Comments on: Ageism holds employers back from hiring older workers despite skills shortage, finds AHRI research

By: Lili

Lili — Thu, 11 May 2023 16:04:20 +0000

In reply to Linda.

Rather than “how many do you employ” – how about “How many have you hired in the last year?”

My organization could potentially say that they have a decent number of “older” workers – most have been here 20+ years and are nearing retirement.

How many of the NEW employees are in that age range?

By: Linda

Linda — Mon, 08 May 2023 04:06:46 +0000

I challenge my fellow HR Managers. Do the math. How many people over 50 do you employ in your organisation, relative to the population. How many over 60? How many over 70? If your diversity stats are not representative of the population, do something proactive and educate your hiring managers. Set targets and go for it. Make sure you
celebrate your successes and inspire others. (Same applies to all the diverse groups).

By: Sharon

Sharon — Mon, 08 May 2023 03:40:12 +0000

Anyone over 50 being interviewed by recruiters in their 20s with little to no experience and / or interviewed by managers in their 30s and 40s who cannot see themselves having older perhaps more experienced staff reporting to them, has little chance. Internal and external recruiters…the gate keepers…have little incentive or policy to present older candidates and clients/managers are not given the opportunity to embrace age. During an era in which employees have shorter tenure, it is counter-intuitive to reject older candidates on the basis of perceived length of tenure. And where more experienced candidates have career breaks or meandering career paths due to life, AI and inexperienced recruiters will continue to defer to younger straighter more easily explained career paths. I question the use of the word “dynamic” in recruitment advertising. It seems to be used by recruiters largely to indicate a preference for youth, proactivity and energy yet older candidates still have so much to offer, including another 15years to the right employer. HR should be leading the charge to ensure no biases are present in recruitment. Skills and experience should always outweigh straight line careers and longer resumes. So long as recruiters, external and internal, use personal bias and AI algorithms are incongruent with age diversity, ageism will continue – even if an organisation espouses diversity and inclusion. Until diversity and inclusion becomes a recruitment KPI, ageism and other diversity will only be a policy for existing staff. And the selection of staff over 50 will continue to be the exception.

By: Marcus Wigan

Marcus Wigan — Mon, 08 May 2023 03:31:27 +0000

I am beginning to suspect that in my (unsuccessful) interactions for positions for advanced study,voluntary or otherwise professional engagement or employment, at appropriate levels that my age (81) might not even be the dominant factor- perhaps it might be to at least partly due to a certain degree of nervousness at the levels of activity and flexibility! (typical items that might give rise to this, three masters degrees in totally different subjects in my 70s, several equally varied honorary full professorships even a fresh Fellowship in a new subject.

It would be really interesting to discuss this with the authors of this report.
Inter alia I am a past professional member of this institute…

By: Chimere Elele

Chimere Elele — Mon, 08 May 2023 03:16:11 +0000

Interesting Piece, I hired a 60+ candidate and did not regret that decision. The knowledge they possess is remarkable. I admit I was skeptical at first given that she was not good with the technologies we had, but I was very patient and understanding -getting her up-to speed and helping her bookmark the relevant pages/sites. This paid off in the long run.

By: John Carter

John Carter — Sun, 07 May 2023 07:11:22 +0000

The summary of findings above is an interesting one and I would like to see the survey instrument and identify the trends from other data. However for me on my employment journey when there is a job change as a result of discontinuation of the company, or bad management or family reasons or looking for a senior role with more income, when you are over 50, 55 years and the hairline has disappeared, the first 10 seconds when you enter a room the eyes of the HR/selection team says it all.
Without saying it you can tell they have already selected someone else by the questions they ask and time it takes to go through the interview- not always the case but in most.

One can have a really good interview or that might be your perception but 2 weeks later nothing. 4 weeks later nothing. The company doesnt get back to you. Once upon a time there was a reasonable nice email that said thankyou for applying…..unfortunately. How times have changed.

The reason that ageism does exist in some recruitment situations for a number of companies is twofold:

Employers/recruiters who are aged bet 30-50 do not have any psychological advantage over someone aged 55 years or more. The applicant who is 55 years or over cant be coerced or influenced into doing more than they have too or do unpaid overtime; they have been around too long and know how to manage situations and know how to manage time, workloads and understand the employment relationship rules. It is in fact a power play which goes on. A Manager who is 40-45year would prefer to select a 25-35 year old. That 10 year or more generational gap is a safety zone for them and for others who will be working with the new recruit.

Employers/recruiters who are aged bet 30-50 who have less qualifications than the person they are hiring/selecting. This is a threat to the Manager or Supervisor who will be the line manager of the person they recruit. Therefore if you have one or more degrees or Post Graduate degrees or Masters/Phd and the line manager involved in the selection or a Senior Manager involved in the selection process doesnt have higher quals or is not part of the heirarchy or does not have executive level connections, then that may be another reason. Staff in corporate life, middle and senior management are always wary of high qualified applicants that have experience and are talented and of a similar age or older…..the Amygdala goes off. However, for those middle and senior management with high level quals and experience; they are not fazed by such applicants.

For some jobs the above statements do not apply when the job role is at a lower level FT position or casual. Unfortunately i havent any evidence to support the above statements for female applicants over 50-55yr but i would say the above scenarios do occur in that space too.