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How to Respond to Ageism in a Job Interview

14 points by Gpetrium 7y ago

SamReidHughes 7y ago
> more people under 45 were exhausted (43%) than those over 45 (35%), with the least exhausted group being those over 60. Welp, they aren’t making the greatest case against ageism here, are they.
- tzm 7y ago
  It's a case nonetheless. Productivity is key regardless of age.
  - SamReidHughes 7y ago
    It's definitely not surprising and it does fit both stereotypes I have in my mind, that young people work harder and also that they need to work harder to keep up. Maybe it's that those that can't keep up eventually leave the field, leaving the more productive behind. But obviously, older people do just leave and go home to their kids. My guess is young people tend to get themselves exhausted doing stuff like checking reddit 50 times a day, too.
- resoluteteeth 7y ago
  > Welp, they aren’t making the greatest case against ageism here, are they. Huh? Are you assuming that less exhausted implies less productive? Would you assume the same thing if the results were the other way around?
  - SamReidHughes 7y ago
    Well it sure suggests that younger people work harder. I can assure you I am more exhausted when I am more productive.
    - mikestew 7y ago
      Well it sure suggests that younger people work harder. ...and/or less efficiently.
      - java-man 7y ago
        ... and for less money
        mikestew 7y ago
        Upfront cost, or TCO?
        java-man 7y ago
        in my experience, often the decisions are being made not in the interest of cost savings, or efficiency, but following short term interests of the management. as long as there is somebody to do the "work", they are fine.
  - danShumway 7y ago
    If it were the other way around, I guarantee someone would be on this thread arguing that obviously this means that older people don't have enough mental stamina and energy for fast-moving companies and startups. After all, if two people walked a mile, and one of them was more tired at the end of it, that person's probably less physically fit -- why wouldn't mental jobs be the same? A lot of biases work this way. People look at a result and then come up with a plausible explanation that just happens to already fit their worldview. It's a very subtle trap that's very, very easy for people to fall into -- I have my own fair share of embarrassing moments where I've done this. I think it's important to be very careful when interpreting results that can have multiple different causes, particularly when they're not linked to a previous prediction.
scrumper 7y ago
Some good, constructive advice in here amongst some of the usual pablum. Reframing is clever: "We're looking for younger minds." "Well, what you're actually looking for is innovative thinking and here's XYZ that I can bring."
zadkey 7y ago
I don't know if these tips help that much. My dad is an older electrical engineer, with experience with embedded systems, telecommunications networks, Unix, and R, Python, and Data Science. He regularly has great phone interviews only to hear after the in person interview "We are moving forward with a different candidate." My dad however is nearly bald with grey hair and his skin is a little worse for the wear. I am very sad to seem him like this and wish I could do something for him. The only thing I can think of though is to tell him to look for remote roles so that they don't see what he actually looks like and won't discriminate against him.

14 points by Gpetrium 7y ago

> more people under 45 were exhausted (43%) than those over 45 (35%), with the least exhausted group being those over 60. Welp, they aren’t making the greatest case against ageism here, are they.

tzm 7y ago
It's a case nonetheless. Productivity is key regardless of age.
- SamReidHughes 7y ago
  It's definitely not surprising and it does fit both stereotypes I have in my mind, that young people work harder and also that they need to work harder to keep up. Maybe it's that those that can't keep up eventually leave the field, leaving the more productive behind. But obviously, older people do just leave and go home to their kids. My guess is young people tend to get themselves exhausted doing stuff like checking reddit 50 times a day, too.
resoluteteeth 7y ago
> Welp, they aren’t making the greatest case against ageism here, are they. Huh? Are you assuming that less exhausted implies less productive? Would you assume the same thing if the results were the other way around?
- SamReidHughes 7y ago
  Well it sure suggests that younger people work harder. I can assure you I am more exhausted when I am more productive.
  - mikestew 7y ago
    Well it sure suggests that younger people work harder. ...and/or less efficiently.
    - java-man 7y ago
      ... and for less money
      - mikestew 7y ago
        Upfront cost, or TCO?
        java-man 7y ago
        in my experience, often the decisions are being made not in the interest of cost savings, or efficiency, but following short term interests of the management. as long as there is somebody to do the "work", they are fine.
- danShumway 7y ago
  If it were the other way around, I guarantee someone would be on this thread arguing that obviously this means that older people don't have enough mental stamina and energy for fast-moving companies and startups. After all, if two people walked a mile, and one of them was more tired at the end of it, that person's probably less physically fit -- why wouldn't mental jobs be the same? A lot of biases work this way. People look at a result and then come up with a plausible explanation that just happens to already fit their worldview. It's a very subtle trap that's very, very easy for people to fall into -- I have my own fair share of embarrassing moments where I've done this. I think it's important to be very careful when interpreting results that can have multiple different causes, particularly when they're not linked to a previous prediction.

scrumper 7y ago

Some good, constructive advice in here amongst some of the usual pablum. Reframing is clever: "We're looking for younger minds." "Well, what you're actually looking for is innovative thinking and here's XYZ that I can bring."

zadkey 7y ago

I don't know if these tips help that much. My dad is an older electrical engineer, with experience with embedded systems, telecommunications networks, Unix, and R, Python, and Data Science. He regularly has great phone interviews only to hear after the in person interview "We are moving forward with a different candidate." My dad however is nearly bald with grey hair and his skin is a little worse for the wear. I am very sad to seem him like this and wish I could do something for him. The only thing I can think of though is to tell him to look for remote roles so that they don't see what he actually looks like and won't discriminate against him.