Age discrimination during the recruitment process

Abstract

The dissertation focuses on the factors that might affect the recruiter's opinion regarding the employment of older adults. The factors examined are the recruiter's age, the type of organisation, the type of jobs suitable for older adults and the stereotypes that recruiters have on older adults. Results obtained show that the age and the type of organisation do not affect the opinion of the recruiters. Older adults are mostly considered for executive, administrative and managerial positions. Older adults were praised for their experience, their punctuality and their loyalty shown to the company which recruits them. On the other hand, the human resource managers that took part in this study were concerned how older adults are unwilling to learn new skills and are not comfortable with technology. The outcome of the study provided recommendations how to reduce age discrimination during the recruitment process. These included training the recruiters to become aware of their own stereotypes, implementing policies against age discrimination at an organisational level and focusing job descriptions only on job related issues.