Ageism impacts older Australian unemployed, underemployed workers

How easy is it to strike up a good conversation with your younger colleagues in the office kitchen?

Older job applicants told they wouldn’t be a “cultural fit” for the role

Young people are being actively preferenced for tech-heavy roles.

Recruiter says there is a need for older Australians to work on their job skills, but calls for workplace age diversity targets It may seem like a strange question, but that’s a benchmark some companies are using to decide who to hire, one Sydney-based recruiter tells us, and the assumption is that older Australians won’t know what to say to their younger colleagues. When PM spoke to 44-year-old John Allie last month his confidence had begun to take a hit because after more than 100 job applications, and 30 final round interviews, the feedback was always the same.

“You interviewed well, they really liked you, but they didn’t feel you were a cultural fit for the role,” Mr Allie said.

“I mean what does that even mean?”

Mr Allie feared it was a bit of a catch-all comment to imply he wouldn’t get along with his younger co-workers.

So, PM asked those involved in the hiring process if Mr Allie’s fears were well founded.

“The candidate you were talking about saying it’s used as a bit of a catch-all is true,” Mark Smith, the group managing director of recruitment firm people2people, said.

He shared his own example of a middle-aged candidate being passed over for not being the right cultural fit in a call centre. “We had a more mature guy that went in for the job,” he said.

“In the interview he came out thinking, ‘I can do this job’, but in the end he missed out.”