Over 50s jobseekers treated like second class citizens

- 70% of job hunters say their applications are mostly ignored
- Bad corporate manners can damage a companyís health!

One in six jobseekers aged over 50 feel that they are treated like second-class citizens when applying for jobs, according to a survey* to determine the views of older jobseekers, carried out by online recruitment agency SkilledPeople.com. The survey also showed that it is common place now for the majority of job applications to go unacknowledged – 70% of those surveyed said that they had received responses to only a quarter or less of their submissions, and 15% of these complained that they had not had any replies at all.

David Hiddleston, Managing Director of SkilledPeople.com commented ìBesides being ëcorporately ill-manneredí such cavalier treatment of applicants can seriously damage the reputation and brand of an organisation. Companies may be inundated with applications at the moment, but surely that is not an excuse to simply ignore people who have taken the trouble to put together and forward an application – and now, more than ever, itís important to maintain the good reputation of a company.î

The survey demonstrates clearly that the way a company responds to its job applicants can impact corporate reputation. Of those surveyed, nearly nine in ten (87%) felt badly disposed towards the companies who treated them so badly, more than half (53%) said they lost respect for the companies concerned, one in five (18%) would think twice before buying their products and 16% would go to the length of telling as many of their friends, family and colleagues as possible exactly what they thought of the company in question. Nearly two in five (38%) thought that those recruiters who failed to acknowledge or feedback on vacancies were generally lacking in manners and treated applicants like second class citizens.

David Hiddleston continued: ìWe believe itís a sad reflection on the business community that many companies just ignore older applicants – nearly half of those (45%) who responded to our survey had applied for anything between 20 and 50 vacancies whilst some had actively chased in excess of 100 vacancies. Mature people have a lot to offer and the least companies can do is demonstrate common courtesies like an acknowledgement or polite rejection.î

Itís not only companies that came in for criticism from jobseekers - Government funded Job Centres came in for some stick too. Job Centres were variously described as patronising, unhelpful, disrespectful and totally failing to understand the value of experienced older workers within the workplace.

Hiddleston concluded: ìI think many CEOs and senior managers would be surprised to hear how their recruiters (who are, after all, supposed to be people-oriented) and the agencies they use, are treating those who actually want to work for their company.î

*survey of 765 jobseekers registered with SkilledPeople.com. August 2009