To think 'interviews' where you have to send in a video are ageist

[rockettomarsbar]

I'm not talking about zoom/teams interviews but the applications where you have to send in a video of yourself or answer questions into a video on your phone. If optional, then that can be a good addition for ND people. But if compulsory, it feels ageist because of how used to videoing themselves/taking selfies/snapchat etc some age groups are compared to others.

I avoid any application process that request a mandatory video.

Not because I can't work out the technology but because:

• I am concerned that physical appearance and age will be used as part of the candidate selection to discriminate against some people (older applicants, non white, disabled people)
• I am neurodivergent and I am really put off by having to take pictures or videos of myself
• I think it is completely unnecessary at application stage and is just lazy recruitment.

At 61 I would have no problem with this.

My 92 year old mother loves her what's app and I think could do this no problem

I’m mid 30s, have never videoed myself ever, for any social media platform and have never talked to camera like this before. So I’d be as disadvantaged as the hypothetical older person in your example.

By the same logic, a traditional interview is also ageist as older people will have had more practice and experience with interviews than, say, a graduate or school leaver.

Op this is pretty much standard in the acting and modelling industry and you get models and actors who are in their 60s and 70s doing self tapes for jobs and they seem perfectly capable of producing them. I find it rather weird that potential employers outside of those industries are asking for videos though. Just seems like more hoops to have to jump through to get the job.

Thanks everyone who has replied it has been interesting to read. Seems the vast majority are happy to do these video selfie 'interviews' and think that older people will be just as good at it as younger ones. I don't personally like them at all but I can see that people overall seem fine with them.

Eh? I am in my sixties and would ace this.

If anyone is being ageist here it’s you OP.

The hypothetical oder person in my scenario CryMyEyesViolet
would be 50s as opposed to a 20 something. But it's a fair point the older ones could be better at interview, although they'd have to get to that stage. I do think ageism is still a thing in job applications but I suspect most will disagree.

If Steve Jobs were still alive, he would be 70. I’ll leave that there 😉

So basically you have to give a monologue presentation to an audience you can't see with zero feedback (in terms of how they are reacting)? Not on your life!

So basically you have to give a monologue presentation to an audience you can't see with zero feedback (in terms of how they are reacting)?

Yes

I think people who are saying 'of course older people can be tech savvy' are missing the point. For me it's bad practice for interviews to make success dependent on a skill which is not necessary to perform the job well. In this case, that's 'appearing at ease and confident when talking into a camera rather than to another person'. It would be the same if you made interviewees do a presentation to an audience, when the job in question only required dealing with people one-to-one.
Personally, I'm pretty comfortable with public speaking as it's interacting with real people in the moment, but I know a lot of people aren't. In contrast, I cringe if I see myself played back talking at a computer and would find it much harder to keep my train of thought in that very artificial situation. I'm in my 40s if that's relevant.
But I think the point about enabling all sorts of discrimination in the early stages of candidate selection is probably more important.

Excellent point.

I’m in my 60s and would have no issue with this at all, nor would any of my friends. What an ironic OP

It’s not just a matter of technical competence, it can be sexist as well.

A few years ago I did a training course that very competitive to get on. In previous cohorts a video was part of the application process but as soon as they stopped it the number of women applying skyrocketed.

It's not about what you look like!!! It's about your presentation skills, how you come across, your confidence, your ability to communicate. Surely someone with the intelligence of a lawyer can understand that?!

I agree with @HoskinsChoiceIf you’ve ever tried to interview someone who, regardless of an impressive CV, doesn’t interview well, you’d recognise the benefit of the additional screening phase via video. Saves so much time and money. And let’s face it, if they were going by looks they would a) knock you out at the face to face stage anyway and b) wouldn’t be the kind of organisation most of us would want to work for.