Older workers may find themselves having the advantage of experience when it comes to job hunting. However, age can pose a problem, especially when online job websites have built-in age discrimination.
According to a news report by the CNBC, older workers are having difficulty in looking for jobs online due to the fact that ageism is included in various online software tools. Instead of online job platforms making the search for jobs easier, it excludes older workers and makes it impossible for them to fill out a job application.
How? Lisa Madigan, an attorney general from Illinois, has opened an investigation into the said age discrimination. She says that drop-down menus in job websites do not go back far enough to include the graduation dates of older applicants, writes CNBC.
One website in particular only included the years that come after 1980, reports CNBC, which would mean that anyone older than 52 cannot fill out a job application. According to Madigan, this is a discriminatory act. She says that many people in their 70s and 80s are still working and barring them from job sites has a negative effect on the economy, writes CNBC.
According to the news website, six widely used job websites have been contacted by Madigan's office. One of the websites, CareerBuilder, claims that the age cut-off is a mistake and that it is working to fix the matter in order to prevent any future incidents.
Other sites work to prevent age discrimination. For instance, Ladders Inc. has stated that it does not even ask for a year of graduation from college, writes CNBC, and Indeed Inc. has dates that go as far as 1900.
Aside from ageism, older women also have to combat sexism. A study has revealed that there is a 47 percent less chance for such women to get callbacks, according to CNBC.
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