Age discrimination is an ongoing issue for HR, but the problem might not be exactly what you think.
Almost half of unemployed boomers have said age discrimination "was a barrier in getting a new job," according to an AARP study. But hiring managers beg to differ – they say they are three times more likely to hire someone age 50 and up than a Millennial, a person in their early 30s and younger, according to a new survey by Adecco, a staffing agency based in Melville, NY.
In the survey, more than 500 hiring managers from various fields revealed why they prefer hiring older workers to younger ones:
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They considered mature workers more reliable (91% vs. a mere 2%) and professional (88% vs. 5%).
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They felt older workers had better writing skills than Millennials; just 9% of managers said post 50s needed to work on that skill, versus 46 percent who said Millennials needed improvement.
- They felt Millennials made major mistakes in interviews, such as dressing inappropriately (75%); posting potentially compromising content on social media channels (70%); and failing to ask questions that conveyed their interest in a job or company (60%).
On the downside for post 50s, hiring managers said mature workers need to improve their technological skills (72%), versus just 5% of Millennials. Despite this perceived skills gap, 39% of managers surveyed said "they don't find any challenges in hiring mature workers" compared with 27% who had issues with Millennials.
Though earlier studies have suggested midlifers are not taking jobs from younger workers, there's anecdotal evidence of what the hiring managers suggested to Adecco.
Frederick Hartman II, the company's 29-year-old director of marketing and engineering whose family owns Vita Needles, told the Bulletin: "The older workers are loyal. Many have worked here 10 to 15 years and feel a sense of community. [Their] quality of work compensates for slower speed [and] attention to detail is also better."
