance or origin of the applicant from being used as a selection criterion.
Voluntary marital status: the options
It is up to you whether you indicate your family situation on your CV. Please note, however, that the information about your tax class at the employer will reveal your marital status at the latest. Marital status can then give the employer a certain picture:
- Single: They are flexible and therefore not tied to a fixed location, and they also make you mobile in the eyes of the employer. On the other hand, the indication can signal that you lack reliability, for example.
- Single with child: it suggests that your flexibility is very limited.
- Married (without a child): This marital status shows that you have both feet in life. You are also tied to one location and can therefore work with a company in the long term. The childless rather may be able to conclude that the desire to have children occurs in the foreseeable future. For the company, this means a longer break from the freshly recruited workforce and, of course, upcoming costs.
- Married (with children): If you are married and have one or more children, this can lead to limited flexibility. Because you want to take care of your children, they may be less willing to work overtime. On top of that, you can't be sent on long business trips.
- The general rule is that with almost no employer, marital status will be an exclusion criterion. If you are unsure about how your employer views the information, you should speak to him about it in the interview and, for example, underline your flexibility.
Does a regular application folder also include a cover sheet? You can find out more in our next article.