By Natasha Lomas, 9 December 2008 10:00
NEWS
The majority of UK tech workers think their industry is ageist and firmly believe if you're aged over 40 getting an IT job is an uphill struggle.
Just over half (52 per cent) of respondents to the exclusive silicon.com 2008 Skills Survey agreed or strongly agreed the IT industry is ageist - compared to just a fifth who held the opposite view.
Asked specifically whether employers are happy to recruite staff aged over 40, almost half of the respondents disagreed - or strongly disagreed - that this was the case. Less than a third (29 per cent) held the opposite view.
Back in October 2006, the UK government passed anti-ageism legislation making it illegal for companies to discriminate against individuals based on their age during the hiring process or when considering promotion or providing on-the-job training.
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However more than two years on, the survey reveals there is widespread disagreement as to whether the anti-ageism legislation has made job-hunting any easier for older IT workers.
The largest proportion of respondents - 52 per cent - said they did not know if the legislation has made it better for older workers. Almost a third (31 per cent) disagreed or strongly disagreed that the legislation has had an positive impact - and only less than a fifth (17 per cent) saying things have got better for 40+ techies.
Recent research conducted by the Prince's Initiative for Mature Enterprise, a charity which helps the over-50s set up in business themselves, found the vast majority (81 per cent) of people in that age group believe their age puts them at an automatic disadvantage in the world of work, compared to younger rivals.
The silicon.com 2008 Skills Survey results are based on responses from 711 individuals, most of whom reside in the UK.
Comments
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1. dr sardonicus
Depends what you mean by an IT job doesn't it? Seems fairly obvious to me that the closer to raw technology you get, the better qualified younger people will be - more likely to be recently trained in those or similar technologies , less likely to have heads full of older tech. On the other hand, the closer you get to the application of tech to business, the more valuable experience becomes, and the more credible in front of (particularly) senior level customers...
2. Karen Challinor
"The largest proportion of respondents - 52 per cent - said they did not know if the legislation has made it better for older workers. Almost a third (31 per cent) disagreed or strongly disagreed that the legislation has had an positive impact - and only less than a fifth (17 per cent) saying things have got better for 40+ techies"
perhaps you could have analyzed this by age of respondent and employment status
my prediction of that analysis is that those over 40 and out of work would say the legislation has not had a positive impact
3. Captain Sensible
Is the Pope catholic?
4. Charles Smith
I quickly gave up trying to get an IT job when I was made redundant at age 52. A few sample letters to recruitment agencies/employers made it abundantly clear that if you hinted at your age in the CV you would not get a response.
Unfortunately age discrimination by an employer or employment agency is not a criminal offence and you have to prove it to an industrial tribunal at your own risk of legal expenses (whilst not working). The odds remain heavily stacked in favour of the recruitment agencies and employers.
It would be far better if Parliament had made this a criminal offence subject to police investigation similar to racial discrimination. Send a few HR Directors to prison and this waste of talent would be resolved very quickly.
My solution was to form my own consultancy where I get paid rather more than my previous employer’s total package to me for doing similar work.
5. anonymous
I'm 59 and have been looking for a new job for the past 5 years. After applying for jobs I could do blindfold, it's strange how one "doesn't meet the job spec." is the usual response, or how the job spec changes from that advertised when you ask for reasons why you've not been considered.
Some blame can, perhaps, be placed at the door of agencies who, judging by their attempts at English in the job descriptions posted on various websites are staffed by people who cannot spell, cannot string together a sentence using the correct grammar, and clearly do not understand the meanings of words such as Manager. In view of the very high visibility of this material you would think that agency management would exercise a greater degree of control over what is put up for the public gaze so as not to undermine their own credibility, but apparently not.
Ageism is definitely rife and entrenched, but proving it is another matter. Perhaps it is youth intimidated by age. After all wisdom is age related: if you ain't old you ain't got it!
6. Martin Anderson
I speak as one who works for a company where the small high powered technical team is evenly split between under and over 40s.
I know people who are convinced they have been discriminated against (by other companies), yet when I imagine recruiting them I understand why they didn't get the job. Experience alone is not enough, you also need to bring enthusiasm and energy to the job. When people do that age should be no barrier.
7. anonymous
When I was about 52, I attempted to get almost any job in IT. I had studied (hard) for my MCSE and finally got it. I had a few good interviews (I thought) but was never offered a job. I know all the stuff about 'paper MSCEs' but I was prepared to take almost anything. I was very enthusiatic about IT and had a lot of practical experience but you could sometimes see that I didn't fit the mould so that was it. Finally, I gave up.
8. anonymous
The IT industry is ageist, NO question. The issue is that the older IT professionals produce more, are better at their jobs, do not take sikkies at the drop of a hat, don't have love life problems, don't spend time arranging their coming weekends starting on Tuesday, and all in all are far more productive. The problem is the younger element are worried about being shown up be an older person and so the ageism starts. It is exacerbated by the 20 year olds in the agencies who think anyone over 30 years of age is father of Methusala and will probably drop dead when the walk in through the office door!! If you want to stop ageism, start with the recruiters and HR departments - that is where the real problems lie. If they had to produce facts and figures about how many people in different age groups they actually placed compared to how many in each age group applied for roles, it would immediately show up where the ageism originates.
9. Graham Wharton
Captain sensible beat me to it.
Is the Pope Catholic? If you have the energy, you could make money by applying for jobs that say no experience required etc. Then when your application is rejected as it will be, you can enquire as to why you got rejected?
10. Simon Allen
Others have put in all the key components, perhaps I can draw some together. In this case, I use the masculine gender to reflect the reality but woman are just as guilty. Before I start EVERY business is the same, not just IT.
1) Most of the people putting candidates forward have ZERO idea about the work and might as well be selling classified adverts in the local paper. This has been done to save money. They cannot interview as they do not know about the biz and so they accept the bull$hit that folks put in their CV.
2) Most of the people making hiring decisions are line managers who are in their late 20s. They will NOT hire anyone who is old enough to be their big brother, leave alone father. They think they will be shown up - when the reality is that we will make them look good!!! We will fix the problems they created and smooth it all over. But they are not able to see that.
3) In permanent posts, ageism is regulated and can be monitored over the next ten years It's too early to tell if the laws are having an effect.
4) In CONTRACT work - where you have to make a fresh application every month/three months - then you can be discriminated against each and every time.
5) If they do not acknowledge receipt of your CV - they do not have to give an explanation as to why you did not get even short listed. "Hello? No, we didn't receive your CV and the deadline has now passed." Easy.
6) "You have too much experience" You can argue that you will work at below your normal level AND for less money but they still say no.
7) "You don't have the relevant experience" You point out that you have 25 years of experience and dealt with every new development in that time without training courses and that you will work at below your normal level AND for less money ... but you just know that you are wasting your breath.
8) I learnt about the ageist gap when I was 32 and working in the City. I saw that my colleagues never hired anyone that was closer to them than two years in age.
I hired a technician who was 52. After he had been with me for six months, he said, "When I came in for the interview and saw how young you were - I knew that I would not get the job"
I realised that the only way to keep save myself from the age problem, was to get behind a big desk - but I did not want that and so my days were numbered.
In the days when line managers were in their 50s, they hired men in their 40s. Then, in the space of ten years, the average age dropped by 20 years and so did the age of their staff. The only way to change it is to get older line managers.
I was always expecting to be spat out by the IT world and that all my experience, contacts and knowledge would be wasted.
And yea, verily, so it has come to pass.
11. Richard Sarson
I remember, 27 years ago, when I was looking for a job, having been made redundant aged 51, that I noticed a job advertisement for "Human Resource" consultants, aged 27-35. The penny dropped. So I stopped applying for jobs through these teenaged, institutionally ageist idiots, and have been doing quite nicely ever since.
12. anonymous
I was told by an agency worker not to expect pay appropriate for my skills and experience as younger people stayed in jobs longer.