LinkedIn is a good indicator of how common age discrimination is? (job hunting, employees)
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Before I send my resume to a company, I go to LinkedIn, where I have a premium membership, and attempt to get an idea who is working for the company. Because most people on LinkedIn have a picture on their profile I can see how old they are and the demographics of the workforce at the company.
One company I was thinking of applying to had hundreds of it's employees on LinkedIn all with professional pictures. I had never seen so many young, beautiful blond women who appeared to all be ex homecoming queens, models and sorority sisters. I don't think they will want to hire someone like me, age 59 going on 70!
I suspect that companies like this go through the resumes and first pick out the ones who meet the minimum qualifications and then go on LinkedIn and see if you are handsome, pretty and young. If not, you're out!
Yes, yes, companies don't have enough criteria to use as they weed through hundreds of resumes for each position, they will also go on LI to look at each candidate's pics to have an additional selection criteria -- a dual filter approach, if you will. But, luckily, you anticipated that and didn't post your pic on LI, right? Better yet, to shut down that tactic completely, you should remove your insidious LI account or post someone else's pic on your profile.
Potential employers can also perform a Google image search or even a Facebook search with limited success and find photos. Or they can wait until you walk in the door for your interview and judge your appearance then. This is the world we live in... I don't know that there's much you can do about it, other than using a photo that is from a more youthful time in your life. Hopefully it won't matter either way, though, and you'll get called by someone who wants to interview you based on your merit and resume.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I don't buy the connection with age discrimination. For the more mature persons in a career for a long time, there just isn't the need for using LinkedIn, younger people are more job-mobile and also more likely to use social media. A a mid-level manager within 10 years of retirement, at a job with pension, I am not likely to leave even for a substantial raise at this point. While I am on LinkedIn, it's more for finding people to hire and for networking with others in my industry, not for finding a new job. Some companies may even encourage their young, beautiful blond women to go onto LinkedIn, just for the reason you gave, to give potential cop candidates the impression that they would be working with a lot of co-workers that look like them.
When I look at a linkedin profile I could care less about the photo but it's nice to have one. I only know of one person working that doesn't have a photo and that's because he nearly has 3 chins!
I suspect that young people are more likely to have a linkedin account than older people.
This, and some industries, like tech in the Bay Area, will just skew young to begin with.
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