> If the 50 year old has the same amount of experience that the 25 year old has, they have been doing something seriously wrong. I think this is the crux of it

> If the 50 year old has the same amount of experience that the 25 year old has, they have been doing something seriously wrong. I think this is the crux of it. When most people hire someone straight out of college they're looking for someone with the potential to do great things. Whereas when they hire someone who's 50, they're looking for someone who has done great things. But since a lot of people reach 50 without having done anything especially impressive, applying what hiring managers perceive as being the same set of standards to both age groups leaves older folks less likely to get hired even without any conscious discrimination.