A recent question on LinkedIn about age in the hiring process read “Should Age Be a Factor When Hiring an Employee?”The question should be “Is age a factor?” rather than “Should age be a factor?” The answer to both questions is yes.Age is very definitely a factor in the hiring process and without a doubt discrimination happens across the world on a daily basis.
On the other hand age is also a factor in experience and certain positions can best be filled by people with more than a number of years in the trenches completing the required tasks.
Instead of leaping to the conclusion that because someone is older that they are incapable of undertaking certain tasks employers should consider the benefits.
Experienced employees (aka older) often know how to work smarter, their experience in the trenches or management has taught them the shortcuts to delivering quality work on time.
Statistically older workers take less time off than younger workers, think about it, the kids have left home and there is no school to worry about.
There are older workers who have achieved their career goals and now are more interested in having something to do and somewhere to go rather than rushing to climb the corporate ladder again.
I have also heard the complaint that older workers are not going to stay long; they will probably leave within a few years. Guess what, the average employee only stays between 2 and 3 years now, how worse off could you be hiring someone who will probably demonstrate loyalty to your company.
Anyway, give older workers a chance; they are productive, conscientious and usually loyal to a fault.
Good hunting
Barry
[...] – Young or old, there are a lot of hang-ups employers have in regard to age. Every employer wants someone who’s there to work long-term, because training a new employee [...]