11 ms·

Job applicants over 40 filtered out by employers

56 points by fern12 9y ago

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
nickthemagicman 9y ago
So what are people supposed to do? lol Just die? Seems harsh.
- mythrwy 9y ago
  The answer is obvious. Lower the retirement age to 40!
  - petre 9y ago
    Then they would refuse everyone over 30.
    - ThrustVectoring 9y ago
      Lower the retirement age to birth.
      - Markoff 9y ago
        or just introduce basic income and no need to touch retirement
        AckSyn 9y ago
        With a UBI there's no need to work either.
- ncr100 9y ago
  Prove it was an illegal action and defend your right to employment: https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/age.cfm https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/age.cfm "The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) forbids age discrimination against people who are age 40 or older."
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - wyclif 9y ago
    I appreciate your straight answer, and the call to defend employment rights. However, isn't it quite difficult to prove age discrimination? How successful are these legal actions?
  - Harken 9y ago
    ...and if you're filtered out at the resume stage, good luck proving the intent.
    - dragonwriter 9y ago
      If you can get to discovery, consistent filtering at the resume stage is probably the easiest thing to prove is unambiguous age discrimination.
  - dbbk 9y ago
    Wait... it protects against discrimination only if you're over 40? So if you're under 40 you can be discriminated against? Isn't that discrimination itself? Huh?
- Markoff 9y ago
  don't publish specific dates for your education and don't mention first few jobs which are anyway worthless, immediately you got few years younger alternatively you could put your age data in some link with tracking to figure out if they had look at it
  - laughfactory 9y ago
    Yeah this will just drive intelligent folks to strip academics dates from their resumes, and limit things to one page containing only their recent employment history. The article was horrifying because I'll be 40 next year, and am just now really getting rolling in my career. And I certainly don't think of myself as any less than my younger colleagues. Sure, I have more baggage and other priorities (bills, family, hobbies), but I still work hard and deliver a lot of value.
eatbitseveryday 9y ago
How does one determine the age of an applicant from the resume? It's not recommended to put your birthdate. Years in the workforce?
- tyingq 9y ago
  A fair number of people list graduation dates.
- Markoff 9y ago
  graduation year or first employment though you can just list your education without specific years and also skip mentioning first worthless jobs anyway to make yourself younger
Joakal 9y ago
Anyone able to translate the PDF? Google Translate a Document gives me 'insecure connection error'.
- fern12 9y ago
  http://www.ifau.se/globalassets/pdf/se/2017/wp2017-08-the-effect-of-age-and-gender-on-labor-demand.pdf http://www.ifau.se/globalassets/pdf/se/2017/wp2017-08-the-ef...
- kwhitefoot 9y ago
  translate.google.com works for me and gives this URL: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ifau.se%2Fglobalassets%2Fpdf%2Fse%2F2017%2Fr-2017-08-paverkar-arbetssokandes-alder-och-kon-chansen-att-fa-svar-pa-en-jobbansokan.pdf&edit-text=&act=url https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&pr... but fern12's link to the English version is better.
nonsince 9y ago
It's not about losing the ability to adapt. Older people are more expensive because they're more experienced. Businesses would rather skimp on quality. I say this as a 22yo.
- lawpoop 9y ago
  Another aspect I suspect is that older people have been around the block and have better BS detectors. This makes them less easy to roll over, and also they are more likely to offer a counter-narrative to whatever BS mgmt is pushing down to the workers.
- ncr100 9y ago
  Not a strict rule, however. Seeking a job based on non-pay qualities is also a thing. For me the environment and industry matter a lot and will drive my pay requirements down, when I'm job-seeking. So, the "sense in discriminating against" people who're older has this and likely many other trivial logical flaws.
- awkwarddaturtle 9y ago
  That's not entirely true. Also, "experience" doesn't necessarily mean "quality" - especially when it comes to tech. Older people are also more set in their ways, less versatile, less likely to think outside the box, have far less energy and also have more responsibilities. In a startup I worked at, we didn't hire any developers over 30. The only people over 30 was out CEO and he got hired after our 2nd round of VC funding. We wanted devs who fit our culture and of course people who could be "molded". A 40 year old just wouldn't have fit in with a bunch of 20 year olds and he certainly would have trouble keeping up when we developed into the early morning to meet our deadlines/milestones/go-live dates. But then again, startup culture is very different than established oldschool corporate culture. But starting up a company ( especially in tech ) and trying to survive is geared towards younger people. Also, a 40 year old with with 15 year of VB experience in corporate america is worth nothing to a startup building enterprise software in VC++. I would choose a fresh grad from a top CS school with strong GPA and good work ethic over some 40 year old VB developer.
  - 9y ago

56 points by fern12 9y ago

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

nickthemagicman 9y ago

So what are people supposed to do? lol Just die? Seems harsh.

mythrwy 9y ago
The answer is obvious. Lower the retirement age to 40!
- petre 9y ago
  Then they would refuse everyone over 30.
  - ThrustVectoring 9y ago
    Lower the retirement age to birth.
    - Markoff 9y ago
      or just introduce basic income and no need to touch retirement
      - AckSyn 9y ago
        With a UBI there's no need to work either.
ncr100 9y ago
Prove it was an illegal action and defend your right to employment: https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/age.cfm https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/age.cfm "The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) forbids age discrimination against people who are age 40 or older."
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- wyclif 9y ago
  I appreciate your straight answer, and the call to defend employment rights. However, isn't it quite difficult to prove age discrimination? How successful are these legal actions?
- Harken 9y ago
  ...and if you're filtered out at the resume stage, good luck proving the intent.
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    If you can get to discovery, consistent filtering at the resume stage is probably the easiest thing to prove is unambiguous age discrimination.
- dbbk 9y ago
  Wait... it protects against discrimination only if you're over 40? So if you're under 40 you can be discriminated against? Isn't that discrimination itself? Huh?
Markoff 9y ago
don't publish specific dates for your education and don't mention first few jobs which are anyway worthless, immediately you got few years younger alternatively you could put your age data in some link with tracking to figure out if they had look at it
- laughfactory 9y ago
  Yeah this will just drive intelligent folks to strip academics dates from their resumes, and limit things to one page containing only their recent employment history. The article was horrifying because I'll be 40 next year, and am just now really getting rolling in my career. And I certainly don't think of myself as any less than my younger colleagues. Sure, I have more baggage and other priorities (bills, family, hobbies), but I still work hard and deliver a lot of value.

eatbitseveryday 9y ago

How does one determine the age of an applicant from the resume? It's not recommended to put your birthdate. Years in the workforce?

tyingq 9y ago
A fair number of people list graduation dates.
Markoff 9y ago
graduation year or first employment though you can just list your education without specific years and also skip mentioning first worthless jobs anyway to make yourself younger

Joakal 9y ago

Anyone able to translate the PDF? Google Translate a Document gives me 'insecure connection error'.

fern12 9y ago
http://www.ifau.se/globalassets/pdf/se/2017/wp2017-08-the-effect-of-age-and-gender-on-labor-demand.pdf http://www.ifau.se/globalassets/pdf/se/2017/wp2017-08-the-ef...
kwhitefoot 9y ago
translate.google.com works for me and gives this URL: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ifau.se%2Fglobalassets%2Fpdf%2Fse%2F2017%2Fr-2017-08-paverkar-arbetssokandes-alder-och-kon-chansen-att-fa-svar-pa-en-jobbansokan.pdf&edit-text=&act=url https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&pr... but fern12's link to the English version is better.

nonsince 9y ago

It's not about losing the ability to adapt. Older people are more expensive because they're more experienced. Businesses would rather skimp on quality. I say this as a 22yo.

lawpoop 9y ago
Another aspect I suspect is that older people have been around the block and have better BS detectors. This makes them less easy to roll over, and also they are more likely to offer a counter-narrative to whatever BS mgmt is pushing down to the workers.
ncr100 9y ago
Not a strict rule, however. Seeking a job based on non-pay qualities is also a thing. For me the environment and industry matter a lot and will drive my pay requirements down, when I'm job-seeking. So, the "sense in discriminating against" people who're older has this and likely many other trivial logical flaws.
awkwarddaturtle 9y ago
That's not entirely true. Also, "experience" doesn't necessarily mean "quality" - especially when it comes to tech. Older people are also more set in their ways, less versatile, less likely to think outside the box, have far less energy and also have more responsibilities. In a startup I worked at, we didn't hire any developers over 30. The only people over 30 was out CEO and he got hired after our 2nd round of VC funding. We wanted devs who fit our culture and of course people who could be "molded". A 40 year old just wouldn't have fit in with a bunch of 20 year olds and he certainly would have trouble keeping up when we developed into the early morning to meet our deadlines/milestones/go-live dates. But then again, startup culture is very different than established oldschool corporate culture. But starting up a company ( especially in tech ) and trying to survive is geared towards younger people. Also, a 40 year old with with 15 year of VB experience in corporate america is worth nothing to a startup building enterprise software in VC++. I would choose a fresh grad from a top CS school with strong GPA and good work ethic over some 40 year old VB developer.
- 9y ago