How I was discriminated against
After you have been in business for a long time, as is reflected on your resume, potential employers say you are "overqualified" or "out of their price range," and you never hear from them again.
What it's like being an older or younger job seeker
I have applied for numerous jobs online and in person and most employers use subterfuge to determine how old the applicant is to eliminate them from consideration.
They ask questions on job application forms, both on the internet and on paper forms about "job and college background" that indicate an applicant's age.
For instance, most job applications ask when the potential employee graduated from high school and college. It is an instant give-away if someone says they graduated from high school before 1960, that they are over 50, and immediately disqualified as a candidate.
For 16 years I worked for an international company overseas, where I was forced to retire due to age--over there that is true of ALL employees and accepted policy. Which also makes it impossible to apply for a new job at any other company in that location. One way around this is to offer to work on a one-year agreement as a contractor, but the availability of this type of job is rare.
Now that I am back in the US and applying for other jobs, I get the same story, you are overqualified.
Lessons Learned
- If you suspect the problem is either age or experience-related (over experience) offer to work on an annual contract.
- Dumb down your resume and only list one or two of your most recent jobs.
- Play up your major skills, play down how long you have practiced them.
