Old and Unemployable? How Age‐Based Stereotypes Affect Willingness to Hire Job Candidates

Abstract

Across the world, people are required, or want, to work until an increasingly old age. But how might prospective employers view job applicants who have skills and qualities that they associate with older adults? This article draws on social role theory, age stereotypes and research on hiring biases, and reports three studies using age‐diverse North American participants. These studies reveal that: (1) positive older age stereotype characteristics are viewed less favorably as criteria for job hire, (2) even when the job role is low‐status, a younger stereotype profile tends to be preferred, and (3) an older stereotype profile is only considered hirable when the role is explicitly cast as subordinate to that of a candidate with a younger age profile. Implications for age‐positive selection procedures and ways to reduce the impact of implicit age biases are discussed.

Negative Attitudes toward Older Workers and Hiring Decisions: Testing the Moderating Role of Decision Makers’ Core Self-Evaluations

“…In addition, hiring decisions about older people may depend on the job type. For example, previous research has shown that age-related hiring bias may differ in relation to whether the job role is of low or high status (Abrams et al, 2016). Varying candidates’ profiles as well as investigating different types of jobs can help to understand the complex interplay between job candidate, job type, and decision-maker during hiring decisions.…”

Progress on Understanding Ageism

“…Abrams, Swift, and Drury () also make a unique contribution to this line of inquiry by examining characteristics that are associated with younger versus older workers. In pilot work, they determined characteristics associated with younger workers (e.g., learning new skills, being creative) and older workers (e.g., dealing with people politely, carefulness).…”

Age Bias in Selection Decisions: The Role of Facial Appearance and Fitness Impressions

“…However, analyses of legal claims (von Schrader and Nazarov, 2015), workforce surveys (e.g., Kelly Services, 2006), and experimental as well as field studies (e.g., Gordon and Arvey, 2004; Bal et al, 2011) suggest that organizations have not yet reached this goal: discrimination against older workers is prevalent, particularly at hiring. In fact, organizations are reluctant to invest in older workers (North and Fiske, 2016) and show bias in hiring older workers (Abrams et al, 2016), especially older female workers (Neumark et al, 2015). Often, the age bias goes back to negative stereotypes about older workers that are activated when recruiters learn about the age of the job candidate (Perry et al, 1996; Shore and Goldberg, 2005).…”