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Originally Posted by rechu
I'm not sure if I've been through it personally, but I definitely agree it exists. I am about your age. The last time I was job hunting was about 3 years ago.
It took me 6 months to get an offer and I had to start off as freelance before getting a real contract and benefits. I got few calls for interviews. I am fortunate I look young for my age, but in this country you are supposed to include your birth date on your resume. People say for women, 45 is when it seems to kick in here. So, maybe in some cases I didn't get called in for an interview due to age.
It is scary when you consider that at this age we need to be saving as much as possible for retirement. And, now, many governments want to raise the retirement age or have already it. Who is going to want to hire someone at 65, 67? As the article said many people never find a stable job after being laid off in their 50s.
I have a friend who is quite a bit older than me. She was laid off in the financial crisis in the US in 2009. She was 60, but a "young" 60 I guess you could say. She was in good health, energetic and a hard worker. She had planned to put off retirement to 67 or 68 to improve her Social Security benefits and increase her savings. However, she never was able to find another job.
She took unemployment benefits for as long as she could and she had some severance pay to live on. Fortunately, at that time the time to receive unemployment benefits had been extended due to the recession. Once those and the severance ran out, she had to go on Social Security much earlier than she had planned, with a lower benefit.
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That's what articles also say about when ageism kicks in with ALL companies -- some types more than others -- for women its their 40s. You see it even in Hollywood with actresses complaining that parts are only written for younger women.
When will society as a whole, stop the misogynistic patriarchy that runs it? That's the whole problem: men run the world, not women, despite our best efforts to we always get squashed by little "men boys."
Just today, I read in my local newspaper that a county office fired 24 county workers so that they wouldn't have to pay their severance or Cobra health insurance benefits. How sick is that? Most of those county workers fired were women, who had NO black marks on their employment record. Just were fired out of the blue without warning. One woman sued the county and got her job reinstated and a county representative -- a man -- responded with a statement representing the county, basically saying, "we disagree with the court's ruling b/c we treat our employees fairly." Yet they fired these women so they would save money, by not having to pay them severance or health insurance via Cobra. That is disgusting to me. Truly disgusting.
It IS frightening when you think about the way our government in the U.S. won't support elderly people who work. You literally can't collect social security until your 55+ so if you are in between like me, age 48, you're screwed for financial assistance unless you are a woman who is being beaten, or a single mother. But if you are a healthy, single adult woman, looking for a job, good luck getting county resources to help you. Pfft.
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Originally Posted by sarahsweets
Agisim is very real. And it makes no sense. I think some of it has to do with being able to pay a 20 year old less than someone with experience.
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I think you are on to something.
Tech companies admit to actively targeting younger workers for jobs - TechRepublic
Age Discrimination: Older Applicants vs. "Young Pretty People" - Jobscan Blog
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Experience Ranges – Companies illegally discourage older candidates by putting a cap on experience. “They’ll say, ‘we want 5-7 years experience,’” explained Tuerk. “In other words, if you come in with 10, 15, 20, 25 years experience, they’re not even gonna look at you.” Again, this practice can be seen in wide use by searching Google for Jobs.
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Ad Targeting – Big corporations including T-Mobile and Amazon were recently named in a lawsuit for allegedly using Facebook’s ad targeting to serve job ads to people in select age ranges, “limiting some only to people younger than 38.”
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“Age discrimination is one of those [biases] that is the hardest to block when you’re dealing with resumes,” said Dobbins, noting the reliance on dates and experience. It can be painful to leave anything off for an applicant with a deep body of work, but recruiters see it as one of the primary strategies for combating age discrimination.
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Originally Posted by rechu
Sarahsweets - yeah, I wonder if that is what is going on at my workplace. When I started the department was people in their 30s and 40s with decent work experience.
Now, my boss hires solely young women recently out of school with no experience; when the job description asks for previous editorial or research experience. I wonder if it's because they can pay them less. I know at least two live with their parents still, so they don't have the expenses those of us living independently do.
Sadly, it has really made the environment in the department go downhill. They have no clue how to act professionally; It feels like junior high. And, worse, since they kiss the boss's butt, she gives them extra responsibilities that they are not qualified to take on.
Several co-workers that have been in the department longer have expressed this opinion. It's not just me. They are also the ones that have been caught doing things to artificially boost their stats - and one is doing it now; she just hasn't been found out yet.
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Your boss is definitely promoting ageism in the workplace based on hiring only young, inexperienced women who are clueless with no relevant job experience. That is what I"m up against in the job market for just a receptionist job. I mean, WTF!
That was one of the benefits of living with my mother as a 48 year old woman; I had a safety net while I looked for a job. Now? Safety net is gone completely. Sure, I got lucky enough to rent a guest bedroom out for the next 3 months in a nice home of a nice person.
But that is a pretty tight window for me to try to find a full-time job, knowing that these young recruiters are age discriminating against me b/c my relevant experience goes back to 1996, which I'm constantly told not to include on my resume. Well, if I don't include it, then I won't eve be noticed by prospective employers.