Beware the Seven Elephants
You're interviewing a mature candidate. Here's what not to think while you're doing itYou’re interviewing. There are two of you in the room waiting for the candidate: you and a line manager.
The candidate walks in. There’s a look of surprise on the line manager’s face. The candidate’s CV doesn’t state their age, but there’s no hiding it now. He’s over 50, and suddenly the whole interview has taken an awkward turn.
Chris Ball, Chief Executive at TAEN – The Age and Employment Network – warns candidates that ‘you really do have to be ready for anything in job interviews … you can always encounter ageism.’
It’s good for HR to recognise what we call ‘The Seven Elephants in the Room’ – the age stereotypes and objections commonly held by employers – and not be part of the problem to which Chris refers.
1 Older people won’t work for a younger manager, or with a younger team
This is a big elephant. In some interviews it may be the only one. The best-qualified candidate can lose the role because a younger man or woman doesn’t want an older person working beneath them. They can’t get their heads around having someone nearly as old as their mum or dad reporting to them.
If we examine corporate pyramids, we see older people at the very top and the expectation is that, at a certain age, a person occupies a specific place in the hierarchy. Acceptable age limits are measured against a corporate norm.
As HR, ask yourself: am I assuming a reticence on the part of the candidate or the line manager that actually isn’t there? And if it is there, can it be removed by discussion, or even by coaching?
Even if the team you’re hiring into is young, does that mean this individual won’t fit in – or might it be a good opportunity to use their experience in team development?
2 Older people are often overqualified
Just because your candidate is mature, you might assume that they’re taking the job as a stopgap, and that they’ll leave when you find something better.
Bring the objection into the open. Discuss it with the candidate, rather than just assuming.
You might not be right. And even if you are, you can perhaps use the individual well in a contracted capacity until someone else comes along.
3 Older people lack energy
It’s a biological fact that we slow down as we age. Even with regular exercise, we’re likely to be less fit than we were ten years ago.
With the exception of golf or snooker, nearly every sport sees its top competitors retire by the age of 40, if not sooner.
But in the workplace, young people can waste a lot of energy. A mature person will often accomplish more in the same time frame, because the task is performed more efficiently.
In the hare and tortoise story, the tortoise wins because he isn’t distracted, stays on track and completes the race with a slow, steady pace. He’s smarter than the hare; he knows his limits and works with them to succeed. He has also learned alternative ways of solving problems.
4 Older workers have health problems
Bear in mind that, under the Equality Act 2010, employers can’t discriminate on health and disability grounds, and they cannot ask questions about health prior to a job offer.
And whilst clearly the assumption is often correct, it’s not a universal truth.
5 An older worker has money, so they don’t need the job
Whether or not the candidate has got anything put by for a rainy day, there may be a perception that they have, simply because they’re older.
Therefore, a recruiter may assume they aren’t as motivated or driven as someone younger because, for them, money is not an issue.
Ironically, they may need the money more than a younger candidate. The mortgage still has to be paid, there’s university for the kids, and there may be the cost of caring for a parent.
6 Older people are not mentally agile
The Anglo-American psychologist Raymond Cattell developed a theory that, broadly, there are two types of intelligence: fluid and crystallised.
Fluid intelligence is the capacity to think independently of acquired knowledge to apply logic to problem-solving. It includes inductive and deductive reasoning.
There is evidence that, as we age, our fluid intelligence wanes. On this basis young people tend to perceive those who are older as slower, and therefore less mentally agile.
Crystallised intelligence is knowledge gained by experience, and includes verbal skills, general information and the ability to create analogies. It adds up to wisdom.
For example, negotiating skills depend more on crystallised intelligence. Evidence shows that crystallised intelligence increases with age, remains stable, and doesn’t begin to diminish until after the age of 65.
So, as an excuse for not hiring an older person, this objection doesn’t really have a foundation in science.
7 Older workers can’t deal with change
Every stereotype has some basis in fact. Yes, there are people in the 40 to 65 age group who can’t cope with change.
Some employers might think all mature candidates lack this ability, perhaps because they already have someone on their staff that is set in their ways.
But the truth is that many mature people are better than their younger counterparts at dealing with change in the workplace because they’ve already learned to adapt to variables of every sort.
For example, the recent recession is the first one that many younger managers will have seen. Someone in their 40s or 50s will have lived through at least two downturns.
Their experience in managing situations through tough times proves they know how to handle change.
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