Have you taken a look at your candidate pool lately? If your candidate network consists mostly of recent graduates, your company may be discriminating against older workers in the hiring process. Unfortunately, ageism has become a major issue nationwide, resulting in many qualified older workers being passed over for younger candidates. Ageism is both unfair and illegal, which is why it’s important to address this type of discrimination before it has a crippling effect on your entire organization. By implementing the practices below, you can combat ageism in your workplace:
Educate your hiring team and reverse poor recruiting practices.
One of the most prevalent causes of ageism is lack of education. Informing and training your hiring team regarding ageism, as well as your company’s harassment policies, is the first step to creating a fairer hiring process. In many cases, members of your hiring team may not even be aware they’ve been favoring younger candidates. For instance, do some of your job descriptions state minimum GPA requirements? This listed qualification indicates a search for a younger candidate who recently graduated. Assessing the verbiage and requirements listed in your job descriptions will reduce the incidence of age discrimination and broaden your candidate pool. This is just one example of how you can help your hiring team identify poor recruiting practices and make necessary adjustments.
Broaden your candidate pipeline.
Re-evaluating your current candidate pipeline and recruiting approach can very impactful in attracting more older candidates to apply to your jobs. Many organizations focus their recruitment heavily focused on college job databases or social media platforms, where younger candidates tend to dominate. To diversify recruitment and reach an older audience, consider promoting your jobs through more traditional channels, such as newspapers, industry group job boards or regional job fairs to gain access to a broader range of candidates.
Embrace a diverse workforce – and recognize its benefits!
As you build morale within your company’s culture, it’s important to promote the expertise and talents of every member of your team. By embracing individuals of all ages, you’ll develop a reputation as an employer that values employees in every stage of their lives, from recent graduates to seasoned professionals, and everywhere in between. This has numerous benefits to your company, as a diverse array of professional opinions and perspectives will ultimately make your team more innovative and forward-thinking.
Partner With a Staffing Agency
One of the most effective ways to avoid ageism in the hiring process is to partner with a trusted staffing agency. Learn how to grow your workforce with The Liberty Group as we serve 24 cities and their surrounding markets nationwide. Contact us today!