Ageism in the job market: what is it?

Ageism in the job market is a topic that has become increasingly popular in recent times, where the fight for equality has become frequent.

What is ageism?

The fight against prejudice and exclusion becomes increasingly frequent as society evolves.

This is because it is known that discriminatory practices harm social progress, in addition to being criminal.

Thus, new terms emerge every day, seeking to include and highlight the struggles of groups that suffer harm and discrimination in society.

One of these terms is ageism, which has been gaining a lot of space on social media, and especially in the job market.

But, after all, what is ageism? Where is it observed? How does it present itself in job market?

When we talk about ageism, we are referring to prejudiced practices and speech that target the victim's age.

Therefore, it is correct to say that in ageism the individual is judged and excluded because of being older.

For a practical example, we just need to ask ourselves some questions:

Have you ever seen someone lose a job because of their age?

Have you ever heard of entertainment venues that are only for young people?

Or, have you ever heard someone say that “so-and-so is too old to do that”?

In all examples, however commonplace they may seem, ageism is very present.

The big problem with ageism is that it harms the social, professional and personal lives of those who are no longer young.

This is because, in ageism, an individual who is over 40 years old is already seen as someone who is no longer useful, or who is outdated, which makes them disregarded or excluded.

But how does ageism work in the job market?

We'll see soon!

Characteristics of ageism in the labor market

At this point we already understand what ageism is and how it interferes in people's lives.

This is because the idea that age is an impediment to social life is completely absurd and prejudiced.

But, if there is one sector in which ageism has been dealt with vigorously, it is the job market.

After all, it's not new to hear cases where an excellent employee was fired to make room for someone younger.

Or, that an extremely capable employee was excluded from a project because they were looking for “young and innovative minds”.

These and many other similar situations happen for one reason: the idea that age makes people disposable.

However, it is a fact that an individual's age does not exclude their skills, nor does it prevent them from continuing to evolve and learn in their profession.

After all, if a young person can learn and create new projects, why can't someone older?

Isn't experience an important factor in getting good projects? Yes, it is!

But until this mentality changes, people over 40 years old will continue to suffer the following losses:

Difficulty in finding vacancies;
Exclusion of relevant projects in the company;
Difficulty in integrating with the team;
Dismissals after a certain number of years with the company;
Need to modify or hide appearance to maintain position;
Among other losses.

And it is important to remember that combating ageism is everyone's responsibility. After all, who isn't going to get old? And who would like to suffer these losses when that happens?

Let's now look at common characteristics of ageism in the job market, so that you can identify the problem!

Vacancies with a defined age: a good example of ageism in the job market

A classic characteristic of ageism in the job market is finding vacancies with a defined age.

After all, why does an office need an accountant who is up to 30 years old?

What prevents a 40 or 50 year old employee from performing the same service?

Or, why would a restaurant want to hire only receptionists under 25? Women over 30 can certainly do the job perfectly!

There are cases where age really does interfere, but these only occur on occasions where the body is used in an exhaustive and specific way.

For example, if the vacancy is to join the professional gymnastics team, age may be considered.

But, in these vacancies this is already implied, since the function itself justifies it.

In this case, we are not talking about specific occasions, but rather cases where age does not interfere in any way in the day-to-day professional life, but is still used as an elimination criterion in interviews.

Exclusion of older people from certain activities

If you have ever noticed that the new project team in your company is always made up of young people, then you can often see ageism in the job market.

This often happens because many people have the misconception that young minds are more innovative and take more risks.

But what is the point of believing that age removes creativity and innovation from people's minds? None!

In any case, it is sad to see excellent employees being wasted and excluded from new projects, simply because only the youngest are considered for the team.

Excluding someone from an activity because of their age, without justification, is a common practice in ageism.

Requirements regarding appearance

There are those who believe that demanding standards related to appearance is simply gender bias.

And, in fact, this is a common practice in gender discrimination, where women must have their nails done and hair brushed to be taken seriously.

But, if we consider that many of the requirements are to hide age, this also demonstrates ageism in the job market.

Makeup to hide wrinkles and blemishes, dye to disguise gray hair, and modern clothes to look younger are classic demands of ageism.

This is because the idea is always the same: that the employee looks young or doesn't look as old as he is.

But why should age be hidden or disguised?

Good appearance is a common and fair request, as long as it respects the employee and does not try to change him or her or reduce him to unreasonable expectations.

Therefore, it is clear that appearance requirements are common in the age group in the job market!

Advantages of hiring older professionals

After everything we saw, it became clear that ageism in the job market is not as alien an issue as it seemed.

After all, even though it is not always obvious, the professional market frequently excludes older professionals.

But the good news is that now you know what this term is, and how to identify its practices in your day-to-day life.

Therefore, all that remains is for us to highlight the advantages of hiring older professionals.

This is because, if on one hand we have many people creating lies about the subject, we must combat it with arguments that favor these hirings.

And, as we have already seen, many of the beliefs do not make any sense, since age does not remove skills or impede professional development.

But what if we told you that hiring experienced employees has benefits?

Let's look at some of the advantages observed below:

Greater professional experience;
Maturity in relationships;
Monitoring market changes;
Experience with adversity;
Custom with change of leadership;
History that enables us to bring solutions to the company.
Among other advantages.

So, now that you know the advantages of having professionally experienced people on your team, age has certainly become just a detail!

Enjoy and read it too 👉 College after 40, to go or not to go?

Roberta August 24, 2023

Career