Age discrimination built right into some job websites

[Tanuki]

http://www.npr.org/2017/03/28/521771515/older-workers-find-age-discrimination-built-right-into-some-job-sites

.....The problem was the drop-down menu that required you to select the year when you graduated or got your first job. Those dates only went back to 1980. Madigan's office contends that could exclude anyone over 52.

Monster declined NPR's request for comment.

In addition to Monster Worldwide, Madigan's office also contacted Ladders Inc., Beyond.com, Indeed.com (an NPR funder), CareerBuilder, and Vault. Their sites were less restrictive than Monster's JOBR app, but they all had their limits. Some only excluded people older than 82, but Madigan says that's still discrimination. The way these job search sites should work, she says, is that "anybody who's alive and wants to look for a job would be able to, and be able to put in accurate information."

Responding to NPR's request for comment, some of the job search sites said the date limit was inadvertent and that they have corrected it. Others wrote about special efforts they made to assist and advise older job hunters. Their full responses are at the end of this article.

Madigan also wants to see the companies' internal documents to see if the exclusions were deliberate or received written responses from only two of them.

"Our goal is to fix the problem," says Madigan. "Our goal is not to file a lawsuit."

Some organizations are trying to "fix the problem" in other ways. The AARP has an Employer Pledge Program, where companies promise equal opportunity for all workers and job seekers regardless of age.".....
(More at link)

[eppur_se_muova]

1. If it's more than 20 years ago, why use the exact year ?

Instead of an endless list of options, just add "20-30", "30-40", "more than 40" to the list.

Most Web sites ask for far more info than is actually needed, because their authors don't think too deeply about what they're doing with the info.

[MichMan]

2. Only put what is relevant

As an older person, when doing resumes or on line job application, I only enter jobs from when I considered my "professional" career to have started. Same as education; my college degree is relevant, not HS.

I do get a laugh from those old paper employment forms that required you to fill in grade school and major. Like I had a major in 6th grade 45 yrs ago !

[PoliticAverse]

3. Your grades in penmanship when you were 6 are very important, you know. n/t

[Orrex]

4. It goes on your permanent record

I still worry about that report on the ermine that I failed to turn in to Mrs. Thorne in 6th grade.

[LAS14]

5. Yeah!! In 5 or 10 years many applicants won't even know how to read...

... cursive! Can't be a lawyer if you can't read old wills. Certainly can't be a scholar of almost anything if you can't read hand written documents. Can't be a good family member if you can't read your mom's letters!!!!

[Mariana]

6. I'd imagine that anyone who wants to be

a lawyer or a scholar or a historian or an archivist or any such job would find a way to learn to read cursive. Most people manage to learn the skills they need to do their jobs even if those particular skills weren't taught to them in elementary school.

[LAS14]

7. Which leaves the moms and their letters...

...out in the cold. Along with my friend who's informed his father that he never reads anything but the subject in Dad's e-mails.

[Mariana]

8. Is it because the e-mails are in cursive? nt.