Age Bias in Hiring

Being middle-aged, I am coming across young 20-something recruiters who simply refuse to submit me forward to contract positions at the temp agencies I have joined -- I think, because I'm middle-aged. And before you accuse me of being paranoid, read this article in the NYT about how real "age bias in hiring" is.

Just yesterday, I was chatting with my cousin's daughter who is a recruiter, sharing my frustration about why recruiters won't push me forward for jobs I'm fully qualified for, and cite "your experience is TOO OLD. Our clients need more up to date experience." She immediately responded, "Oh, yeah, that sounds like age bias to me." She's in her late 20s too.

This is SO FRUSTRATING! I'm 48 and I can't even get a 1-year experience receptionist job! Yet the recruiters will urge me to take really ****** contract work that pays low and is always the temp to hire, which I won't do b/c no one can pay rent on $13-$15/hr. And that is my situation. Yes, I need to work. But no, I'm not going to desperately accept the WRONG type of work, because that sets me up in a cycle I won't be able to get out of (been there, done that already).

^^^This! This is exactly what I've been experiencing. I can't tell you how many 20-something recruiters mismanage my expectations with them, for finding me a job, by telling me "your resume looks great you have a lot of experience," to "we'll reformat your resume to make sure the client sees your experience," Yet these same recruiters won't even submit me for relevant admin/receptionist roles.

That one phone interview i had last week would have paid me $42K a year for an admin role where all I do is schedule travel and meetings for 5 execs who I'd never see in person b/c they always travel. Well, if my choice is between that job and no job, I'll take that job. But the recruiter has not called me back yet (I know it's only Monday) so I can just assume she passed on me as a candidate after the phone interview....probably because I'm too old and a woman.

Guess this is not a popular discussion topic. Seriously, there's no middle aged PC members who feel like they've been age-biased with job searching, or with their jobs they have?

I'm not sure if I've been through it personally, but I definitely agree it exists. I am about your age. The last time I was job hunting was about 3 years ago. It took me 6 months to get an offer and I had to start off as freelance before getting a real contract and benefits. I got few calls for interviews. I am fortunatel I look young for my age, but in this country you are supposed to include your birth date on your resume. People say for women, 45 is when it seems to kick in here. So, maybe in some cases I didn't get called in for an interview due to age.



It is scary when you consider that at this age we need to be saving as much as possible for retirement. And, now, many governments want to raise the retirement age or have already it. Who is going to want to hire someone at 65, 67? As the article said many people never find a stable job after being laid off in their 50s.

I have a friend who is quite a bit older than me. She was laid off in the financial crisis in the US in 2009. She was 60, but a "young" 60 I guess you could say. She was in good health, energetic and a hard worker. She had planned to put off retirement to 67 or 68 to improve her Social Security benefits and increase her savings. However, she never was able to find another job. She took unemployment benefits for as long as she could and she had some severance pay to live on. Fortunately, at that time the time to receive unemployment benefits had been extended due to the recession. Once those and the severance ran out, she had to go on Social Security much earlier than she had planned, with a lower benefit.

Agisim is very real. And it makes no sense. I think some of it has to do with being able to pay a 20 year old less than someone with experience.

Sarahsweets - yeah, I wonder if that is what is going on at my workplace. When I started the department was people in their 30s and 40s with decent work experience. Now, my boss hires solely young women recently out of school with no experience; when the job description asks for previous editorial or research experience. I wonder if it's because they can pay them less. I know at least two live with their parents still, so they don't have the expenses those of us living independently do.

Sadly, it has really made the environment in the department go downhill. They have no clue how to act professionally; It feels like junior high. And, worse, since they kiss the boss's butt, she gives them extra responsibilities that they are not qualified to take on. Several co-workers that have been in the department longer have expressed this opinion. It's not just me. They are also the ones that have been caught doing things to artificially boost their stats - and one is doing it now; she just hasn't been found out yet.

I've never experienced this as a candidate for employment. In fact, usually the comment is the opposite - that my wealth of experience is advantageous. I have always gotten hired (the last job I had I got at age 51). As a hiring manager, this is not something that has come into play. In fact, if ageism could be said to exist you could say I have had a bias against young people. I just don't feel they have the work ethic a more mature person has. Neither do they have the life experience. I have hired young people but I admit that given the choice between an experienced and motivated old person and the younger inexperienced candidate I will gravitate to the older.

That is not to say ageism doesn't exist however. It could be the sort of jobs you are applying for. I imagine the tech industry would probably tend to have this happen more frequently. Facebook meanwhile is in the news right now as some firms and recruiters are using the platform to target younger subscribers. In Canada legal action is actually being pursued.

There are things I think you can do. On your resume I would draw attention to that wealth of experience you have as an advantage. You could point then to your ability to learn and Master skills. You could also point to training or experiences you have had in your career that suggests you keep your skill and knowledge level current. Point out your maturity level and that you are strongly motivated with highly developed interpersonal skills for example. A very important characteristic worth mentioning too is that you possess a strong work ethic. Do what you can then to point out your maturity and experience are an advantage.

Get yourself and your resume seen. I suggest Linked-in and Indeed as very good sites to put up your resume and profile. My boyfriend is a still employed senior citizen at age 66 and is constantly getting job offers and invitations to interview after recruiters and would be employers see his profile on Linked-In.

So the recruiter sent me a rejection email today (no surprise as my "gut" alarm was blaring that she would per her coldness with me during our phone interview).

She wrote:

I read recently that most digital marketing companies hire 20 and 30-somethings and since I'm nearly 50, I definitely don't fit those demographics. Plus, the way the recruiter described the office fun as "Whiskey Fridays" screamed misogyny to me which is so icky. I can't imagine standing around while a bunch of assholes with ironic beards and Warby Parker designer eyeglasses for men drink whiskey and wax on how ironic life is. I MEAN WHAT THE HELL PEOPLE!

I keep changing my LInkedIn "about me" summary b/c my cousin's daughter told me that recruiters don't read that section but that can't be true. I also filled in my job's summaries on my LinkedIn too. I feel like getting a job is about networking more than it is being qualified.

That's what articles also say about when ageism kicks in with ALL companies -- some types more than others -- for women its their 40s. You see it even in Hollywood with actresses complaining that parts are only written for younger women.

When will society as a whole, stop the misogynistic patriarchy that runs it? That's the whole problem: men run the world, not women, despite our best efforts to we always get squashed by little "men boys."

Just today, I read in my local newspaper that a county office fired 24 county workers so that they wouldn't have to pay their severance or Cobra health insurance benefits. How sick is that? Most of those county workers fired were women, who had NO black marks on their employment record. Just were fired out of the blue without warning. One woman sued the county and got her job reinstated and a county representative -- a man -- responded with a statement representing the county, basically saying, "we disagree with the court's ruling b/c we treat our employees fairly." Yet they fired these women so they would save money, by not having to pay them severance or health insurance via Cobra. That is disgusting to me. Truly disgusting.

It IS frightening when you think about the way our government in the U.S. won't support elderly people who work. You literally can't collect social security until your 55+ so if you are in between like me, age 48, you're screwed for financial assistance unless you are a woman who is being beaten, or a single mother. But if you are a healthy, single adult woman, looking for a job, good luck getting county resources to help you. Pfft.


I think you are on to something.

Tech companies admit to actively targeting younger workers for jobs - TechRepublic

Age Discrimination: Older Applicants vs. "Young Pretty People" - Jobscan Blog

Your boss is definitely promoting ageism in the workplace based on hiring only young, inexperienced women who are clueless with no relevant job experience. That is what I"m up against in the job market for just a receptionist job. I mean, WTF!

That was one of the benefits of living with my mother as a 48 year old woman; I had a safety net while I looked for a job. Now? Safety net is gone completely. Sure, I got lucky enough to rent a guest bedroom out for the next 3 months in a nice home of a nice person.

But that is a pretty tight window for me to try to find a full-time job, knowing that these young recruiters are age discriminating against me b/c my relevant experience goes back to 1996, which I'm constantly told not to include on my resume. Well, if I don't include it, then I won't eve be noticed by prospective employers.

Well, I hire people, and I've hired younger people and older people. I'm nearly 40. What I find is a couple of things: I don't mind a candidate who is older and has lots of experience. However, OFTEN their experience is not directly in our field. And that's okay, I don't mind training someone. But on my last hire, who was over 50, who was eventually fired, that person did not want to learn our way of doing things. She thought she knew better, and would not take direction. When I interview, regardless of age, I look for someone who can follow directions and do it MY way, because you know, I'm the boss, and I know how to do this the most productive way, and I also know what's going on in a global level at this organization and how it relates to other projects. I find that often people with more experience than the job requires, regardless of age, come in with a chip on their shoulder and are unwilling to learn the procedures of this organization. And I'm happy to consider new ways of doing things, AFTER you learn and master our way and see how it actually works, and show me you can do the job. (You as in the person, not you personally, Blanche.)

Right now I'm getting resumes from people who have decades of experience but it's not in our field. And they don't tell me even in the slightest in their cover letter (if they even send one) why they want to move into this field and how any of their previous experience is translatable.

I'm not denying that bias exists. It does. But I also find that when I have hundreds of applicants to chose from, I'm not going after the one who doesn't just spell it out for me and is going to make me do the digging so I can hire them. Also, experience does time out. Systems and business processes are not the same now as they were in 1996. So if the last time you did office work was in 1996, that's a huge gap, and yes, it would concern me.

We've discussed that there are other issues with your work history, and it may be a conglomeration of things making recruiters pass you over, and yes, age may be one of them.

One tip: regardless of age, anyone who presents themselves to me eager to learn from me and get into my field, and who can respect me and my career, has a better chance. Sometimes older job applicants, if they are older than me, can actually be rude and disrespectful to me, and entitled. Not saying this is you, just saying it happens. And it could be a factor in age bias. I know you're probably always as polite and professional as can be with any recruiter. But I am curious: how do you know what age the recruiter was?

Also, it seems like the agencies are giving you feedback on how to get hired and you are declining those ideas. Wouldn't it be worth it to give these people who are actually experts in getting people jobs, give their ideas a chance and see if works? You can always change your resume back if it doesn't. Just a thought.

Blanche - it's hard work to get a job. I recently hosted a 29 year old woman who had an ace CV but took a year off to travel, and 5 months after her return home she is still doing temp work.

Ageism exists for sure - I hated the pressure to dye my greying hair for job interviews, etc - but I agree with Seesaw that the bigger drawback is your lack of previous positive experiences. I know what it's like to work your butt off doing 100's of applications and to only get one acceptance who then fired me a month in because their previous experienced employee changed his mind about leaving.

What gets me through all these disheartening challenges that life throws up is finding my own resources. That's the first thing - mental, emotional, physical stamina: it's probably the most important thing for my mood and for a prospective employer. Seems to me that good people are attracted to people who have those three types of stamina. Bad people will still discriminate, but pay more attention to the good employers.

Tell them why your life experience offers them as much as the raw energy of younger candidates. I've done physical work during my early 60's successfully, no complaints. I tell employers that I might have less energy but my skills and attentiveness are superior. About 60% of people take me up on that.

Keep ranting if you need to - we are at your back - just don't believe the rants so much that you get bogged down by them!!! This is a tough patch for you but if you keep going you will get through it and thrive.

P.S. I seem to remember that you're changing course from teaching to doing admin work. If I'm right about that, do you have any admin work experience on your resume. Is there any training for that available for mature women returners?

I detest admin BUT it does take a certain character and a framework of skills, or at least being able to talk about that framework of skills. Prioritizing, time management, communication, teamwork - yup, I hate all that but if I was going for a job doing admin then I would need to at least be seen to start a training, even an online training, about that stuff. It's perhaps unreal, but it is a common language that admin people and their bosses use to discuss their collaboration. You can differentiate yourself, but you also need to cover the bases?

Only saying that because one of your previous posts made me wonder whether you think that, compared to teaching, admin is an unskilled occupation? And yeah, teachers have organisational skills in spades, but you have to link that to your target job in specific ways. It was hard for me to do this while emotional and upset internally, because it's utterly boring! That's why I wouldn't make a good admin .

You said all this far better than I did. I think this was more what I was trying to get at but did so ungracefully.

Well I enjoy teaching but I can't teach anymore b/c I'm not employed with the substitute teaching agency anymore and private schools now won't hire teachers here unless you have a teacher license, which I don't have b/c I can't pass the teacher license exam in my state.

I don't look down on admin work at all. There's many aspects to it that I actually enjoy doing. Where did I ever imply that I viewed it as an unskilled occupation? I never said that or implied that. Do you think it is ? I mean, you wrote that you detest it, that it is boring to you, so maybe you think admin is something anyone can do but that's not true at all. It's a very analytical role, much like teaching. Lots of multitasking multiple people's lives so to speak. Many parallels between teaching and admin work actually. But no, it's not for everyone. Definitely not.

What I have against me is that the temp agencies push forward younger candidates for roles b/c their work experience is 5-7 years more current than mine.

Then, transitioning from education to admin, with education experience being more recent than admin experience.

So, my age is working against me as I try to get back into the workforce in an admin role that pays well.

I can take refresher courses in MS Office and put that on my resume, but really what I need is a temp job in an admin role to get back into the corporate world. And, I can't do that unless a temp recruiter and their 3rd party client agree that I'm the woman to do the job of receptionist or admin asst.

It's just very frustrating.

I won't deny the ageism stuff. My mom is in her early 50s and has been clinging on the "self-employed" path since her mid-30s, focusing on 'casual law stuff' and cosmetics/beauty. Although she's made several comments about wishing to bring in way more income, she has admitted her thoughts to me of no one wanting to hire a 50+year-old unless its retail or someplace like Walmart.

However, it also seems to depend on the field. One of the few fields I've seen less vulnerable to ageism have been engineering positions, and I've encountered several people who go back to school for Engineering in their 30s and 40s. But, obviously, not everyone desires to or can afford to go back to school.

Unfortunately, I think ageism exists in every field. Just today, a new recruiter from another agency I joined actually told me to take off the graduation dates from my B.A. and M.A. b/c he has clients who blatantly request 20-something temps. So, I took off my graduation dates from my resume. So annoying!

I feel bad for your mom. I hope she doesn't let it stop her from being happy.