Working Age

Although the recruiting industry is making efforts to create an equitable and fair process, there are still a lot of prejudgements that affect job candidates that are hard to remove. This problem has deeply impacted people around us since 2008.

The systemic challenges of exclusive practices in hiring processes have been a part of our reality since we were teenagers. Marta initially identified an opportunity when two of her immediate family members were explicitly discriminated against based on their age and years of experience. Her father has not received a full-time offer of employment for 15 years and her brother has struggled to find his first job for two years.

We have been educating ourselves on HR practices and trends in Europe and the United States since 2021. In addition, conducting market research in the past couple of months has allowed us to gain objective insights into market trends and needs. Our conversations have cemented our hypotheses.

We are extremely passionate about increasing inclusion in the workforce and, consequently, in the workplace. Working Age fights age discrimination by providing a platform that, while attractive to employers, challenges the way candidates are considered, hired, and rejected.

If you’re interested in learning more about some of the existing literature on this topic, please read the paragraphs below.

In a study in 2017, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco found that job applicants between the ages of 64 and 66 were 47% less likely to be contacted by an employer after submitting a job application than applicants between the ages of 29 and 31 with similar qualifications (Rester & Rosengren 2017). Similarly, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in 2019 found that older workers in the technology industry face a variety of barriers, including negative stereotypes about their technological abilities, age-related bias during the hiring process, and a lack of training opportunities that could help them keep their skills up-to-date (GAO 2019). The same challenges are relevant to younger applicants looking for their first job.

A 2018 study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that younger job seekers may experience age discrimination in the hiring process, particularly when applying for jobs that require experience (Kurtulus, F. A., & Tomaskovic-Devey 2018). In addition, a 2017 report by the Center for American Progress found that younger workers, particularly those from marginalized communities, face a variety of barriers when entering the job market, including age-related bias and negative stereotypes about their abilities and work ethic (Center for American Progress 2017). Many applicants in these buckets would benefit tremendously from mentorship opportunities, as well as training on being a “good cultural fit” to the companies seeking to employ them.

Cited Sources:

Center for American Progress. (2017). The State of the U.S. Labor Market: Pre-February 2017 Jobs Release. Original link: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/reports/2017/02/27/427040/the-state-of-the-u-s-labor-market-pre-february-2017-jobs-release/

Indeed. (2017). Ageism in the Tech Industry. Original link: https://www.indeed.com/hire/c/info/ageism-in-the-tech-industry

Kurtulus, F. A., & Tomaskovic-Devey, D. (2018). The Intersection of Age and Experience: Examining Hiring Discrimination Across the Life Span. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103(7), 687–698. Original link: https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000309

Rester, B., & Rosengren, E. (2017). Is It Harder for Older Workers to Find Jobs? Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Original link: https://www.frbsf.org/economic-research/publications/economic-letter/2017/july/is-it-harder-for-older-workers-to-find-jobs/

U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). (2019). Older Workers: Employment and Retirement Trends in the Tech Sector. Original link: https://www.gao.gov/assets/710/698896.pdf

Built With

• bubble
• wordpress