Age is only a number. Is this true in employment market as well?

Article text translated in English. Article was published initially in Estonian in Dec’24. 

The labor market is in a situation where employers have more choices – there are fewer jobs and the number of applicants has increased. The more intense the competition, the more difficult it is for young and older people to find work. Why is this so and how to make recruitment decisions regardless of age?

The article has been published in the Labor Inspectorate’s magazine Tööelu.

On average, people in the labor market are between the ages of 18 and 80. When applying for a job, skills, experience and motivation should be taken into account, but very often other criteria become decisive. If we constantly encounter situations where we are too old or too young for something, it starts to affect our self-esteem. “Negative feedback also affects the self-esteem of every mentally healthy person,” says Piret Potisepp, head of the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“According to recruiters, some clients have set very clear limits for themselves as to what age they are looking for a new employee. For example, they are looking for someone aged 35–45. This leaves out a large number of young people and older people,” adds Potisepp. According to statistics from the portal cv.ee, the most active working-age population is between 25 and 55 years old. “On the one hand, the reason is that older people have had time to make their career changes and they value a secure and stable life. On the other hand, people have their own fears and prejudices, which is why they don’t even apply,” says Karla Oder, Marketing Manager at Alma Career Estonia OÜ.

The Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is participating in the “Silver Strategies” project, which aims to improve labor market opportunities for people aged 55+. “The project gave us the opportunity to normalize the fact that we even talk about different ages in the workplace. We realized that we shouldn’t just talk about older people. Discrimination against younger people is especially difficult during the economic recession that we are currently experiencing. There are more people on the labor market with previous work experience, and it is very difficult for young people to get their foot in the door,” says Potisepp.

Diversity enriches

In addition to the fact that the first challenge is to get a job, you also have to think about how to create good synergy in a team with a large age gap. During her career as the head of services at the Estonian Chamber of Industry and Commerce Piret has also experienced a situation where, while making recruitment decisions with her own team, a colleague at one point said that we don’t want an early retiree here. “International studies have shown that innovation occurs when there are people from different backgrounds in the team. It is easier to communicate with people of your own age and reach a common language, but then there are no diverse discussions,” says Potisepp.

Ene Olle, a consulting lawyer at the Labour Inspectorate, also points out that if the recruiter is young, he or she does not necessarily have to look for someone similar to himself or herself. “The charm of diversity is that it helps the team bring the best results. We cannot all look the same and think the same way. This may not lead to the hoped-for innovation and new solutions,” says Olle.

Among those entering the job market

According to the marketing manager of CV.ee, a lack of experience is often fatal for a young person. Especially if there is a candidate with five to ten years of work experience next to them. “Employers say they don’t distinguish young people from other ages, but young people still feel it,” says Oder. In the 2022 youth labor market survey, over 90% of employers responded that they are ready to recruit young people to the labor market, but when it came to choosing an age, 16–20-year-olds were still the last to be selected.

As part of the same survey, almost 90% of young people responded that they fear that a lack of previous work experience could be fatal for them when finding a job. Approximately 70% of young people believe that employers have a negative attitude towards a lack of previous work experience.

“Sometimes young people’s expectations are also unrealistic. Not only regarding salary, but also expectations regarding working conditions – how much and what schedule they have to work. Young people want more flexible work arrangements and are not always ready to devote as much time to work as someone with bank loans and children. Even if this percentage is not large, employers still have this prejudice,” says Oder.

The youth labor market survey revealed that 74.4% of employers see an opportunity to train young people according to their own skills when hiring them. It was pointed out that young people are faster learners and have better digital competence. Entrepreneurs value interest in the company and field of activity (73.6%), bold initiative (66.1%), and over 53% of employers mentioned studying in a relevant field. During a job interview, employers assess readiness to learn new things, ability and courage to communicate, curiosity and asking questions.

“Young people bring us trends, they use media differently, and they dare to ask uncomfortable questions,” says Potisepp.

To gain work experience, you should start as early as possible and keep your expectations low. “We need to convey to young people that it is also very okay to start in the service sector and that you don’t have to work in a high position right away. When I communicate with young people, I often give the example that I currently work as a marketing manager, but I started as a pasta and pizza chef at Vapiano. I didn’t have much cooking experience, but I wrote a beautiful motivation letter.” and I proved myself. That’s where I gained communication skills and management experience as a head of the shift,” says Oder, adding that internships should not be underestimated. “They are usually not highly paid, but if you still live with your parents, it is a wonderful opportunity to gain work experience.”

Knowledge and skills must be constantly developed

Lifelong learning is what keeps us competitive in the labor market. “If a person has achieved something and works in a good position, it does not mean that you should not continue to develop yourself,” says Oder. “Employers often do not want to hire older people because they are prejudiced that older people do not want to keep up with changes, do not want to be teachers of young people, or the manager does not want to hire someone older, often wiser, because it would seem to reduce the power of the manager,” said Liina Helstein, head of the Tartu branch of the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

According to Ene Olle, the Labor Inspectorate has been informed of the problems that older people do not tend to be trained. “There is no need for this, because people will retire soon anyway. There is also a common prejudice that older people are no longer able to learn. If there is a surplus of employees and someone needs to be laid off, they tend to look at age and lay off those who are already retired first,” says Olle. The Labour Inspectorate is also being asked whether pensioners can simply be let go or required to leave at their own request. Thus, ways are being sought to avoid having to lay off people or pay them severance pay.

“Older people bring stability and life experience to the team,” says Karla Oder. Their advantage is their know-how and extensive expert experience. “Older people are more loyal and value their employer. The “Silver Strategy” project shows that older people are more motivated because they know that they do not have as many choices on the labour market. They are ready to learn when the job market offers it, and they don’t have such young children with whom they need to be on sick leave from time to time,” says Potisepp.

“To stay competitive in the job market, you have to constantly learn, develop yourself and keep up with trends. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it became clear that older teachers were in quite a bit of trouble during distant learning, as their digital competence was not at a good enough level. Independent learning is important – you shouldn’t rely on the employer to teach you,” adds Oder.

Why do we prefer or avoid people of a certain age when recruiting?

The head of the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry believes that the problem lies in the relative youth of our managers, the very young age of recruiters and the inability to see the bigger picture. “Compared to Western Europe, our managers are much younger. Young managers don’t dare to recruit older people. I have also been a young manager who has had a colleague who is about twice as old as me on my team, and it was definitely not comfortable. But it helped me grow a lot as a manager,” says Potisepp.

We all have prejudices – they come from family, previous experience, school, the information space, social media. All of this shapes our mindset and how we behave. “If an employer has a previous negative experience, it is also carried over to subsequent applications. We have developed stereotypes, but they may no longer correspond to today. Without thinking, we say that we have doors open for everyone, but when going to work, an employee may discover that the employees are all the same age, often of the same gender and with similar characteristics,” says Potisepp.

How to make better hiring decisions?

According to the Labour Inspectorate’s legal advisor, the selection of the most suitable candidate is legitimate if the selection criteria are characteristics that help to successfully perform the job duties, i.e. the applicant’s presence of the necessary competencies for the job, the necessary skills, personal characteristics and other knowledge that are a prerequisite for successful performance in the workplace. “In very rare cases, an employer may have a legitimate interest in the candidate’s age. Therefore, asking for the date of birth in a CV or during an interview is not justified, nor is information about the person’s gender,” says Ene Olle.

“About half of the CVs on the cv.ee portal contain a picture, and for almost ten years, indicating age or gender in a CV has not been mandatory,” says Oder. He points out that even if a job seeker does not indicate their age on their CV, employers try to predict it, for example, based on the year they graduated from school. People tend to also indicate basic school and secondary school education on their CV, which is not actually necessary. If you have attended university or a vocational school, then you also have basic and secondary education,” says Oder.

When compiling CVs, we could put emphasis on competencies. “It doesn’t matter what year someone graduated from which school. What matters is what the employee actually knows, what their knowledge, skills and abilities are. Age and gender shouldn’t be on the CV either, only competencies. There shouldn’t even be a name, so that it wouldn’t be possible to look up the missing criteria on the internet. We’re probably not ready to go that far yet,” discusses consulting lawyer Olle.