Job seeker, 50, accuses employers of ‘blatant ageism’
George Reynolds, a business consultant from Kildare, sent out 200 job applications — 100 describing himself as s 30-year-old and the other half giving his age as 50.
He received a 50% response rate as a 30-year-old but only two responses as a 50-year-old.
“I felt this was purely down to age as I kept everything apart from (the amount of) experience the same,” Mr Reynolds told RTÉ Radio’s Tubridy show yesterday.
“Obviously a 30-year-old does not have as much experience (as a 50-year-old) but they got more offers,” he said.
Mr Reynolds embarked on the experiment while he was looking for work after losing his job.
Over a period of two years he applied for jobs, keeping the applications broadly similar apart from the age.
He said the difference in response rates for different ages showed employers were discriminating against older workers. Mr Reynolds said he also noted that the responses he got were chiefly from women with modern names like “Britney or Carina”.
He claimed the names indicated that the people in charge of recruitment at firms were younger and could be biased in favour of people of a similar age.
But he insisted employers benefited from employing older people as a diverse workforce made good business sense.
“Smaller companies are the best target for older job applicants.
“The larger companies don’t seem to appreciate that diverse workforces drive innovation,” he said.
Yesterday employers’ organisation IBEC said companies who failed to employ older workers missed out on potential experience and wisdom.
“Additionally, companies with an age range of customers should have a workforce reflecting that,” said head of social policy and education Tony Donohoe, who is in his 50s.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions said the national Towards 2016 agreement contained a commitment to age equality of workers.
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