AGE LIMITS

[Published in Manila Bulletin, August 2011]

When you are young and free, your career possibilities are endless. Opportunities abound. You can experiment a bit and hopefully quickly find a career that is best suited for you.

As you grow older, however, your choices begin to shape your career and you’ll find yourself in a set line of work. By the time you are in your late thirties, you’ve gained enough knowledge through the years on your chosen field and you should ideally be moving upwards in your industry.

During this time, you would also have taken on more of life’s responsibilities. You may get married and have children. You may need to take care of ailing parents or other siblings. All of these are reasons why you want to work to provide well for your family.

But what if, all of a sudden, you find yourself longing for a change of career? Or what if, life suddenly throws you a curve ball and you find yourself out of work and in need of a new job?

You then open Manila Bulletin’s classified ads section. You look for job listings that are suitable for your knowledge and experience since you want to capitalize on what you’ve mastered in the last decade. You find a couple of job advertisements that suit you.

Good reputable company, check.

Good position, check.

Skills required, check.

Competitive compensation and benefits, check.

You’ve found your next job! BUT WAIT! It says in the job ad that the age requirement is from 25 to 35 years old. You’ve just celebrated your 40^th birthday. Bummer.

You then look at other job ads and notice a similar pattern. There is an age limit specified in the job ads. You’re way above the age limit. You then start wondering exactly what our letter sender asked:

Dear Ms. Jhoanna,

I’m an engineer by profession and also finished EMBA. I currently work overseas for a power plant. Pay is good and knowledge advancement is great. However, I miss home and have been exploring the possibility of coming back for good. I’ve been looking at job advertisements but have been noticing age limitations that are, well, limiting.

We say that experience plays a big part in true learning and you can acquire this through years of working as you also age. As I browsed job listings, I am qualified for most of the opening, but I always end up frustrated due to age requirement.

So I have a few questions on this issue: Is the Age limit mandatory as a minimum requirement for all hiring companies? Does HR have an influence on this? Is this what we call Equal Opportunity? I hope you can enlighten me.

Thanks,

A Mature Engineer

My Response:

Thanks for writing in with this relevant issue. Allow me to answer your question about Age Limitations...

Before HR practitioners post job advertisements, they usually conduct a job analysis wherein they try to define the required skills, competencies and scope of work needed for the position. They also determine what age range and sometimes even the gender the manager in need of staffing prefers so that they will have a clear set of criteria for recruitment. As much as possible, HR confers with the manager on his or her preference since s/he will be the one working directly with the new hire.

Although Age Limitations and Gender Specification do not exactly reflect the ideals of equal opportunity which has been made into law by some first world countries, it is a practice many companies do in our country for practical purposes.

From an employer's point of view, younger employees are seen as less costly and tend to demand lower compensation because they do not have that much family obligations or medical health problems yet. They also have more years ahead, so investing in their training offers the chance for longer service time.

On the other hand, some companies are also aware that older and veteran workers have more experience and knowledge. They have already been trained by their previous employers. They have first hand practical experience and are usually more emotionally mature to handle work concerns and issues.

So it really depends on the company’s culture, needs and financial capacity. Some companies have strict age requirements, others are more flexible. If they can afford to, they hire veterans for higher positions; if they cannot, they get consultants to help out and train their younger work force.

I understand how difficult it is for older people to find jobs. Usually, the older you become and the higher your position gets, the opportunities seem to get narrower... But older people still have a lot of options. You just have to go out of your comfort zones, think outside the box and explore other ways to pursue your career.

Stay tuned for my next article to get ideas on how to conquer age limits.

About the Author:

Jhoanna O. Gan-So is president of Businessmaker Academy, HR Club Philippines and Teach It Forward Organization. Since 2003, her company has served more than 15,000 participants from various companies and industries by providing corporate skills training, business and human resource seminars. To know more about the seminars and services that they offer, you may visit www.businessmaker-academy.com or www.hrclubphilippines.com. You may also call (632)6874645. Email your comments and questions to: mbworklife@gmail.com