Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Age discriminationEquality, diversity and inclusionLatest News

Self-styled older worker champion hits out at ageist recruitment agencies

by Louisa Peacock 4 Dec 2008
by Louisa Peacock 4 Dec 2008

A ‘serial litigant’ has lashed out at recruitment agencies for failing to put forward older workers for jobs.

Writing to Personnel Today, Margaret Keane defended why she made repeated ageism claims to several employers and blamed recruitment agency staff for assuming she was not qualified for certain posts.

“Recruitment agencies do not give them [employers] the opportunity of considering older candidats [sic],” she wrote.

She added agencies did not put her forward for job roles because they did not understand that her accountancy qualifications matched those required (UK GAAP or IFRS) on the job adverts.

“A lot of the problems in our industry was [sic] caused by recruitment agency staff not being properly trained and some recruiment [sic] agencies believed that UKGAAP and IFRS were a new set of accounting rules introduced in 2005. Thus they believe[d] that accountants that had qualified before 2004/05 would not be skilled in UKGAAP or IFRS. Of course UKGAAP had been our principes [sic] all along,” she wrote.

Keane has accused 22 companies of ageism, earning up to £100,000. Last month her latest claims were thrown out of court, after the barrister said she was a “serial litigator” who had no interest in applying for the jobs on offer.

However, Keane defended why she brought the claims to court. She said: “I [was] very interested in these roles. I was (and indeed still am) working part-time and I pitched myself at this level to return to a job in a large company that would offer me the prospect of advancement if I proved myself.”

On whether she felt she’d missed out on jobs because her CV was littered with spelling mistakes, she wrote: “In respect of one case in Watford there were errors on my CV caused by quickly amending data (for example, changing the present tense to the past tense and not deleting the present tense), however, this was never the reason given for not considering my CV.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

“In our industy [sic] we understand that what we need to do with a CV is to convey the raw data to the agency. The agency will rewrite the CV to [its own] format and thus we do not expect the CV we submit to be sent to the employer.”

Join the debate on HR space.




Louisa Peacock

previous post
Prison officer pay deal doubts as union asks for more details
next post
Kronos survey reveals retail hiring slow-down this Christmas

You may also like

Restaurant tips should be included in holiday pay

21 May 2025

Fewer workers would comply with a return-to-office mandate

21 May 2025

Redefining leadership: From competence to inclusion

21 May 2025

Pay awards in real terms could fall for...

21 May 2025

Ryanair demands flight attendants pay back salary increase

21 May 2025

Consultation launched after Supreme Court ‘sex’ ruling

20 May 2025

Uncertainty over law hampering legal use of medical...

20 May 2025

Black security manager awarded £360k after decade of...

20 May 2025

Employers ‘worryingly’ ignorant about stress risk assessments

20 May 2025

UK and EU agree to collaborate on ‘youth...

19 May 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+