Age Discrimination in the Work Place

A friend and former mentor messaged me about a woman he’s mentoring. Apparently she reminded him of me at a similar age. I always felt I had so much to prove because I was young (uni at 17 anyone?) and also female. Could I help out? Phil had been a great mentor to me so of course I could. We started our chat, I’m guessing she was in her late 20s, and I can see she’s doing this phenomenal role, but she’s just hitting that career block. She went on to tell me about an experience she’d had replying for a role. She’s managing a HUGE project and had gone for a promotion via a professional recruiter. The recruiter said frankly you are too young, you use your hands too much, you are too animated and too confident. You’re over prepared for this interview and it feels like you are trying too hard. Basically, I don’t think someone your age should have been shortlisted for this.  I was gobsmacked and angry.  .That feedback was just subjective and frankly unhelpful. I was also very angry! My advice to this women? Write back and say I’ve been reflecting on our conversation and the feedback you provided and in relation to the above, I felt the feedback was unnecessary personal. I was professionally prepared, I was encouraged to apply for the role and I addressed the key selection criteria. I recognise I might not have been the successful candidate on this occasion, but the feedback you provided me needs to be reflective of the professionalism I’ve put into this process -  and CC it up the line.  Not surprisingly the experience was incredibly demoralising for this woman. It’s not an isolated case either, I’m sure there are plenty of people reading this who have come across age or gender discrimination.  I’m just bloody annoyed that 20 years on from when I worked with Phil it’s still happening. It shouldn’t matter how old you are. If you are acquitting yourself with your outcomes and are successful in a role, it’s nobody’s business how old you are. In the case of the woman’s interview, the recruitment company were getting a tasty commission for their work, but they weren’t acting in a way that was reflective of the organisation's values and behaviours. If they were, it’s not one you want to work for.  My second piece of advice to her was to choose a job based on who you want to work for. Don’t be obsessed with a job title, an industry or job classification. If you choose people that share your values, that want you to go out there and nail your job, then you’ll be in a good place for success. I’ve found that actively searching out diversity for our organisation is key to our company performing outstandingly. We look for diversity across gender, age, culture, background and skill set. While we are an engineering company we look to all disciplines for best practice, and we employ and recognise non-engineering roles within BVT as equally valuable. We need to be constantly aware that it’s not just one discipline that drives our company. Studies have shown companies with more diversity have 19% higher revenue due to innovation, so there’s a very good reason to select employers who value this.