3 ms·

What does this mean practically speaking? I’m 55 and just starting to look again now after being out of the workplace for 4 yrs.

ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
In my experience, I found recruiters and screeners to be very condescending and, in some cases, downright nasty. In one case, it was all smiles, until they brought in the tech lead, and I was quickly given the bum's rush, after that. Recruiters tended to "ghost" me, almost immediately upon finding out my age. It was weird. I have a tremendous résumé, and they would contact me, gushing about it, then would suddenly have a "connection issue," after I told them my age. I'd never hear from them again. I guess the industry is crawling with 30-year-olds, with 35 years of experience. It's quite possible to get work. All of my employees got jobs again, but it took a couple of years, for a couple of them to find settled work. Most had to be contractor employees for a year or so. Our team was composed of very experienced C++ programmers. Absolutely top-shelf engineers. They're doing fine, now, but it took a while. I just didn't feel like going through the agita.
- gcheong 5y ago
  Thanks for that. While I don't advertise my age I'm pretty sure the employment gap in my resume is putting them off and I'm getting a lot of the same response as you mentioned. But even before then it was getting harder to find a job and, after being told no thanks from one company where I, my recruiter, and their internal recruiter thought I for sure had it in the bag after multiple interview rounds I just figured it was a clear signal I had to find a different way - just not sure what that is yet and if it's even worth bothering with interviewing.
  - ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
    I just started making my age clear, up front. In many cases, they couldn't hang up, fast enough. Not sure I'd recommend that. It probably comes across as "challenging." I just got tired of having my time wasted. I wish you the very best of luck.

ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago

In my experience, I found recruiters and screeners to be very condescending and, in some cases, downright nasty. In one case, it was all smiles, until they brought in the tech lead, and I was quickly given the bum's rush, after that. Recruiters tended to "ghost" me, almost immediately upon finding out my age. It was weird. I have a tremendous résumé, and they would contact me, gushing about it, then would suddenly have a "connection issue," after I told them my age. I'd never hear from them again. I guess the industry is crawling with 30-year-olds, with 35 years of experience. It's quite possible to get work. All of my employees got jobs again, but it took a couple of years, for a couple of them to find settled work. Most had to be contractor employees for a year or so. Our team was composed of very experienced C++ programmers. Absolutely top-shelf engineers. They're doing fine, now, but it took a while. I just didn't feel like going through the agita.

gcheong 5y ago
Thanks for that. While I don't advertise my age I'm pretty sure the employment gap in my resume is putting them off and I'm getting a lot of the same response as you mentioned. But even before then it was getting harder to find a job and, after being told no thanks from one company where I, my recruiter, and their internal recruiter thought I for sure had it in the bag after multiple interview rounds I just figured it was a clear signal I had to find a different way - just not sure what that is yet and if it's even worth bothering with interviewing.
- ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
  I just started making my age clear, up front. In many cases, they couldn't hang up, fast enough. Not sure I'd recommend that. It probably comes across as "challenging." I just got tired of having my time wasted. I wish you the very best of luck.