Ageism
Part of my severance agreement with my former employer includes career transition support provided by an external firm, which hosts frequent events on topics of interest to job seekers. I’ve attended webinars on networking, LinkedIn, resume development, the use of AI in the job search process. They have been very helpful.
The firm serves a global population. In every webinar so far, regardless of topic, at least one attendee has asked about ageism.
“Ageism” is discrimination against an individual based on their age. This discrimination can go both ways: you are too old, or you are too young.
How is this identified in a job application?
Age can be surmised by years of experience and college graduation date.
Race and gender can be inferred by someone’s name.
A name commonly considered to be “feminine” could be discriminated against if the college graduation date aligns with someone in their late 20s or early 30s, which is child-bearing age. This person could be considered a risk for maternity leave or voluntary resignation after a child is born.
A person with 20+ years of experience could be presumed to be retiring within the next 10 years.
Age is a federally protected status, like a disability. Disability and sexual orientation can also be assumed based on volunteer experience.
The risk of discrimination has always existed. This is not anything new, and it cannot be blamed on AI.
Our current job search environment is so difficult and so competitive because of the number of corporations who are executing broad layoffs of functions that could be delivered by AI. One company could lay off hundreds of thousands of people on the same day.
Therefore, the number of people applying for jobs is substantially higher. Companies are using ATS software to filter applicants for efficiency and expedite the process.
How does an automated applicant tracking system (ATS) work?
In an ATS, the company is entering specific criteria for the ATS. It is illegal for a company to enter a timespan as a filter.
Filters can include:
Skills
Rank: senior, lead, manager
Industry: legal, fulfillment, financial
The ATS is given a parameter of resumes to move forward based on the close date. Let’s say the close date is April 30 and 500 resumes. The ATS provides a database to the hiring team of the applicants whose resumes met the most criteria specified by the hiring team.
500 resumes is still an inconceivable volume for one person to review. The hiring team may run that database of 500 resumes through additional rounds of automated elimination based on more specific keywords.
If a company or hiring team has set your resume aside because you are “too old” or “too young,” then you don’t want to work for them anyway.
Before ATS, the human reviewing your resume could still have set it aside based on their opinions. It would be illegal for the hiring firm to use a range of years of experience as criteria. ATS software probably doesn’t even offer that option as a filter because it would be illegal.
By the time your resume gets to the hiring team, it has probably been reviewed multiple times by an ATS and narrowed down from 500 applicants to a manageable pool, like 50. The hiring team reviews those resumes personally, then schedules the first interview.
This process also takes time. Even an automated process.
Focus on what you can control.
If submitting resumes isn’t working:
Connect with recruiters and other placement firms.
Call companies that you are interested in.
Apply to jobs that aren’t on your “career path.”
