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This is why I would completely discourage a "self motivator" from entering corporate America. This crap goes on way too much and its 10x worse now than it was years ago
It's probably not an age thing, and it probably is a salary thing.
Why would an employer choose a less qualified person at the same salary?
The #1 reason older people lose out on jobs is because they expect more money than the employer is willing to pay. Employers also know that taking a pay cut demoralizes people, whereas a younger person will be grateful. So it's a mismatch of expectations.
There could be other reasons too, like the older person being less willing to drink management Kool-Aid, or work odd hours, or have higher medical benefit costs.
All this said, the most likely explanation is that the older employee would expect more pay for the position than the younger employee.
Yeah I don't think it's the age either. It seems to me except in the OPs example they do care a lot about formal qualifications. Too many employers just see in black and white, that's all I can figure.
I am biologically older than many candidates (they usually seem to hire teenagers or people in early 20s) but I have little work history. I always lose out on jobs even though I am applying for entry level. I expect just minimum wage and would work any hours since I know I don't have formal experience. Is it my degree? But my degree is from a "diploma mill" which I only put down so they can tell I was doing something in those years.
I'm not very qualified on paper but I get passed over by people who aren't that good at their job all the time.
Higher medical benefit costs? I wonder if that is a factor even though I am formally not very qualified but if you looked at me you wouldn't know I had any health issues unless they know about my disability and infer that means I likely have worse physical health.
Last edited by Nickchick; 03-21-2017 at 08:05 PM..
Any or all of the above. One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet.... Managers hate to lose their star performers. People who will help in a pinch who can be trusted to just get the job done. I have seen more than 1 manager submarine an employee trying to transfer or get a better job just because they didn't want to lose them! This should not happen but it does!
Could come down to which one threatened to quit if they didn't get the promotion. The hardworking, do-the-job-without-complaint workers gets held back while the I'll-quit-if-I-don't-get-my-way coworker get's coddled. Seen it multiple times over the years. Several times when I was the new manager replacing the one who promoted them and I had to clean up the mess. Never pretty. Once you give in, they keep demanding more and become a morale drag on the whole office. You become the mean boss who has to come in and take away their candy or the whole office can be destroyed.
I really hope there isn't age-ism between a 30 and a 45 year old. I'm in trouble.
I highly doubt the case in the OP was because of ageism.
If the OP is qualified enough to evaluate employees and be able to tell who's more qualified than who, then he/she wouldn't be here whining about it.
I've already given an example of how looks can be deceiving to the untrained eyes. I have many more examples that I can think of where an employee seemed to be "obviously" bad but turned out to be an alpha while another employee seemed to be "obviously" good but turned out to be a total hack. I've encountered employees on either extreme and everywhere in between. Sometimes, it's just not so easy to tell until you've worked with them.
According to Ramit Sethi, a professional coach based in NY and author of a best seller book "I will teach you to be rich" there are many factor that play a role in the hiring process. But most importantly, it's is likeness ... how well someone portraits oneself and how the organization see this person as part of the team.
I have to agree with him and in our organization we also had situations of less qualified individuals being hired because they demonstrated during the interview that they will be better and supportive team members.
Therefore, it is not so much about knowledge or skills, but an complex set of evaluation points.
Find Ramit Sethi on YouTube and take a look at his videos ... really good stuff.
The workplace is all who you know, not what you do know today, the value you bring, your loyalty and dependability.
Very much untrue. There have only been a couple of times where I got a job via someone I already knew on the inside. Nearly always, I don't know anyone from Adam. My current job, after I'd been here a while, I was told I'd been "stalked" Where I work, there's a collection of blogs, and I occasionally contribute interesting articles, neat ideas, solutions I've come up with, etc. Stuff like that is noticed, and hiring managers are ALL about what you know and what value you bring. Most don't give a fig who you know.
Very much untrue. There have only been a couple of times where I got a job via someone I already knew on the inside. Nearly always, I don't know anyone from Adam. My current job, after I'd been here a while, I was told I'd been "stalked" Where I work, there's a collection of blogs, and I occasionally contribute interesting articles, neat ideas, solutions I've come up with, etc. Stuff like that is noticed, and hiring managers are ALL about what you know and what value you bring. Most don't give a fig who you know.
Hmm, well I sort of disagree. I have probably worked about 8 jobs in my professional career at this point. And 12 jobs in total. If these 12 jobs, 2 from each category of come about due to referrals from current employees.
I have definitely gotten plenty of jobs without knowing anyone - but the path was way easier when I did.
I also did a blind apply for another job, but it turned out they didn't ask for references. My future bossed checked her network to get feedback on me, and we had mutual connections - that I didn't know about.
So really my point is, even when you think you are going in cold, you may not be at all!
I highly doubt the case in the OP was because of ageism.
If the OP is qualified enough to evaluate employees and be able to tell who's more qualified than who, then he/she wouldn't be here whining about it.
an employee seemed to be "obviously" bad but turned out to be an alpha while another employee seemed to be "obviously" good but turned out to be a total hack. I've encountered employees on either extreme and everywhere in between. Sometimes, it's just not so easy to tell until you've worked with them.
Great post!
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Where I work, there's a collection of blogs, and I occasionally contribute interesting articles, neat ideas, solutions I've come up with, etc. Stuff like that is noticed, and hiring managers are ALL about what you know and what value you bring. Most don't give a fig who you know.
