Why does nobody talk about how job apps ask for your location before even seeing your resume

I was applying for a dispatch role in Denver last week and every single site wanted my zip code before I could upload anything. A buddy in the department told me some employers use that to filter out people who don't live within 20 miles. So I put in a random zip code near the station and got three callbacks, but when I used my real one from across town, nothing. It feels like the algorithm is screening us based on where we sleep instead of what we can do. Has anyone else tried testing this with their own applications?

3 comments

3 Comments

jennifer8331mo ago

That's not across town, that's still local. Try a truly far zip code.

elliot_gibson271mo ago

Did you see that study where a fake white name got way more callbacks than a real black name with the same resume?

henryp401mo ago

Yeah but come on, how old is that study now? Like a decade or more? I feel like people bring that one up all the time but the world has changed a lot since then. Most companies use software to filter resumes before a human even sees them, so names probably don't matter as much in that first round. And even if there's some bias left, I gotta wonder if it's as bad as people make it out to be or if we're just looking for problems where they aren't that big anymore. Did you actually see the full data or just the headline?