No Surprises Here. Age discrimination most commonly felt between 50 and 55.
AECS, the Association of Executive Search Consultants, just published an article on the results of their survey on executives and age discrimination. Their poll of 294 responders, showed that most executives commonly begin to feel age discrimination 50 and 55.
In the US, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) protects applicants and employees 40 years of age and older from work and hiring related discrimination based on age. Well...that's good to know...
From the comments and emails I receive all the time, it is pretty clear that there are a lot of ways to downsize an older workforce without heading into the area of discrimination, which is very, very challenging to prove. The UK has just recently added a similar law regarding age discrimination and it will be interesting to see what impact this has on retention of the 50 plus workforce overseas.
What's your story?
Source: AESC Marketing
Posts
3 comments:
It seems to be that there ought to be a movement in this country..for us 50+ folks to rise up and demonstrate that we are viable and have much to offer. The "day without immigrants" seemed to brought national attention to their plight. Perhaps we all should do something similar?
I am a 59 yr. old woman who has been actively seeking employment since the end of June to no avail. I applied for one job three times in the last two months and left 2 phone messages, all in vain. The job requires a person to do skip tracing and specifies "no experience required...Will train suitable candidate". The ad is still running. Although my age is not included in my resume, my education/employment history gives it away. I have many skills and an excellent work history, and although skip tracing is not one of my preferences, I'd be willing to give it a shot. It doesn't require a rocket scientist to track people down. I've applied for many jobs and have only had responses from a very few and none were suitable; I don't want to sell vacation packages for commission. I've been in the work force for over forty years and for the first time in my life, I am having a very hard time finding suitable employment. Age discrimination is rampant. Regardless of the "age discrimination" laws that supposedly "protect" us. My feeling is that employers would rather have young blood. People in my age group who've been active in the work force for many years are wise to the abuses dealt by some employers, and unscrupulous employers, which includes most, would prefer to hire young people who can be easily hoodwinked.
Ahh, Edie, I wish that I could say that your situation is the exception. Unfortunately, what you describe is happening a lot. I receive many, many emails from so many people, just like you, and their stories tell of job searches and career difficulties just as challenging.
At 50 plus, you need to find your way past the gatekeepers and work much, much harder than the younger generations to get a foot in the door.
Thank you for your candid comments.
Post a Comment