Ageism is
more rampant in IT than other industries, believe nearly
three-quarters of techies.
More than half of
the respondents to a survey by online recruitment firm The IT Job
Board feel that being too old has thwarted their job prospects.
New laws passed on
1 October make it illegal for companies to discriminate because of
age, but the survey uncovers that many workers (37.8%) don’t know
about this legislation.
Half the
respondents think it’s impossible to scale the career ladder over
the age of 40.
“Although the new
laws rightly prevent ageism at either end of the spectrum, our
research conveys that, in the technology sector, it is older
workers that are getting the raw deal,” says The IT Job Board
managing director Ray Duggins.
Employers will
need to change their recruitment procedures to avoid infringing the
new laws. A white paper by financial recruiter Nigel Lynn and
employment law firm Glovers suggests dropping words such as
'mature' or 'dynamic' from recruitment ads. Recruiters should avoid
asking candidates for their number of years’ experience, as this
could be seen as discriminating against younger applicants.
Further care needs
to be taken in the choice of images used in brochures or
advertisements, avoiding pictures of exclusively young or mature
staff.
“All those
responsible for recruitment will have to ensure that the letter of
the law is applied right from the concept phase of a particular
recruitment requirement – from the creation of the job
specification right through to how the vacancy is communicated,”
says Steve Carter, managing director of Nigel Lynn.