If you’re not, you should be
There would not be any ageism if there weren’t still far too many employers (and even some recruiters) who look down their noses at older workers thinking that we are slow, unproductive and inefficient. How wrong can they be?
The results are in. There are many, many studies that indicate that this is simply not the case.
In a study from the Bureau of Business Management, overall employers rate older workers as “excellent” 71 percent of the time. They also rate the output of older workers as “excellent” 82 percent of the time. Last, but not least, mature workers are ranked as “thorough” and “reliable” 97 percent of the time.
Does this sound anything like you? A study from AARP found that older workers score high in leadership, organization, detail-oriented tasks, listening, writing skills and problem solving. What may surprise some, the same study shows that mature workers even excel in cutting-edge fields like computer science.
Not only can we do the job, we do it longer! In a job market pot marked by turnover and job hopping, the National Council on Aging reports that workers age 55 and over were more likely than any other age group to remain in their current jobs. When considering the skyrocketing cost of replacing workers, this kind of longevity should be prized for its ability to hold down hiring costs.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many more studies from such prestigious organizations such Pew Research and Boston College just to name a few. They also praise older workers for their work ethic, their dependability, their longevity, their institutional knowledge, etc., etc.
We trust that you are one of the many who are known by the company you keep.