Age Bias During A Job Interview

Do you Feel Overlooked?

Does your resume on job boards get a lot of attention? It’s well-written, has great experience with advancement. After you have interviewed, does this happen?

“We are going to continue interviewing, your experience is good, but your OVER Qualified for this position”.

Read on and you may learn a thing or two about the “why” and what to do about it.

Age discrimination exists because there are a lot of common but erroneous presumptions hiring managers often make towards older candidates. For example, when interviewing older workers, some biased and often untrue assumption a interviewer often make is that older employees lack some critical qualities such as flexible approach to changing circumstances, ability to keep up with the latest industry trends, knowledge of modern technologies, ability to communicate and work with younger workers, which they assume to have a negative impact on the worker’s job performance. Moreover, health conditions and retirement dates may also be some major concerns the hiring managers have towards older workers.

• Interview Bias: Age bias in hiring can manifest during interviews through subtle cues, questions, or assumptions made by interviewers. For example, asking older candidates about their retirement plans or assuming younger candidates lack experience can be forms of age discrimination.
• Skill and Experience Evaluation: Employers may prioritize years of experience over a candidate’s actual skills and qualifications, leading to the exclusion of younger candidates who may have relevant skills and potential. Similarly, older candidates may face skepticism regarding their ability to adapt to new technologies or learn new skills.
• Salary Expectations: Employers may assume that older candidates demand higher salaries due to their experience, leading to their exclusion from consideration. Conversely, younger candidates may face lower salary offers based on assumptions of inexperience.

How to handle the bias.

Referencing examples of past work experience on critical projects, and quantitative measures of productivity can help counteract assumptions about lack of focus and energy. By emphasizing creative approaches to problem solving, you can demonstrate your flexibility and your ability to adjust to new challenges. Mentioning your enjoyable past experience in working with younger co-workers, learning about the latest technologies in the industry will help reduce the concerns regarding your ability to work with modern technologies and millennial workers.

When answering age-related questions, you want to guide the line of questioning into a more professional direction by focusing on your skill set and ability to contribute to the company. Keep in mind that if you feel the interviewers have concerns regarding your age, the best approach is to use their question as an opportunity to showcase your qualifications, skills and experience, as well as to prove to the interviewer that you are not only qualified, but also have all the other assets the company is looking for in an ideal candidate.

Remember: you have experience that will be mutually beneficial to your co-workers at any age and to the company.

 

by Cindy Fassler, experienced staffing professional and career coach, member of The Job Forum