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Survey reveals hiring managers are biased against GenZ candidates and people over 60
According to Resume Builder, in a survey, over one-third of recruiting managers acknowledged having a bias toward older or Gen Z candidates. Read to know why.
It's possible that hiring managers won't consider you for a job if you're an older worker or part of the Gen Z generation. This is because 36% of hiring managers claimed to be prejudiced against Gen Z candidates in a Resume Builder survey. Furthermore, 34% acknowledged having a prejudice against elder candidates.
In a March poll of 1,000 hiring managers, Resume Builder discovered that 42% of them took job candidates' age into account when reviewing resumes. According to the report, hiring managers count years of experience, look for the year of graduation, and even look for a photo to estimate a candidate's age.
Some applicants may decide not to include their graduation year on their resume out of fear that hiring managers will figure it out. Six out of ten hiring managers responded in the survey that candidates should "always" indicate their graduation year, but around four out of ten stated it's okay sometimes or never.
To prevent younger applicants from receiving negative feedback for lacking experience and older workers from receiving positive feedback for having too much experience, some TikTokers who specialize in career advising advise users to delete the year of graduation from their resumes.
Federal legislation has been put in place to protect workers over 40 from age discrimination. Additionally, several states have laws designed to protect younger workers from discriminatory employment practices, according to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. It can be challenging to demonstrate age-based bias, though, as BI has previously noted.
More than three-quarters of hiring managers who acknowledged their prejudice against Gen Z applicants cited the inexperience of younger employees. Approximately 60% of supervisors mentioned that they have observed a tendency among Gen Zers to switch jobs frequently. Additionally, a comparable percentage of respondents expressed doubts about the professionalism and work ethic of the youngest segment of the workforce.
The justifications offered for bias towards senior employees were not new. Of those surveyed, 75% expressed anxiety that an older employee would soon retire. Almost half of recruiting managers expressed concern that older employees wouldn't have enough tech experience, and nearly two-thirds were concerned that older candidates would have health issues.
For job applicants, it could also be problematic to appear too elderly when they show up for an interview. According to the survey, 40% of hiring managers stated that they would be less likely to consider an applicant if they appeared "elderly". Furthermore, 36% of hiring managers suggested that applicants over 60 make changes to their appearance during interviews.
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