Recruitment industry needs to tackle ageist stereotypes

I was very interested to read your feature ‘The five ages of discrimination’ (Personnel Today, 7 March), which highlighted the fact that despite impending employment legislation, age stereotypes still dominate the workplace.

Makbool Javaid makes the point that HR departments are working hard to eradicate deeply held views drawn from society. However, I believe it’s also important for the recruitment industry itself to play a role in challenging some of the misconceptions that may still exist among some employers about recruiting older workers. Its efforts should be focused on educating those managers tasked with hiring staff, rather than focusing on pure policy.

In my experience, many hiring managers still need to be convinced that the older generation can bring levels of competency, skills, knowledge, performance and loyalty at a more competitive rate than the younger generation.

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We have a skills shortage in the UK, and excellent business experience and long-learned life skills will have a positive impact on filling this gap.

Philip Macdonald
Director,
Wade Macdonald