3 ms·

But, how would you ever know you were discriminated against? They never called you because your resume was filtered out before the initial contact.

gcp 10y ago
Submit equal resumes that only differ in age. If a significant difference in responses exists, you sue. There are several organizations that are doing this in my country, but for immigrants.
- massysett 10y ago
  That's very difficult to do for age. If one applicant is 20 years older, he is expected to have longer work experience; if his work experience is too short, it's a red flag. Of course they still might not hire the more experienced person because she is "overqualified".
  - gcp 10y ago
    You can fiddle and have them start their career in another field for example.
  - evgen 10y ago
    If the two applicants have equal qualifications and you only hire the younger applicant then you are going to be open for an age-discrimination lawsuit. Being older and having a shorter relevant work experience is the sort of 'red flag' that puts you on the losing side of these lawsuits, as the two candidates are manifestly equal by definition here other than differences in age. You can't say "person X is older and should therefore have more work experience, so we will pick person Y" and expect to not end up spending the next few years in court.
- DelaneyM 10y ago
  Who puts age on a resume? But if you're suggesting age as measured by years of experience, that's supposed to be the most relevant deciding factor, so...
  - jacoblambda 10y ago
    Nobody puts age on a resume but you can definitely tell age based on their experience.
    - DelaneyM 10y ago
      Which is exactly what makes an A/B test on age based on resume call-ins implausible.
jtbigwoo 10y ago
So let's put together some assumptions: 1. Company X is smart enough to never record this illegal policy in documents/email/etc. 2. The policy is verbally communicated to all recruiters and many upper managers. 3. Company X is growing and employs hundreds of recruiters. If the recruiter turn-over at company X is similar to other companies (i.e. it's pretty high), it's only a matter of time before a recently fired recruiter talks to a lawyer or the press. The simpler thing to do is only advertise very low-level positions and pay new hires poorly enough that only new grads will apply in the first place. Of course, then you've got to develop the folks that you hire or have a model that is predicated on just throwing large numbers of people at problems.
evgen 10y ago
As others have noted, you do it the same way EEOC and other orgs test for hiring discrimination based upon race or gender. You submit equal resumes (appropriately updated for age in this case) and see what response you get. You take a look at the company org details and do a few simple statistical runs to see how things net out. Since this is a protected class we are talking about it is a lot easier to make your case based on statistical evidence. "Gee your honor, it is purely a coincidence that all of our employees are <male/white/under-30>"...

gcp 10y ago

Submit equal resumes that only differ in age. If a significant difference in responses exists, you sue. There are several organizations that are doing this in my country, but for immigrants.

massysett 10y ago
That's very difficult to do for age. If one applicant is 20 years older, he is expected to have longer work experience; if his work experience is too short, it's a red flag. Of course they still might not hire the more experienced person because she is "overqualified".
- gcp 10y ago
  You can fiddle and have them start their career in another field for example.
- evgen 10y ago
  If the two applicants have equal qualifications and you only hire the younger applicant then you are going to be open for an age-discrimination lawsuit. Being older and having a shorter relevant work experience is the sort of 'red flag' that puts you on the losing side of these lawsuits, as the two candidates are manifestly equal by definition here other than differences in age. You can't say "person X is older and should therefore have more work experience, so we will pick person Y" and expect to not end up spending the next few years in court.
DelaneyM 10y ago
Who puts age on a resume? But if you're suggesting age as measured by years of experience, that's supposed to be the most relevant deciding factor, so...
- jacoblambda 10y ago
  Nobody puts age on a resume but you can definitely tell age based on their experience.
  - DelaneyM 10y ago
    Which is exactly what makes an A/B test on age based on resume call-ins implausible.

jtbigwoo 10y ago

So let's put together some assumptions: 1. Company X is smart enough to never record this illegal policy in documents/email/etc. 2. The policy is verbally communicated to all recruiters and many upper managers. 3. Company X is growing and employs hundreds of recruiters. If the recruiter turn-over at company X is similar to other companies (i.e. it's pretty high), it's only a matter of time before a recently fired recruiter talks to a lawyer or the press. The simpler thing to do is only advertise very low-level positions and pay new hires poorly enough that only new grads will apply in the first place. Of course, then you've got to develop the folks that you hire or have a model that is predicated on just throwing large numbers of people at problems.

evgen 10y ago

As others have noted, you do it the same way EEOC and other orgs test for hiring discrimination based upon race or gender. You submit equal resumes (appropriately updated for age in this case) and see what response you get. You take a look at the company org details and do a few simple statistical runs to see how things net out. Since this is a protected class we are talking about it is a lot easier to make your case based on statistical evidence. "Gee your honor, it is purely a coincidence that all of our employees are <male/white/under-30>"...