It is amazing how rampant age discrimination is right now. Superior qualifications and continual turn-downs. Seriously thinking of consulting an attorney. Had a recruiter actually tell me that a potential employer is looking for someone "less seasoned". Hello?

I 100% agree. I've seen two jobs that were exactly what I've been doing for years, but I didn't get an interview even. When the screener saw my wrinkles, that was all she wrote. I should have been a shoe in.

The other thing is the ATS resume software. If it sees more than 20 years of experience, it basically eliminates you.

Not to discount your experience, but have you presented as coachable or know it all?

I have not had meaningful (challenging) work for 10 years, and finally had to reach the grim conclusion that the rest of my working life will be just struggling to earn a paycheck. At 64, I am now performing work I did quite successfully at 26. Oh well.

I was "laid off" after 18 years with a company. I still need to work and have been actively looking for 5 months I am willing to take any pay they are offering at this point and have applied for so many different positions from a clerk to director. Only got 3 phone interviews. One "HR" director said " I see you've only had 2 jobs recently" Sweetheart I was at one job for 18 years and the other for 15 years. She said "Wow... How old are you??" I hung up and sent an email to the owner, explaining what happen and said if you want a real HR person I would be happy to come in and speak with you about applying for the position.
Crickets on the other end...oh well it was worth a shot!

But were you willing to take the market pay for the associate roles?

Absolutely age discrimination. And of course, getting laid off because of age and salary. I know when people see the years of experience they just trash the resume. And I get it to a certain point. No one wants to hire someone that doesn't have a long time to go before what they consider retirement. But not everyone wants to retire at 62 or 65. Let them get the less experienced, see where that gets them.

I am completely comfortable with market rate. It is no longer about climbing the ladder or making lots of money. It is about being challenged, engaged, having a mission, putting my experience to work, rolling up my sleeves, being productive. Maybe I should invest in a franchise and put my energy toward growing a leadership team to run it ?

ATS is eliminating all the good candidate. People are so lazy and don’t want to do things themselves and letting the robots and AI take over. I had to do an Accounting assessment live as part of a job interview because people were using AI and ChapGPT to cheat and sound professional when they weren’t. So instead of me having 24-48 hours to througly review and analyze 20+ pages of financials statements and bank recs on my own. I’m stuck doing this all in 1 hour with someone watching me type my responses. I have over 20 years experience and can’t even get an interview for a staff accountant or payables clerk let alone a senior accountant or manager. I’ve been on the market for over a year.

K

Could mean you know too much to manipulate

Action Lawsuit against major companies we could all sign up. At 75 I sm in excellent health. I use a walker due to a bad fall in 2000. 25 years experience as AR Manager, AP Analyst worked for Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies.
11 classes away from dual Masters in accounting and I can't get a minimum wage job!!!!!
They are not supposed to ask your age. But they ask for your DOB, they ask what year you graduated High School, helps them weed us out before calling people for interviews.

Sorry that happened to you. It does happen all the time, and unfortunately people are sometimes really bad at communicating. It is illegal to discriminate based on age, so you have ground to stand on... But it also won't help your chances at getting that job if you sue.

I haven't bothered with recruiters for over 10 years. The last interview started with the recruiter literally jumping out of her seat as I walked in, she said "that position was filled internally". So I said "hello" and turned around and left. Truth is, they don't want to be the person that presents old people for a position. Once you turn 50 just get used to being invisible.

Agree it sucks. It’s their preference of wanting to “mold” someone that’s the issue. I’ve seen jobs where having 5 years of experience was considered “too much” for just that reason.

Employers want "less seasoned" because younger employees are cheaper.

I am also experiencing the ageism. I have 15 yrs experience.

Even applying for state financial positions and going through the interview process, every time they have “gone with someone else based on qualifications” only to have the exact job posted a week later. By the way, I have been a CPA for 30 years and performed many categories of financial work quite successfully. Meanwhile one of their “senior” accountants puts herself forth (in writing) as a CPA because she has sat for (but not passed) the CPA exam. I think I will turn their “CPA” into the state accounting board, which should be lots of fun.