DandNHill

Seems ageism is alive and kicking in Ontario.
Hubby has had several interviews recently and not been offered a single job.
He kind of looks older than his age (53) and just keeps getting knocked back.
He's getting very depressed and I don't what to say to him.
Anybody else having this issue?

I on the other hand seem to get a lot of interest in my resume and get offered jobs. People tell me I look about 5 years younger than I am (50)... coincidence maybe?

BristolUK

I read this so much - in Canada, not just Ontario - that there must be something in it (UK too). At the same time you always read of an acceptance that older folk have things to offer that younger ones don't. So where are these employers who think that way?

Weirdly there appear to be far more older people in Canada who carry on working.

dbd33

What kinds of things? I would think they're prone to being sick, unmotivated, out of touch with technology and to having unrealistic financial expectations.

(I don't say this is true of anyone in particular but, as a class of potential employee or as a service provider such as a lawyer or accountant, I'd avoid the aged).

DandNHill

Wow that's harsh!

You're about his age. Is that what you'd expect of an employer?

Shard

Sorry to hear those troubles. Ageism exists everywhere, despite official efforts to reduce it. If hubby is getting interviews that's a good sign, many older job seekers won't even get interviews. Having said that, the success rate of those interviews are unlikely to be the same as someone ten or twenty years younger. So the expectation has to be to go to far more interviews than in earlier decades. I think for women there is an established pattern for re-entering the workforce in middle age, as family responsibilities reduce, and often women are seen as non-primary earners, and so assumed willing to put up with lowered career paths or reduced earnings. So you can add sexism to the reality check too. What type of work is hubby looking for? Is re-training an option?

JamesM

Ageism is alive and well.

I worked in the recruitment industry and ageism and racism are rampant in Ontario. Imagine if you were over 50 and of an ethnicity and the problem would be compounded.

I don't really have advise. In my profession I'm feeling over the hill and I'm 38.

Times are changing and the problem is getting worse.

BristolUK

Experience, reliability/responsibility are the main ones mentioned but maybe a little gratefulness and willingness at actually getting an opportunity.

dbd33

Yes. Employers are capricious, they pay more for men than for women, they prefer the young to the old, they do not want anyone who is likely to make use of "their" benefits. I work now without someone of a similar age who was a long term employee of a large Canadian firm who was dumped for having a heart attack. I can see both sides of that, he had been loyal to the firm so one might say that they had a moral obligation to take him back when he had recuperated, but he'd taken weeks off over it, the employer wouldn't want to pay someone to not work and to pay someone else to actually do the work.

I think the way for older people to find new work is to go for jobs that can be done remotely and to take 100% commission or paid-by-hour positions.

Shard

Prostitution?

DandNHill

I've suggested the retraining. I think he sees it as giving up. I've told him to give himself a deadline beyond which he makes some decisions for change. I suggested January 1st.
I hate to see him like this. I feel there's nothing I can do to boost his moral. I just have to pick him up every so often...almost literally!

DandNHill

I'm pushing toward self employment. I've told him to forget about the money and to find something he can enjoy (of course good money would be nice).
I feel guilty as if anything my work life if probably better than it ever has been.
He's got to get beyond this stupid male pride. Then I think he'll see clearer!

dbd33

Granted I'm in the computer business, one in which little actually changes but one which prides itself on being fast paced and ever shifting, here experience of anything older than five years or so is a disadvantage. One would not want to admit to ever having worked successfully in a "waterfall" environment or to seeing merit in what were once called mainframes and are now cloud servers.

Older people are, I submit, less reliable due to being more established. People who can make the rent without working the statutory holidays tend to decline the opportunity to work Christmas. Of course, one can point to the youth of today as being feckless and hung over at work, which is why I think employers want people who are aged approximately 35-45 and who don't have children.

dbd33

I suspect the market for rent granddads is less lucrative than that for rent boys but I don't speak from recent experience.

carcajou

I concur with this - and I am younger than you.

Shard

On a less jokey note, what kind of work were you envisaging? IT work? Wouldn't ageism still persist?