too old for our team

[IamAporcupine]

I am shortlisting candidates for a position advertised in my workplace and my boss has just mentioned that one of the candidates is '10 years older than her' and that 'we want the new team member to fit with the rest of the (young-ish) team'.

This is plain discrimination, isn't it?

Yes

Yes, I have recently been applying for jobs and I haven’t been asked for my dob on most application forms.

Thanks
What do you think I should do?

Yes it is age discrimination. You need to score based on their performance at interview and assessment with no consideration to age.

Yes, tell her it's against the law to discriminate on age and if she gets funny with you refuse to be part of the process.

Yes, it sounds like age discrimination. Are you in a union?

www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1841
www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/advice-and-guidance/age-discrimination

I thought you couldn't ask for dob on applications anymore.

It's still fairly easy to deduce rough ages based on various things. Employment experience, o levels vs a levels etc

should read o levels vs gcses

Blatant age discrimination. Completely illegal. I'd go straight to HR as I wouldn't want to be party to this.

Yes - report this.

@Allthebestnamesareused, dob was not asked, but this candidate mentioned that she had +30 years of experience....

@Katescurios, yes, that's what I did - used the criteria specified in the job description. She scored just below the cut off so will likely not be interviewed, but the whole situation did not sit well with me

I presume you are in the private sector OP. This would not be tolerated anywhere in the public sector.

Is your manager living in the last century?! It's scary to think there are people in the workplace who still think like this. I mean, who rejects someone with 30 years' experience, just because their birth certificate has a certain date on it, how crazy is that.

daisychain01 nope, not the private the sector!

She said it in a very casual way - as if it was important to 'fit in' the team. I actually think the main issue she had was that this candidate was older than her

They don't ask age on application forms, but surely they can tell by the dates that qualifications were gained roughly how old you are ?

There are always workarounds like school/college dates, exams etc, Babyroobs - it entirely depends whether the organisation is just ticking the diversity/Equality box in the way they run their recruitment process as to whether they focus on the person and what they can offer, or whether they are hung up on their chronological age.

My employer is really hot on this stuff and genuinely works to the law and to the spirit of the law. It's chilling to think there are people out there responsible for employing people, with such outdated attitudes.

Au contraire, @Daisychain01, I have seen it happen with depressing frequency in the public sector.

How recently MrsS ?

It is so depressing.

We have to ask for ID at interview such as passport to make sure they can legally work in UK so there's the DOB!

Last few weeks. I’ve also been on an interview panel where the hiring manager said “I can’t hire the older woman, my boss will kill me. We’ve already got one in our office and she’s useless.”

That’s the problem with “team fit” aka “will they join in with the Friday night trip down the pub with the rest of the lads?” It’s a natural goal to aim for but leads to the complete set of illegal discriminations (and also class- based ones which are legal but undesirable).

"This would not be tolerated anywhere in the public sector." HAHAHA

The public sector is run by people just the same as anywhere else. I've had exactly the same conversation in two difference schools I've worked in. Usually in a hushed, "I know we shouldn't" kind of way but people worry about how long they have until retirement, whether they'll by physically up to the job,how they'll relate to the students and yes, whether they'll fit in.

I don't know of anyone who didn't get a job for that reason but it has certainly been part of the discussion.

*for that reason alone

Without any constraints, people tend to fall back on recruiting in there own image..