Posted on 06/09/2019 5:15:35 AM PDT by Galatians328
Large organizations really don't like to hire new employees over age 35, for the following reasons:
1) Their healthcare costs are much higher.
2) Marriage/family/children are draining their attention away from work.
3) Though they may still be productive, it is unlikely they can be conned into working 12-hour days out of appeals to loyalty, the way new graduates can.
4) Younger employees can bring much more mental energy to the job than they cost in salary, At 40+ a company is probably paying for exactly what it gets...so companies think in an age where experience is far less important than mental agility and learning speed, why not get more for your money?
Corporations have studied the labor/wage arbitrage very carefully, and don't like hiring employees on the downside of the curve unless there is some special knowledge or ability involved. And age 50 is pretty much a hard cut-off date, except for senior executives.
My only question is - since companies have figured this out, why can't US Senate voters understand it? :)
The good people I know in the 40-65 age bracket have all moved on to work for smaller companies or consulting firms - or have gone into business for themselves, which is what every American should be planning to do at some point - starting at age 18. The glass ceiling isn't just for women, and your chances of lasting until age 65 at a "secure job" in the private sector in these times are minimal.
Most HR people I have known over the years have an unhealthy combination of being both lazy and power hungry.
They are among the last to arrive and the first to leave during the workday. Most are too lazy to even read resumes. They have software to do it for them which either looks for certain key words or tosses out those which don't meet certain arbitrary and often irrelevant criteria.
They see themselves as enforces of political correctness and screens to keep out candidates who don't fit their ideal mold. They are like the homosexual left-- obsessed with young and not too white.
The best thing the Trump economy has done is to tighten the labour market so much that these jag-offs actually have to do some real work.
Work isn’t always where you want it to be.
That’s true for every age cohort.
Guys, why are so many allowing data sourced to Pro Public and the Urban Institute to get their knickers in a knot?
This is a very serious issue in tech, particularly in Silicon Valley. One of the top tech companies in the world that I spent a couple of years with has been accused so often of age bias that they now send out an age breakdown sheet with their annual RIFs.
Funny thing is, even that sheet shows a bias toward cutting mature employees.
Talent and good work has little influence in their lay-off patterns. I saw some very talented hard-working people regularly let go. If you’re over 40 in Silicon Valley, you have a big target on your back.
“...hired younger at less pay.”
I’d bet this is the real cause. It’s just the 80/20 rule in action. If you can hire somebody with 80% of the knowledge of another but hire them for 60% of the salary...
Women often demand less too, making them fit the bracket.
It’d be nice if age weren’t part of the competitive landscape. The fact is that it is. It can also be a pro and a con. We have to plan on these changes, what can I bring to the table that somebody much younger can’t?
This is why I stopped writing code and took on the responsibility of architecture for many. Competing with engineers in India, at their salary, is something I could do when I was younger but it isn’t a secure option later in life (even if I’m much better than them, it’s hard to prove during an interview or on a resume). I have to do the things they can’t. Assuming I can just do the same job until retirement is naive.
The secret to avoiding all of this is to go to work for yourself. Control your own destiny. That's what I did when the last company I worked for closed their doors and pulled out of town.
I was in the mortgage banking business, which is very competitive and waxes and wanes with the rise and fall of the interest rates. My resume was getting so long it looked like a book.
I'm 71 now and am retired and raise beef cattle on our farm. But I still run three small businesses out of my home. My customers, my vendors, my cows, no one cares how old I am or where I'm located.
I wouldn't want to go back to "work" at my age anyway. Working hours? Commute to a workplace? Dress code? Sexual harassment dangers lurking around every corner? Someone less experienced telling me what to do? Sorry, but I want none of that.
Start a small business or two and tell the workday world to take their jobs and shove it.
HOUSEHOLD DATA Table A-9. Selected employment indicators [Numbers in thousands] Age and Sex
Bkmk
In the Milwaukee area right now with 3.2% unemployment, many employers are so desperate for workers they don’t care if you have the skill they need as they will train you - what the care about is will you show up, will you do the work. Age doesn’t matter if you can meet those 2 qualifications.
There is explicit age discrimination, but the real problem is that there is no longer any appreciation for experience, knowledge, intelligence, or hard work. I’ve been in these new environments, and I will tell you that they are operating at a small fraction of the efficiency the old systems, unburdened by political correctness and government regulations, were able to produce. We older folks (over 45 or so) find the new order bewildering and depressing. There is no relation between productivity and success.
I like to think I’ve gone Galt, but really, I was forced to go Galt.
It’s a shock to bring in a very good pay check for years, and then because you are over 40, and laid off, you know you will never make that same pay again in any job you might find... because you are now considered old.
Used to be that experience meant something and age did not matter... greed took over since then.. I do remember those times/years... greed=hiring younger inexperienced and paying less.
It’s just a lot of big companies still look for, even if they won’t say it, someone who can be with the company POSSIBLY 30 or 40 years.
At my age, 51, that ain’t happening.
I have a job and I get offers because my work is considered contract and no one NEEDS for you to be around in 25 years, but I can feel the difference from even 40.
I know a guy who works for a state agency that has to dye his naturally gray beard a dark color. He said if he didn’t, his working conditions would change dramatically.
They look to hire only young people right out of college, and they have an expectation that these young employees will stay for a few years and then move on to "greener pastures." They only want to keep these young employees as long as they are still on their parents' medical insurance plans -- up to the age of 26.
This is what happens when you have a national economy built on a model where health coverage is tied to employment.
I am 80-ish & probably still able for some type of job, but at my age?? HAH! Yet they would hire some young, inexperienced guy who might outlive me easily, but won’t last on that job. I remember before I had turned 65(retirement age at the time)everyone kept asking....”when you gonna retire”? My thought was....”someday when I get something to retire on” They say experience really counts...only if you’re young enough & have it. There are exceptions of course.
I’m 70 and working for $15/hour as an electronic technician with 50 years experience at a small electronics firm that did just over $1,000,000 sales last year.
I also do light machining, mechanical design, mil-spec soldering, QC/QA, some production and manufacturing engineering, drafting, test fixture design and construction, returned product failure analysis and assorted housekeeping tasks as required.
I’m happy with the pay because no other company would hire me at my age or give me the flexibility to care for my wife who is currently in home hospice care.
Corporate HR departments define a ‘corporate culture’ and hire on that basis rather than looking at the ability and experience of the individual. It’s one of the reasons China is gradually overtaking us technologically and has superseded us in manufacturing.
Try and get a job in Silicon Valley if you’re over 40.....very tough
Yes. I’m 65 and have been an adjunct teacher at a two year college for ten years. Before that, I worked as a senior scientist for a biotech, with a proven track record of success. After my last company folded I saw the younger employees snapped up quickly. Me? “We’re not looking for someone with your ..’experience’.” I’m grateful to have my present job which pays the bills. I will be able to retire in a couple of years, living on social security and my investments
When I turned 60, I started getting junk mail from Funeral Homes.
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