Ageism

This controversial subject is something everyone but the job seeker denies. Ageism in the job market is real and a prevalent factor for mature job seekers. It is surprising at this time of discrimination awareness that people of mature ages are experiencing discrimination. I have personally experienced this and witnessed other mature people who were having extreme difficulty getting employment. Most of these people were quite professional and some of them were brilliant.

During my unemployed time, I attended several workshops covering all the different aspects of job hunting. Mentioning ageism in any of these workshops usually brings up protests from the organizers. The instruction was that as a job seeker we do not dare even think about the ageism too much. Focusing on age can put us in the frame of mind where any little thing can point toward age discrimination and affect the way we communicated with potential employers.

In one of these workshops a women with white gray hair asked if her hair color could be a problem when searching for a job. The response to suggest that she dye her hair, and that the director of this workshop actually has very gray hair under the brown dye she wears on her head. The explanation was that we judge each other based on our appearance and gray hair may indicate that you may not be on that job very long or slow to pick up new skills. This admission is proof that ageism is a definite issue despite efforts to deny it.