Those of us who have ever been made redundant at the age of 45 or over will know the situation only too well.
Now Channel 4’s exposé of recruiters discriminating against the over-50s has confirmed what we all suspected – that many recruitment agencies claim to have ‘lost’ CVs of more mature candidates when they’ve actually put them straight in the wastebasket. If any do reach employers, their own managers or directors probably do the same.
The Dispatches documentary (Monday 8th Feb), revealed that around 60% of our workforce is being wasted for this reason, and showed the extent of age discrimination in the application process. The programme showed the frustration of  job-seekers, sick of being told time and again that they are ‘too experienced’ or ‘over-qualified’ for the often hundreds of jobs they apply for.
Can it be that many thousands of hard-working, reliable and conscientious employees with a wide range of skills and experience  are no longer valued by employers in today’s society just because of their age?

It seems that companies would rather give jobs to foreigners without English language skills, to illegal immigrants who will keep their mouths shut about low pay, or to young people with no experience and a poor standard of education.
Our banks, shops, supermarkets, restaurants and other businesses are full of staff who can’t communicate properly because their first language isn’t English, or who are semi-literate with no social skills and couldn’t care less about good customer service.
But these cheap-to-employ and easy-to-sack staff don’t encourage us as customers to return and buy from the business again.
Is this why the country is in such a mess?  We know it’s to save money, cut costs and improve the ‘bottom line’… but ultimately it’s a short-term benefit and a false economy. Current employment laws on ageism are totally ineffective and need to be reinforced.  The trouble is, it’s hard to prove you’ve been discriminated against.
Government needs to act now
The over-50s have to adopt a different approach and it’s here that government can do something constructive.   Employers need better incentives to employ mature candidates (the ‘New Deal 50+’ scheme sounds like a good idea but doesn’t work), and the over-50s need grants and support to set up in business for themselves and employ others in the same boat.  At the moment there’s too much red tape and waffle, and not enough action.
The British Citizen aims to do something about this in the near future, so watch this space.

In the meantime, tell us about your experience of ageism in the workplace / employment market.  We’ll be publishing a ‘name and shame’ list of guilty employers and recruitment agencies who claim to have ‘lost’ your CV or application.