• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Age discrimination

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted User
  • Start date Start date
D

Deleted User

Guest
In my travels across the Internet, I sometimes come across articles about age discrimination, particularly in my industry (IT). It's quite common to see fairly young people doing my job. Take for example Google. I think I'd feel a bit out of place there, if I'm honest. Feeling out of place is one thing, but aside from that, I've heard claims of age discrimination, which I think is actually illegal, but I can well believe it goes on.

So while I'm very happy in my current position, and the workforce is, shall we say, more mature, I can't help feeling that should I need to look for another job, I might encounter some problems.

So I was half thinking of not disclosing my age on my CV (resume), by omitting some dates. Do you think that would be wise? I know CV reviewers look for consistent dates, but I don't want mine to be thrown in the waste basket because of age issues. I have a lot of experience and knowledge, and you would expect that companies value this, but who knows how some employers think? For instance, I could omit the dates of my university degree, which is a dead give away to my age.

Has anyone here encountered age discrimination?
 
I am not aware of any age discrimination against me, but it is very possible that I am not being called to interviews because I am obviously an older person (I mean, when my opening paragraph states that I have thirty years of experience in the industry...).

So, I hear what you are saying, there. It's always a balance between what does and does not need to be said when it comes to a resume for a specific job.

Your best bet is to make it interesting enough for them to want to see you and ask for further information on your qualifications without making it look like you just made stuff up.
 
Age discrimination ... hmmm. I couldn't tell you if I've ever been subject to that, but then again, i think the victims of many types of discrimination will never know ... and those that think they have been discriminated against might have got it wrong.

I will tell you this about that from an employer's perspective ... older people are a harder hire. First, they tend to have more responsibilities outside of work and will require more money. Sure, they have the experience (supposedly) and would be much more productive in a new position than a 'kid', but it's easier to hire someone for a lesser salary and hope they work out. And, if they don't work out, it's easier to let them go without feeling like you're taking food out of the mouths of their children.

In addition, after a certain age, you're looking at a limited number of productive years before retirement, so it's not as open ended as someone who's looking at 30 years to go in the workforce. Most managers don't want to go through the hiring process, especially for integral positions, only to have to do it all over again in 5 years.

That's the perception. The problem lies with statistics and the job. IT people move around. It's either boring or stressful. Even Google is not Nirvana for Nerds. That young kid could get married or have a kid of their own and move or look for a better position based on the experience they get at the job they get hired for, or they can just plain incompetent.

As one who has hires in the IT field, I can tell you that it's a very tough call to weigh all the factors involved and still get stuck with a loser.

As to the original question of keeping the age on the CV, I would suppose it depended what your CV said. Personally, mine is a little cute and creative. The first line of my LinkedIn profile statement kinda sums me up ...

Thinking outside of the tetrahedron since 1977. ("The box" is so 20th century)

"I could write a long-winded detailed description of what I do using lots of big, pompous, overused industry buzzwords and catchphrases, but to reflect my marketing philosophy of keeping it simple, I make things look good so people buy them. And, they do."
Click to expand...

That's me. I am who I am and I am as old as I am. If I have to hide that or the prospective employer doesn't get me (or appreciate that the lighter approach makes for better customer relations, not to mention a work environment) then I'm not sure I want to work for them.

I know it might be the difference between getting the interview or not and you might never know why, but if this is an issue for YOU, then tell me why it's not an issue for them too?
 
Here in the UK it is standard practice to exclude age/DOB from job applications as age discrimination is illegal*. If you apply for a job via an agency, most will actually remove any age/DOB details from your CV before forwarding it to their client.

All of which is utterly pointless as a long list of previous jobs and mentioning multiple years of experience is kind of a giveaway and even if they miss that, pretty much every hiring process involves a face-to-face interview where it's going to be pretty obvious ;)

* for the next 2 years: one of the many wonderful 'benefits' of the utter insanity that is Brexit is that the right wing nutters that engineered it are gong to remove all employment rights as fast as they possibly can once we leave the EU - it is the primary reason they wanted out. Thank you racist ****wits.
 
Last edited:
Considering the the first and oftentimes greatest hurdle is getting that face-face, I think it's a legitimate concern.

I understand that an employer doesn't want to have to go replacing a guy in five years (right now, my boss is having problems holding on to people for longer than a year and a half), but we aren't usually talking about sexegenarians looking for work. I'm at that half-century range and I've got a good fifteen or twenty years of working left to do.

Sure, I'm not going to want to be crawling around in the belly of an airplane at sixty, but as a supervisor or manager...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom