To ridding ourselves of age factoring. Why is it that we keep pushing retirement age upward in America and yet it feels like companies are unwilling to hire older worker workers!
Good luck in landing a job!
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Yes, companies are unwilling to hire older workers, even though our government keeps wanting to push the retirement age for receiving SS up. Anti-age discrimination legislation is a joke, as it is difficult to prove that one has been discriminated against. However, by and large, I think contracting companies hiring temporary help don't care how old you as long as you have the requirements that satisfy the customer.
contracts are not permanent, which is why liability is less of an issue. If an employee gets sick, they have sick leave, and other benefits. If a contractor gets sick, they get replaced. Replaced = minimal liability to the company = a work around.
It's a good way to get around it, but if the company is insistant on having the person be an employee, then it won't matter.
It's a good way to get around it, but if the company is insistant on having the person be an employee, then it won't matter.
I also have followed up on a Job listing that wanted a person for migrating data from one brand of computer to another and NOT a DBA. That is a major skill set for me. I went through the many stages of the interview for the job in Texas. Everything then went quiet. Called the recruiter, he was doing a good job. He pressed the company for why a perfect fit like me was not on the short list. Response was 1. Overqualified, 2. must be too old with all of his experience, 3. by the way we wanted a DBA. It happens all the time now.
They use computers to determine candidates now. I have often been asked to change my resume to include certain words so the computer will pick my resume.
Why my hair and beard are colored - to look much younger at an in person interview.
Why I try to avoid dates of employment and just put number of years.
They use computers to determine candidates now. I have often been asked to change my resume to include certain words so the computer will pick my resume.
Why my hair and beard are colored - to look much younger at an in person interview.
Why I try to avoid dates of employment and just put number of years.
Don't list quite as much experience. I've been told by some places that you only want to include the last 5 years or so, unless something further back is a perfect match to what you're applying for. If you're a contractor who has been bouncing between clients/contracts frequently, then less years may be better, even.
I was told this, because the recruiters/managers are short on time, and rarely read through all 5 pages (or more!) of many resumes. If you only list 3-7 years, then they can assume you were brilliant in school and moved straight to the mid-level job, or they will simply assume you left off the lower level experience. Either way, they won't know how old you are.
I was told this, because the recruiters/managers are short on time, and rarely read through all 5 pages (or more!) of many resumes. If you only list 3-7 years, then they can assume you were brilliant in school and moved straight to the mid-level job, or they will simply assume you left off the lower level experience. Either way, they won't know how old you are.
I think that's twice, ever. 
I think the real killer, is employers seem to be approaching the hiring process as some sort of endurance test. This ensures desperation, not quality...
I think the real killer, is employers seem to be approaching the hiring process as some sort of endurance test. This ensures desperation, not quality...
And at some point in this "endurance test," the applicant is sorry that he/she ever applied in the first place.
It should be noted that companies and agencies also want smarmy attractive people and if you are overweight, you are so dead. It's as if they don't want someone real for the position, but they want someone who could play the part on a TV soap opera. Corporate America for sure reminds me so very much of the movie Idiocrisy. Is trying to grow crops using Gatorade instead of water a 1,000 years in the future, or just 10?
These people aren't just incompetent, they are totally dysfunctional. Dr. Sandra Boynton said it best in her definition of Turkeys:
"A turkey is a self-righteous, intolerant, and smug incompetent."
It should be noted that in her book, "Don't Let the Turkeys Get You Down," she proves her point that the Turkeys are everywhere.
Your points should be taken to heart by the Corporate World.
Why am I not enthusiastic about the future of implementing them?
These people aren't just incompetent, they are totally dysfunctional. Dr. Sandra Boynton said it best in her definition of Turkeys:
"A turkey is a self-righteous, intolerant, and smug incompetent."
It should be noted that in her book, "Don't Let the Turkeys Get You Down," she proves her point that the Turkeys are everywhere.
Your points should be taken to heart by the Corporate World.
Why am I not enthusiastic about the future of implementing them?
There's a swath of studies that link being overweight/obese with diminished productivity.
I don't agree that companies are discriminating against those that are overweight, but they probably should.
I don't agree that companies are discriminating against those that are overweight, but they probably should.
I have twice now been a "candidate" for positions requiring security clearances(no problem, had one while I was in the Navy). And both times I ran into the communication blackout. I understand that the employers and recruiters aren't going to know anything until the investigation is completed but a call every so often just to let me know that I am still in the running would be nice. Clearance investigations can be a lengthy process(last one took six months) and you can assume that if the company is shelling out the money(it isn't cheap) to get you a clearance that you are high on the candidate list.
The lack of communication seems to endemic though as I have had trouble getting hold of anyone whenever I am applying for a position. Oftentimes they will expect you to be available at the drop of a hat for any interviews they schedule or questions they may have but there is absolutely no reciprocal availability in the other direction.
Finally, as has been mentioned every time hiring processes come up, companies extend at least a courtesy email form letter to let applicants and candidates know that they have not been selected.
The lack of communication seems to endemic though as I have had trouble getting hold of anyone whenever I am applying for a position. Oftentimes they will expect you to be available at the drop of a hat for any interviews they schedule or questions they may have but there is absolutely no reciprocal availability in the other direction.
Finally, as has been mentioned every time hiring processes come up, companies extend at least a courtesy email form letter to let applicants and candidates know that they have not been selected.
It's great that some of these issues are now being addressed. I've spent a good part of my career underemployed and now unemployed and thus always on the job market. I've seen these problems and then some. Toni, you really are the champion for those of us looking for work. However I think you're really preaching to the choir. We need blogs like this to be seen by hiring managers and HR.
To address some points in the article:
2. This is a huge sore spot with me. This should have been combined with point
#7 because they go hand in hand. Most IT job descriptions look more like an inventory of the IT infrastructure than an actual job description. Some of the biggest offenders are large enterprises that should know better. They list 50 different technologies and when you know 75% of them they disqualify you for not having a particular tech that can be easily learned. Applying for a job seems more like the powerball lotto than anything else. If you don't have all of the rignt numbers then you lose.
4 & 5. The recruiting process takes too long. If you even get a call, everyone is efficient up front with setting upan appointment and communicating. Then affer the interview they drop off the face of the earth. It should take a month to make a hiring decision.
My advice to everyone who gets phone screened by a stooge is to lie about everything. Your only goal here is to get in front of the hiring manager and let her diisqualify you instead of some HR monkey filling in bubbles next to, "Do you have 8 years of ESXi 4 experience?"
6. Number six can be solved by either a better phone screening process or reimbursing candidates who traveled from a long distance.
To address some points in the article:
2. This is a huge sore spot with me. This should have been combined with point
#7 because they go hand in hand. Most IT job descriptions look more like an inventory of the IT infrastructure than an actual job description. Some of the biggest offenders are large enterprises that should know better. They list 50 different technologies and when you know 75% of them they disqualify you for not having a particular tech that can be easily learned. Applying for a job seems more like the powerball lotto than anything else. If you don't have all of the rignt numbers then you lose.
4 & 5. The recruiting process takes too long. If you even get a call, everyone is efficient up front with setting upan appointment and communicating. Then affer the interview they drop off the face of the earth. It should take a month to make a hiring decision.
My advice to everyone who gets phone screened by a stooge is to lie about everything. Your only goal here is to get in front of the hiring manager and let her diisqualify you instead of some HR monkey filling in bubbles next to, "Do you have 8 years of ESXi 4 experience?"
6. Number six can be solved by either a better phone screening process or reimbursing candidates who traveled from a long distance.
I can empathize with the hiring manager has a full time job, with HR who has many candidates to screen, schedule, and make offers. However, job applicants and candidates are not commodities in unlimited supply. "Older" workers have the experience and maturity to respect the position. If mutual respect for a person's time and experience is not observed in the interview, how ugly would it be to work there?
in work Arbeiter stop think in ending position stop sacrifing to be give your push and perhaps what you dream secret
I have translated this into German, because we think that this nation is before the moon, but I think, it is behind.
Hiring and job recruiting is done in Germany as well, but in very qualified jobs. Our country is not so vast, therefore companies use newspapers and sureley, online offers instead. My opinion does not count, but the more experienced an expert is the bigger the chance that he or she may be older. In former times there were humans working and the idea of cooperation appeared in some utopian minds. But that times may be over today. Experience says, that a car can drive against a hard wall of ignorance under full velocity only once.
I forgot to mention, that the quaifications asked by the job descriptions in Germany usually require the experience of 40 years, the best notes and internationa experiences, and an age below maturity.
I wonder if age discrimination is such a problem in the US because of health insurance issues. I suspect that is one of the largest concerns (that and having to hire for the position again in a few years after training you if you are in late 50s-60s. Might be another case for universal healthcare with a national insurance pool.
Look at it this way: do you want freedom to be able to change jobs once you are in your late 40's? If so than you better make sure you are not going to be inconvenient or unjustifiably expensive to the potential employers. That requires your price to be comparable to younger equally qualified candidates including your cost of benefits.
Look at it this way: do you want freedom to be able to change jobs once you are in your late 40's? If so than you better make sure you are not going to be inconvenient or unjustifiably expensive to the potential employers. That requires your price to be comparable to younger equally qualified candidates including your cost of benefits.
I'm not going to deny that Ageism happens, but everyone needs to define their value to a company, and simply saying "I have experience" doesn't cut it.
Experience is a threshold, and if someone who's 20 years younger (earning less) and less still has enough experience to do the job, then that's who should be hired.
Americans think they should get paid this year based on what they were paid last year, plus a couple of percent, but it doesn't work that way. At some point you have to compete with the market, even if the market is willing to earn less than you are earning.
Experience is a threshold, and if someone who's 20 years younger (earning less) and less still has enough experience to do the job, then that's who should be hired.
Americans think they should get paid this year based on what they were paid last year, plus a couple of percent, but it doesn't work that way. At some point you have to compete with the market, even if the market is willing to earn less than you are earning.
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