It's discriminatory to ask for the DOB and illegal in the US.

r'ejection just got ten times easier!' - and faster!

ace,
you know OMA is dutch, right?

I still haven't applied. I'm waiting for my portfolio to age like a fine wine.

'It's discriminatory to ask for the DOB and illegal in the US.'

Well, it's common practice in Europe... And [gasp] we often attach a small portrait to our CV's as well!

Imagine the horror if somebody did that in North America.

well this one does away with the letters of recommendations which I found kind of ridiculous
ok, so I applied and received a confirmation number with today's date followed by a number. presumably, I am the nth person to have applied today.

I can understand the practice of asking for birth date or more personal information. It could be necessary to gauge how well a potential employee would fit in with the office culture, or which room within the office might be the best fit.

no, that's what the picture is for.

"That right there looks like it'll fall CLEAN off! You sure you're using the right kind of drywall???"

A redneck "aspiring architect" who was visiting the school I went to and looking at my model that had a cantilever element on it in which he proceded to "lecture" me on. He was a contractor of some kind before decding to try to pursue an architecture career.

He didn't get in.

in addition to using 'date of birth' & photos with job applications, some european countries (most notably norway) also publish the tax returns of private individuals. not everything is so much better in euroland just yet.

oh, and OMA has probably been "corporate" since about the time they chose their acronym name.

well i have my rejection letter in e-mail form from 2 weeks ago;

fun fun fun.

In Europe there is this notion that younger means better, especially in the architecture industrie. That is why DOB is so important to employers. You have more chance of getting hired when you´re 28 and 5 years experience for the same position than a 34 yrear old with 5 years experience. I

Well, that's the same experience (arguably) but with lower salary expectations.

Plus there's a greater chance that things like husband/wife/children won't get in the way of poly foam model building.

Maybe OMA is on to something?

what is head of PR/BD?

in asia, head of PR means the pimps in the night club^^

I assume OMA's New York office falls under US labor laws.

Evan, it's exactly what you said. You should not judge whether a person will fit in by his age. Look at all the possibilities:

Female, 35 - probably will have a kid in the next 4 years - out!
Candidate, 45 - if he's applying for this job he must be a loser - out!
Candidate, 39, 5 yrs experience - guess this guy had an early midlife crisis and switched to architecture, no talent potential - out!
Candidate, 50 - he's not going to work late hours - out!

People should be selected based on their individual merits, potential, experience.

You can also find line in many European architecture ads that say: canidate must be between 25 and 30 years old and 5 years experience".

everybody's a critic.

Plenty of architecture firms stateside practice the same kind of DOB, gender, and even "prettiness" discrimination... the evaluation is just unspoken and carried out during the interview rather than the resume submittal. Don't kid yourselves.

age and photo are also standard operating procedure here in japan. lots of companies of a 35 maximum age for recruits. to get into such offices as older person i guess the ideal is to be introduced. the ideas is if you are good enough to catch the attention of someone important then you deserve to be there....etc.

oma went corporate when they went bankrupt and had to be restructured. it was a conscious decision. also a smart decision. offices cannot be big and run ad-hoc.