The Age Of Ageism
I was at a networking group last week where I was able to talk to some jobseekers in a general format. One of the things that consistently surfaced was the perception from older workers that they were being discriminated against due to their age.
I don’t know if these accusations were true, but they seem more than plausible. Some of the stories were downright sad – one candidate arrived for an interview and was sent out to the lobby to fill in the dates of his previous employment going back to the beginning…in the 1970’s. He didn’t get the job.
The massive erosion of wealth over the past year has led to most of these people continuing to search for new employment even though they are in their 60’s. Just today, I received a PR email regarding a survey by Golden Gateway Financial:
- Now, almost 50 percent of seniors plan to retire after age 70
- More than 40 percent of seniors polled said the current economy has had some kind of negative affect on their ability to retire
- More than 50 percent of respondents said they are concerned that their overall net worth may no longer be enough to sustain their retirement
- 86 percent of seniors said they had a reasonable understanding of their net worth, and 50 percent said that net worth had declined by between 10 and 30 percent
Again, not surprising. I’m a Gen Xer so these topics were, to be blunt, of little interest to me until I had a chance to talk to people caught in this exact situation.
The repercussions from this economy are going to be with us far longer than the time it takes the economy to recover. The secondary effect from these “older” jobseekers is going to be the job opportunities facing young people entering the workforce. Clearly there will be a pull between hiring the experienced older worker vs. the young, inexperienced go-getter. This tension has always existed – the difference is the future force of it.
Posted By Derrick Moe | Economy,Generations,Hiring | | 
Comments(4)
As far as I’m concerned I have been discriminated because of my age. I am a 57 year old woman that went to college to obtain a Associates degree in Medical Assisting. I am told that I don’t have enough experience, as a medical assistant, but unless they hire me how am I going to get the experience. I let them know that I have been in the medical field for 23 years. My experience is in hospitals, nursing homes and a doctors office. The reason I went to college for the degree was to put a name to what I have been doing for the last 23 years. I let them know I don’t have plans of retiring for 10-12 years, and I’m always looked over for the job. What am I suppose to do? Frustrated in Michigan
Brenda – thank you for your comment. Unfortunately, I have heard some version of your situation all too often. Perhaps there will be a change in hiring approaches once the economy recovers.
Nowadays in getting a job is a tough one. Specially in today’s Global Recession market competition is at its highest level digging up the Ageism factor. But they should not disappoint the seniors, as they have greater experience of their life .After all we should not forget that old is gold .
Thank you for your response Derrick, but I worry that the longer I am out from my graduation date and have not been hired in the field of my degree, I won’t be hired when the ecomony recovers. I feel like the college was not honest with me,when I asked if my age was going to be a problem. They stated that my age was not a factor when hiring in the medical field. This clearly was not true.