Age vs Experience - Age Discrimination?

[Deleted User]

Just how would you have felt on that 'young person's' wage?

Perhaps, just perhaps they knew they could only pay 12k and actually didn't want to insult OR waste your time

Nothing worse then starting somewhere and then realising you need to leave because actually you just won't survive on the money or you are years different completely from everybody else and therefore don't quite fit in.

The_ICT_Engineer

Nowadays about 80% of applications now go through 'Application tracking software' before it even reaches a human. Only the applications that meet the requirements set, will be seen by human eyes. Only the Recruiter will know what is set. If the e-mail address has either 'aplitrak.com' or ' applythis.net' at the end, this means it will be processed by application tracking software. Recruiters are not allowed screen by age, but some do using this software.

sams247

It is awful that so many people face the same issue. I wont take this further but neither would I work for a company that seemed to be judging this way. It might be that I was over qualified, but then it also seems to be that people at my age have to take jobs they are over qualified for in order to get work.

I was told at one interview I went for that I was probably not up to the physical part of the work, when I asked what they meant they said it was only an opinion and couldnt elaborate. Didnt get that job but can only put that down to an age assumption.

Someone advised me to add this to my CV - they said it worked for them and even if its not true its worth a go "I am now at the stage of life where I dont need to work just to pay bills so am applying for this job as its something I would enjoy" She said it got over the over qualifed concern. We shall see. Not too hopeful.

bumpercars99

There are other potential causes though. Maybe the CV benefited from being trimmed down a bit. I wouldn't dream of putting all my jobs onto my CV and I'm 30 let alone if I had another 20 years experience. It doesn't sound like the CV was particularly tailored to the role.

If you've ever screened a large number of CVs, you'd know that often less is more. I can easily believe that the CV looked more appealing with some of the older and less relevant content stripped.

If also say that it's hard to be consistent considering how little time you have on each one. I can believe I could put an identical CV into the reject pile one day and into the accept pile the next.

Serendipitious

sams247 wrote: »

I recently applied to a job I am well qualified for, have all the experience they need, have all the qualifications and I got an immediate rejection email saying I was not suitable. I felt my age was against me as most of their employees seem to be young, so I reapplied and adjusted my qualification dates to make it looks as if I was 30 years younger, but had to cut out all my experience over the years as this would have told them how old I was. I got an immediate interview date.

This is beyond crazy. How can it be that without all the experience I am worth an interview, but with it I am not? Shouldnt my work life count more than my lived life? Isnt this purely discrimination about my age?

I wont go to the interview as obviously once they see I am not young and experienced I wont get the job!

I'd go to the interview. Presumably it's a job you were interested in otherwise you wouldn't have applied for it to begin with.

If these were my applications I'd be curious to see what actually happened at interview.

sparkermarketing

There could be a whole load of different factors at play here, not just discrimination:

- It could be different people reviewing the different job applications.
- It could be the same person reviewing hundreds of applications and therefore skim reading and making snap judgements.
- By adjusting your qualification dates you have effectively changed your qualifications. Not sure what the job area is, but say it is computing as an example. A qualification in computing earned in 1995 will be significantly different to a qualification earned in 2015. They may want someone with more up to date qualifications, not just someone with experience. By changing the date of your qualification you are potentially changing what you are qualified to do in their eyes.
- If you have a lengthy CV with dozens of jobs and multiple pages, it is going to get rejected immediately regardless of the quality of your experience. By cutting out 30 years of work experience you have probably reduced your CV by about 4 pages and 4000 words and actually made it get read by someone.

sparkermarketing

Serendipitious wrote: »

I'd go to the interview. Presumably it's a job you were interested in otherwise you wouldn't have applied for it to begin with.

If these were my applications I'd be curious to see what actually happened at interview.

Considering they have lied on their application, it would be foolish to go to the interview as it might be a bit uncomfortable trying to explain the situation.

tgon

I was made redundant 6 months ago at 59. It's been hell trying to get back to the level I previously had or even some way short of that. I've come across age discrimination openly and more subtlety in interviews. My CV is well written and compelling so I've gained interviews but in person they see an 'old man'. In one interview, a young HR interviewer remarked that I was older than the building! This only came from the so-called secure diversity questionnaire which is not supposed to influence any outcome!

The perception is that as an older person I will not be a good team player or that my managerial and leadership experience is too set in my ways. It's almost impossible to counter this perception and inbuilt bias from the outset. The polite conversation around the main questions is where the interview really happens as I satisfy all the competencies but still fail at securing the job because 'someone else just pipped me at the post'. I always get feedback if it's available and many times its a hash-up of personal opinion and difficult to relate back to my application or interview. In other cases I just made up the numbers that would appease an HR auditor.

It's often said that 90% of all business decisions are made for non business reasons but my experience the last 6 months raises this figure much higher. Age discrimination is unlawful but there's sod all I can do about it...and recruiters know this. Rant over, have a good day.

Gavin83

sams247 wrote: »

I recently applied to a job I am well qualified for, have all the experience they need, have all the qualifications and I got an immediate rejection email saying I was not suitable. I felt my age was against me as most of their employees seem to be young, so I reapplied and adjusted my qualification dates to make it looks as if I was 30 years younger, but had to cut out all my experience over the years as this would have told them how old I was. I got an immediate interview date.

This is beyond crazy. How can it be that without all the experience I am worth an interview, but with it I am not? Shouldnt my work life count more than my lived life? Isnt this purely discrimination about my age?

I wont go to the interview as obviously once they see I am not young and experienced I wont get the job!

How old are you?

TELLIT01

In sams example he removed a lot of his experience as well as changing dates. It's just as likely that they thought he was over experienced for the job from the first application as it is that they thought he was too old.