While Denver is a great city for employees of all ages to find jobs in, there has been an increasing sense of uneasiness for older workers. Colorado job searchers that are over 40 continue to have no luck in landing a safe position, and many of them attribute it to their age.
With the increase of online job applications, it is easy to think that some elder unemployment would not be a problem due to increased accessibility. However, discrimination still exists within online ads and job offerings. Though some studies struggle to fully convey the problems of age discrimination in the job market, the AARP recently released a survey that demonstrates how many deal with the mistreatment and are unsure about their future.
Frightening statistics
The survey covered 3,900 citizens that were 45 and older to get a sense of how many have dealt with the problem. Nearly 90 percent of the workers say they find age discrimination as common and over 60 percent of them have experienced it firsthand. The AARP also notes that 44 percent of job applicants in the survey received questions about their age and graduation years during their interviews.
Understandably, most of the respondents expressed fear about their near future, and expect to not receive any promotions, job offerings or will be fired for their increasing age. Nearly a third of the respondents doubt they would receive another position after losing their job with half of them citing age discrimination as the primary reason. 20 percent of the workers fear losing their job by next year.
Combating the fears
Knowing that age discrimination is a massive problem in the workplace, many Denver citizens have developed strategies to beat it in the hiring process. Some of the techniques often used includes knocking off years of experience from their resumes, dressing carefully to avoid showing their age and twisting an interviewer’s question about how old they are to demonstrate how beneficial they are to the company’s goals.
If none of these tactics work and there is clear evidence of age discrimination (such as asking frequent questions about your age), then you should file a charge with the Denver office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and contact a Colorado attorney that specializes in Employment Law to help you get the treatment you deserve. Negligent employers should not be able to get away with disrespecting you for your age.