Should H say he is not planning to retire in this interview?

[noretire]

H is 55 and was made redundant this year. He needs to work. ( we have 12 years left on our mortgage and young kids). I have been very worried about him not getting another job due to his age.

He has a job interview for a civil service job within his technical area of specialism.

I am concerned that when they see him they will assume he will be retiring at 60 and not offer him the job. In reality he will not be retiring till 67/68 years old.

Do you think he should mention at interview that he will not be retiring early?

Don't mention retirement at all. Putting it into their minds that he could potentially retire soon is a bad idea

Highly unlikely, my friend (not me) got a job in the CS last year at 60. So, ageist doesn't seem to be a thing.

Plenty of people move jobs every few years anyway so I really don't think it will be on their minds.

That's good to know!

When I used to interview we hoped people would be in role for two to three years ..after that they might move/get promotion/ have life changes and it was a result if they stayed beyond that.
Question plan was same for all candidates so would never mention retirement.

I think it's a good idea to mention it as if it's in passing
"Why do you want this job"
I want the next fifteen years of working life to be challenging
"What makes you suitable for this role"
My career to date has been about acquiring the knowledge, I see the next fifteen years as me enjoying a job where I get to put all I know into practice

I don't know really but I think it would be good to let them know

@WindowsSmindows

It's a civil service interview which follow a set format, those types of questions wouldn't be asked.

As others have said, Civil Service interviews follow a script so the issue of retirement won't come up unless he specifically raises it, and it won't be relevant to any of the behaviours-based questions so it would probably come across as quite weird if he did. If he is not used to Civil Service interviews he does need to do as much preparation as possible, as they are not like 'normal' private sector interviews and you do need to have your examples ready. Nobody is going to ask him why he wants the job or where he sees himself in ten years - Civil Service recruitment doesn't work like that.

They absolutely do.
I retired last year at 57 and my OH (who is 3-years younger than me) has already gone PT and is finishing completely in the next 2-3 years.

In my old company it was very normal for most people (M&F) to leave at 60.

You should not put dates on the education section of your CV and work wise it should generally only cover the last 15 years.

It's a civil service application so no CV. I have only worked in the public sector and never had to produce a CV for a job application (in fact you are explicitly told not to attach a CV). Job applications I've completed do require you to enter dates of qualifications and jobs.

Mind you, I am yet to have an interview where it appears the interviewers have actually read my application!

You put qualifications though and anyone with gce results is definitely over the age of 50, my ds has gcse results, she's 50.

I see but the interviewers will not be given that info. When I was recruiting, we saw details the candidate pt in but dates were redacted.

There is no retirement age in the Civil Service, and normal pension age is in line with the state pension. You would have to be nearly 63 and have been employed on certain dates to have a pension age of 60, but of course you can retire early or partially retire. Don’t mention retirement or refer to your age at interview. They definitely shouldn’t ask.

I retired at 53.

I would find a way of weaving the answer in to a question about career drive.

I interview (not CS) but typically my first or early question is about why this role appeals to them. If this question comes up he should be able to make clear his intentions and give a view as that talks to a long term view

Retiring at 60 is a very privileged position this days. Not many can or will.

I think for people of H and my age, retiring at 60 is still common.

The only people I know who have retired early have fat public service pensions/final salary pensions or are wealthy enough from other means to do so.

I can't imagine that any interview panel would assume an applicant in their 50s is planning to retire at 60 given that the state pension age would be 68(?) for them.

I can retire at 66, but I plan to continue working for a bit.

It is a civil service interview. There will not be any questions about career drive. The interviewers will have to ask every candidate the same set of pre agreed scripted questions that relate to the behaviours listed in the job advert, plus potentially some 'strength' questions. None of these will involve asking why he applied for the job, what his motivations are, his ambitions etc - people have tried to explain this but civil service interviews simply do not work like private sector. The topic of retirement won't come up and won't feature in the decision whether to offer the role.