About "age" in recruitment and on the job market — a current topic, I would even say "trendy" at the moment.
I decided to write, too, about the rejection of candidates over 45 in recruitment processes, because I want to offer another perspective and I wish for hope, even a change of attitude among these candidates.
We work with over 150 clients from different industries and generally recruit specialists with a high level of seniority and management positions. It's understood that in these roles there are generally people around 40 and even quite a bit over. So we have never, ever been required to impose such rigor in recruitment processes.
Being a psychologist, I tried to look at this "problem" from a different perspective, and I'll ask you to read the Elephant in the Room Theory. It is a well-known theory in psychology that explains the source of passive-aggressive behaviour and how fears form.
The story of the elephant in the room begins either with the assumption that my interlocutor knows what I'm thinking, or that I know what my interlocutor thinks. In other words, candidates over 45 assume employers have a problem hiring them because of age, and/or the employer assumes that employees over 45 are no longer as motivated, as energetic, as those of 30.
These assumptions give rise to a certain type of behaviour in each of the two. Candidates enter the discussion with this stress and sometimes, without realizing it, begin excusing their age or making jokes about their presumed disadvantage — which makes employers see the "elephant in the room," meaning the age on the ID card, and no longer notice all the other qualities.
Today, those at 45 probably have children around 5, 10, 15 years old, still live in an apartment — so they have a long way to go before walking grandchildren. I urge you, therefore, to meditate on this perspective and subsequently behave according to your spirit, and I would dare say, according to the times.
So I would say we should ask ourselves whether 45+ is a real problem or a matter of perception. At 45 you are halfway through your professional age — a fact that really makes the salary investment profitable for the employer. The 45-year-old employee comes already formed, with know-how, with experience, with maturity, and I'd dare say, with a lot of ownership.
I am not in a position to give advice, but I allow myself to urge you to continue to be cool in both attitude and appearance, to take care of yourselves, do sports — and not just for a beautiful body, but to maintain a balanced mind, zest for life, and feel good in your own skin.
Discover your passions to keep the sparkle in your eyes and the motivation to enjoy life. At 45 you are still very young and the good news is that you know much more than at 30.
