Does age influence when entering the job market?

Hello friends!

I have received several questions about the best age to enter the job market. In general, the questions are similar to the following: “I am X years old, am I too old to enter the market?” This text seeks to answer these questions, after analyzing whether or not age influences job opportunities and, if it is after all worth starting a new college, investing in a new career, for those who are “older” in age.

Well, this issue of age and the job market has started to emerge, as a negative point, in recent years. For example, we see cases on television and in newspapers of people who are 40, 45 years old and are fired and the only factor would be age. After becoming unemployed, the person simply cannot find a vacancy identical to the one he occupied. With this, many people began to question this relationship.

This is one of the factors that influence placement or relocation in certain professions, but, as we will see, it is just one of the factors to be taken into account. When I worked with Human Resources, I did thousands of selection processes for small, medium and large companies. So that you can clearly understand what I am talking about age, I will tell you how the recruitment process works.

Imagine that you are a director or manager in a company. Seeing the growth in sales, you estimate that it is necessary to hire 5 employees, let’s say, all for the sales area. Knowing the market in which your company operates, you define the professional profile for the 5 new employees:

Let’s say:

– Training in high school;

– At least 1 year of sales experience;

– Extroverted and communicative personality;

These are the main desired characteristics. Data such as gender (being male or female), marital status (having married or not), having children and age are data that can influence the choice. However, for ethical and even legal reasons, the company simply cannot say certain preferences, such as preferring men to women for a certain vacancy. Although, in the universe of employment agencies, there are even absurd cases in which “good looks” are required.

The question that still remains is: will a person who has a high school education, has experience in sales and has an extroverted and communicative personality perform well at the age of 20, 40 or 60? Will there be differences for the company in terms of age?

The answer, still from the point of view of the director, manager or owner of the company, I believe that most of the time will be: will the new employee perform the functions well? Will it bring profits from the costs (salaries, benefits, transportation) it will give to the company? If the employee is positive for the company, he can be hired regardless of age.

Does being older affect your career?

General questions are always difficult to answer. What I would say to answer this question is: yes, it influences. But, contrary to popular belief, being older can have a positive influence on your career. There are many professions, such as medicine or psychology, where being older (say 40, 50) is looked upon favorably. That is, when entering a 50-year-old doctor’s office – no one asks how long he has been trained – but when entering a 24-year-old doctor’s office, everyone will be suspicious and think that his young age makes him an inexperienced doctor .

The opposite is also true for certain areas. For example, a university professor at a public college, whether state or federal, upon reaching the age of 70 will have to retire. It is a rule that cannot be circumvented. The idea here is that at the age of 70, a person does not have the conditions or stamina or vitality to continue teaching. The idea of ​​renewing staff would also be at stake, as a university professor can occupy a chair for decades.

In this sense, although the teacher may continue to be highly regarded, capable, lucid, he will necessarily have to retire. He will be able to remain active in the private sector, but for public tenders at government universities, he will no longer have a chance.

Interestingly, in many public tenders, being older means points if all other criteria reached a tie. That is, a 45-year-old candidate who has achieved 60 points in the contest (in the tests) and another who is 25 years old and has obtained the same points will have an advantage. That is to say, the 45-year-old candidate, even though he got the same score as the 25-year-old, will have an advantage and will be able to take over, precisely because he is older.

Does being younger influence your career?

Graduating earlier is seen by most people as a positive, interesting, desirable value. In other words, the sooner you graduate, the better. Of course, there are advantages to graduating earlier, in addition to having more disposition, more desire, more dreams. However, as I showed above, there are yes negative points of graduating too early.

In the end, the whole problem of the relationship between age and the job market boils down to the area in which you are going to work. As age is just one of the factors to be taken into account when getting a job, a salary, a remuneration, we have to consider all the other factors to see if age will be a positive or negative point. But even if it does – for better or worse – I don’t think it will really make that much of a difference.

I’m X age: should I start college now?

This is one of the most frequently asked questions in our texts on Professional Guidance. Well, first it’s important to remember that the consideration of being old or young is extremely relative. These days a reader said that he was too old to start college at the age of 21… on the other hand, if we consider that life expectancy has risen a lot in recent decades and renowned doctors and scientists say that the forecast is that in a few years it will reach at least 100 years… I mean, will we be old at 40? Having 60 years of life ahead of you?

What does it mean to be old or new?

Like every adjective, when we say old or new, we are comparing with something or someone. If I’m old for graduating at 26, it’s because I’m comparing with those who graduated at 22, or if I’m old for graduating at 60, I’m comparing with those who graduated at 30. Anyway, it’s always a comparison. And like all comparisons, it is an error of perspective.

To really answer this question, I think we have to analyze all the other factors and make Professional Guidance independent of age. For example, asking if you really want to work in the area or just get more knowledge, if you really know the opportunities and the day-to-day of the profession, if the profession – in general – comes together with our personality type .

If all the answers are yes, that is, I really want to know more, I want to specialize, work in one of the areas (or even in all areas of that faculty), if I see myself working, if my personality has to do with the profession, anyway, the choice – in my opinion – should be made regardless of age. If someone is 20, 40, or 60 it won’t matter.

Generally speaking, we have no way of knowing whether we will live another 10 or 50 years. But the time ahead of us must be well spent. And wouldn’t it be wonderful to employ it in a profession that you want from your heart? Live your own life happily instead of looking forward to the next holiday or the next vacation?

Also check out our video on the topic!

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