Filling out a job application nowadays requires you to make an important decision: to choose to select your ethnicity/race, or select that you would rather not provide that information. Many applicants think that their selected race will be considered in the decision making process of their acceptance and fear this information provides a bias for or against them.
This is not the case, however, because the Human Resources department of the company uses the race/ethnicity question solely for demographic information. In fact if the company did use that information to their advantage they could be sued. Racial discrimination is illegal in the workplace when being hired, and if companies are found out to be discriminating against a certain race, they can be brought to court.
But can the person viewing the application see your answer? Yes. Personal bias can be tricky and is harder to detect than when a whole company or department is biased. So what if that person is racially inclined towards or against your specific race? There’s not much you can do, except hope you checked off the “I don’t wish to provide this information” box.
