Diversity and Inclusion: Ensure it includes age
Today, I had the pleasure of delivering a job search workshop to job seekers 50+ through an initiative provided by the Ontario Society of Senior Citizens Organizations.
The participants were an enthusiastic, engaged, and appreciative group, who took in every word I had to say about optimizing their profiles, and using LinkedIn for their job search. All were generally positive and optimistic about their future prospects. Speaking to this group though, made me aware of the fact there can be an age bias in the recruiting process for this aging demographic. I did a little digging. Here’s what I found:
According to a report authored by LinkedIn titled Global Recruiting Trends 2018, diversity is one of the biggest “game-changing and most embraced trend”. The good news is that over half of companies are already tackling it head-on.
While gender and race are "red hot topics", age/generational diversity is the focus of only 48% of organizations surveyed.
Google is one of the pioneers that has disclosed their diversity stats. The Diversity Annual Report 2018 reveals that while gender, race and ethnicity stats are tracked - no other types of diversity data points are offered.
They do however sponsor over 20 Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) such as:
- Disability Alliance (DA) – promoting awareness of disability, special needs, and neuro-diversity
- Gayglers – representing LGBTQ+
- VetNet – those that are actively serving in the military
- Greyglers – older Googlers
It’s interesting to note that the Greyglers represent about 2,000 older Googlers, or by my calculation, just over 2% of its approximately 85,000 staff.
Are you a person of a certain age who is looking for a job? Have you experienced challenges in your job search?
Or conversely, are you a hiring manager or recruiter? Are you doing all you can to ensure that you include ALL types of candidates in your recruiting process?
Millennials - please don’t roll your eyes. In about 20 to 25 years, you will be part of this aging demographic too. So better start now to make things better in the workplace when you get to this age! :)
Antonine Gibbons, Eva McEneaney interesting read!
Well written article Anita. Diversity takes many forms. It is encouraging to see that these many different forms are starting to recognized more.
Well done - Its tough on the 50 + with all their experience but lack of opportunities
So true Anita Windisman, diversity of thought in a team can come in so many forms. Keep doing great things!
Thanks for sharing Anita. When it comes to generational difference, some might have some preconceptions towards certain age groups. Most common concerns for hiring managers are: culture (e.g. will they adapt to working with younger colleagues), concerns over determination to learn, how well will they embrace change, amongst others. But what if we started taking individuals out of these preconceived boxes and regard senior applicants as individuals? Having a more age-diverse workforce enables staff to embrace different mentalities and can cater to better decision making skills. Definitely not rolling my eyes here, I'd like to think that attitudes will change by the time I reach the 'golden years'!