The elephant in the interview room: Are you being passed over because of age?

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><b><i><span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana; font-size: medium;"></span></i></b></span><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal arial, helvetica;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" id="tblContent"><tbody><tr id="trContent"><td align="center" class="cb_style tcContent" id="tcContent" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><div class="cbArticleWrapper" style="background-color: white; text-align: left; width: 750px;"><div class="cbArticleContentWrapper" style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 15px; margin-top: 15px; width: 750px;"><div class="cbArticleRight" style="width: 560px;"><div class="RXart" style="padding-right: 20px;"><div class="ArticleHeadline" style="margin-top: -30px;"><b><span id="cbArticle_lblByLine">Beth Braccio Hering, Special to CareerBuilder</span></b><br /><br /><div class="cbmsnArticleImage"><img alt="" src="http://emj.cbdr.com/artieimages/lh/ar5l0b76g736my59d1lh.gif?time=6/7/2011%2011:46:29%20am" /></div></div><br /><div class="ArticleContent"><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">"I can see the look in people's eyes when they first greet me," says Bill Wood, a 64-year-old from<a href="http://www.careerbuilder.com/jobs/Minnesota/" style="color: #3300cc; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">Minneapolis, Minn., </a>who is looking for a job in information technology. "It seems to say, 'This guy is going to retire soon; we don't want a short-term permanent employee.'"</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Cyndi Pauwels, a <a href="http://www.careerbuilder.com/jobs/keyword/writer/" style="color: #3300cc; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">writer</a> in her 50s from Yellow Springs, <a href="http://www.careerbuilder.com/jobs/ohio/" style="color: #3300cc; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">Ohio</a>, has had similar experiences. "I was told (second-hand, off-the-record) by a headhunter, 'We don't hire older workers.' I've read that the longer I'm unemployed, the less likely my chances are of finding anything, and I'm beginning to believe it."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The current recession has been particularly hard on older job candidates. In March 2011, the duration of unemployment for all seekers averaged 39 weeks. But in April, the average length of unemployment for people over 55 surpassed the year mark (53.6 weeks), according to an AARP analysis of Labor Department data. And while age discrimination is illegal, that certainly doesn't mean it isn't happening. Complaints filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have increased 35 percent over the last three government fiscal years compared with the average of the three years prior.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">What is behind the longer length of unemployment? Lisa Quast, author of "Your Career, Your Way!" and president of Career Woman Inc. in <a href="http://www.careerbuilder.com/jobs/washington/seattle/" style="color: #3300cc; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">Seattle, Wash</a>., notes the following:</div><ul type="disc"><li>Corporate downsizing during the recession eliminated many of the middle-management positions previously held by older workers.</li> <li>There are more <a href="http://www.careerbuilder.com/jobs/keyword/entry+level/" style="color: #3300cc; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">entry-level</a> positions available, and these are the positions into which young people are being hired. Higher-level positions are less numerous and harder to obtain, so it can take longer for older workers to find an equivalent position to what they previously held.</li> <li>Older workers are further up the career and salary ladder. Many do not want to take a position beneath their skill level, so they hold out on accepting lower-level positions, thus increasing the duration it takes to find a position.</li></ul><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Yet even when older workers are willing to settle for less, they often get passed over. "I have dropped my salary expectations to allow me to compete with younger candidates," Wood says. "The philosophy of industry in the past was to bring in 'young guns' that have fresh ideas and ways of doing things. Unfortunately for people in a similar position as me, companies are not changing that attitude and are missing out on a golden opportunity to improve the business by utilizing experience."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Older workers often are perceived as outdated or stuck in their ways. Such stereotypes can be hard to shatter, but not impossible. "Show some enthusiasm. Discuss how you have been innovative and are a life-long learner," says Robin Ryan, author of "Over 40 & You're Hired!" "Demonstrate on a résumé and in interviews the results you have achieved in the last few years. Show recent training (especially your technical prowess) and innovations made on the job, such as creating something new, making process/system improvements or saving past employers money." Ryan also notes that many mature workers appear "weather-worn and tired out" and suggests looking as vibrant as possible with a new hairstyle and a contemporary, well-fitting suit.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">While being lively is one thing, trying to hide your age can backfire. "In some cases, I see older workers removing the dates of their college degree(s) or their earliest jobs from their résumé in order to appear younger," Quast says. "However, savvy hiring managers are able to see the candidates in person and guesstimate age -- and may then be forced to ask candidates to explain holes in their résumé, leading to questions of integrity and additional embarrassment."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Focusing on what you can offer a company (wisdom and experience) rather than what you can't (youth) oftentimes sets the tone. "If you sense the hiring manager is worried about your age, then take the first step to put him at ease by explaining how you believe your knowledge, skills and experience would benefit him and the position," Quast says. "If you choose to ask about his concerns, do so in a highly professional manner, such as, 'Based on my education, skills and experience, are there any concerns you have that I am not qualified for this position?' The goal is to get the hiring manager to show his hand without you having to bring up the topic of age."</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Finally, resist making blanket assumptions that companies only value youth. "The real-life experience of older workers can be of huge benefit in the business world, especially for start-up companies with a lot of young workers," Quast says. "If you are truly worried about your age being a negative factor, seek out companies who could benefit from your expertise and sell them on yourself and your skills!"</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i>Beth Braccio Hering researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues for CareerBuilder. Follow @Careerbuilder on Twitter.</i></div></div></div></div></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table>

The elephant in the interview room: Are you being passed over because of age?

Beth Braccio Hering, Special to CareerBuilder "I can see the look in people's eyes when they first greet me," says Bill Wood, ...

Read more »

GOODBYE OLD CONTINENT Part 2

<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">NON EXISTING MULTICULTURAL AWARENESS</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></b></span><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Lack of multicultural awareness and the unwillingness of center right politicians to promote immigration cause a negative chain reaction which in the long run will have devastating consequences for Europe as an entity.   </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">In this day and age to isolate one from multicultural influences is something no county can afford, nevertheless Europe is doing exactly that, thanks to the growing ultra conservative political movements that currently are sweeping across Europe. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">The signs are not looking promising. Ultra nationalistic and conservative politics foster hate and limit visionary thinking.  Right governments and political movements use the aging generation’s fear of foreign “invasions” in their live, in order to achieve their objectives, which are to isolate themselves and their countries. Increasing hostility towards immigrants and foreign visitors in Europe is on the increase. Multicultural awareness among the young and old generation in Central Europe is almost none existent.  Prejudice is ever present.  German speaking countries in Europe generally look down upon Mediterranean people, considering them as lazy and corrupt and thus regard themselves superior. Southern European countries on the other hand look at the northern Europe as being arrogant who lack empathy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">If common people of the European Union lack multicultural awareness, one cannot expect politicians in Brussels to have a broader vision. Europe’s diversity in cultures is also its subsequent downfall as a continent. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>RIGHT VERSUS LEFT </b><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">(edited version)</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Where as in South America, which most of the industrial world severely underestimates, there is a political center left move and growing economy, Europe moves in the opposite direction. Most of Central Europe now has center right governments and a stagnating economic growth rate. The right plays with the fear of the common man regarding immigration and the subsequent loss of national identity jobs etc. The European left on the other hand promotes ideas and ideologies that are out of context in the current political and economic situation. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">With a dangerous shift to the right, Europe also faces the dilemma on disintegration versus integration of immigrants. Foreigners are simply not welcome and more. Countries such as Austria implemented one of the harshest immigration policies in Europe, thus exposing itself to the dilemma of loosing qualified and experienced workforce needed to fill the void in certain industry sectors. In recent past Germany was short of 10 000 engineers but refused to facilitate immigration policies in order to permit Asian workforce to fill the void.  </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>

GOODBYE OLD CONTINENT Part 2

NON EXISTING MULTICULTURAL AWARENESS   Lack of multicultural awareness and the unwillingness of center right politicians to promote immigra...

Read more »