Ageism is one of the most unfair paradoxes in the labor market: People put in decades of hard work and then find themselves penalized for having done so. Every recruiter knows this story. The hiring manager wants someone with 10+ years of experience (whatever that means), but they want to pay newbie rates. We want someone with the experience of a 50 year old, the drive of a 40 year old, the health of a 30 year old and the pay grade of a 20 year old. Even as unemployment continues to drop (for the most part — I know we are seeing layoffs right now, but that’s not everywhere) and we hear managers sing that old tired refrain: “no one wants to work anymore,” we STILL hear of candidates getting the run around and unfortunately, the older you are, the less likely you are to get a call back.
And of course, we all know that all the leaders will tell us that they don’t discriminate, and while we know it won’t likely be overt (though we all know someone who will be extremely overt about their ageism), we know it is happening — they will tell us the candidate is overqualified, will be too expensive, won’t fit in with the rest of the team.
When Melanie Peacock brought this up for a discussion topic, we knew this would be a great topic for conversation. So we hope you will join us on Sunday October 23, 7 pm ET for our #TwitterChat
- Q1. What’s in your glass?
- Q2. How do you define ageism?
- Q3. How can HR professionals best determine if ageism is occurring in their organization?
- Q4. What are the best ways to proactively prevent ageism from occurring?
- Q5. Have you, or anyone you know, experienced ageism? If so, what were the consequences?
- Q6. How can those of us in the #HRSocialHour continue to support you?
My Dailey Journey 