Finding a job is a difficult process at any age. It always seems that we are missing something: education, knowledge of another foreign language, experience, creativity… And yet, it is most difficult for people over 50 years old. Or not? We share their opinion on this matter.
German Klimenko, founder of the well-known Internet portal LiveInternet and news aggregator MediaMetrics, to Facebook users with the question: “Colleagues by age. Yes, those over 50. Do you feel like you’re being turned down for a job because of your age? If so, how? Are they talking face to face? Think of other reasons?
And he collected more than 300 comments from people who were and are on different sides of the barricades: those who are looking for work, and those who are hiring.
Although several users noted that they easily found interesting work at 55-60 years old, the majority recognized that age is a problem. Moreover, concerning people not of retirement age. So, one 40-year-old woman conducted a kind of experiment: she changed her date of birth to 10 years, and she was inundated with offers.
Unfortunately (or fortunately), applicants were most often not told the true reason for the refusal: instead, the hiring party either “dissolved into thin air” or came up with excuses.
What did Facebook users say in the comments of Herman Klymenko’s post?
“I talked many times with colleagues by age, I also talked with those who refuse. Nobody speaks directly, but in a personal conversation they say that they refused because of their age, ”shared one of the commentators.
Some hr-specialists covered themselves with the fact that the applicant allegedly lacked the necessary knowledge: “I’m 40. And they often refuse under the pretext that I don’t know modern technologies.”
But most often, the discrepancy between the age of the candidate and the age of potential employees became a weighty argument.
According to one of the users, her friend was an ideal candidate for a vacant position in the company, but as soon as it became known that she was of retirement age, the answer followed: “It will be uncomfortable for young people with her.” And there are many such stories.
Apparently, such a refusal to the hiring party seems more polite and … not discriminatory, since now they began to warn about the age of the team in advance: “Often in the job description they write: a young team. Like, well, you understand, we have a young team, so…. Something like this!”
But there are those who, at their own peril and risk (after all, in Russia, refusal due to age is illegal) directly talk about the reasons for their decision.
So, one man was told that “experience is cool, but 50 years old is not very good,” and another that he “can hardly work well with a 30-year-old leader.”
Interestingly, many job seekers suggested that it is HR specialists who make it difficult to find a job in adulthood: “If HR is involved in hiring, then there are no options at all. If personally the leader, options are possible.
I would like to believe that this is so, but in the comments, almost all managers admitted that they do not even consider resumes from people over 45 years old. One commenter noted, “I own an IT recruiting company. Sometimes age limits are up to 25 years old, more often – up to 35. Old farts are not wanted anywhere.