Age prejudice

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Sad news from recruitment and HR consultants Hudson recently. Its survey of 8,345 employers found only 40.7 per cent was tapping into the valuable talent pool represented by mature workers. Hudson CEO Anne Hatton said there had been a slight improvement in the last two years.

However, it seems to me that still too many companies are showing a lack of vision when hiring and creating diverse work places. Ms Hatton said the Hudson findings were a "wake up call" to companies struggling with the skills shortage. I still hear from plenty of older candidates who say they are being asked their age at interviews - very wrong.  I also receive emails from older people battling clichéd beliefs in the workplace such as that older people shun change.

That is just plain wrong along with other notions such as that older people hate technology or that they pose a higher occupational health & safety risk. So who are the people really resistant to change? I would suggest those with age prejudice. Last year the Australian Human Resources Institute trained 50 HR managers to be agents of change and now the Recruitment & Consulting Services Association has stepped up its own efforts to promote mature workers.

More on that next week. In the meantime, I am looking for some positive stories about older people and work so if you have one, go to the CareerOne website and click on Kate's Blog. I'll start things off next week by outlining the RCSA's efforts to change the attitudes of recruiters and employers. And by the way "mature workers" start at about age 45 - ridiculous!

By Kate Southam, Editor of careerone.com.au

Visit CareerOne and read the Blog with posts from "Ask Kate" and other job seekers - www.careerone.com.au and click on Kate's Blog on the home page.