Applying for a job at any age can be a daunting task but what about mature applicants who wish to make a switch or re-enter the workforce? Broadcaster & Executive Coach, Michael Comyn joined Richard Curran on The Business to talk about the older, wiser applicants and how there's just no substitute for experience. While it's illegal to discriminate by age or gender, Michael says we need to replace that word with 'bias'.
"You might have a bias or a set of beliefs about how the older person, for example, mightn't be easy to manage, might be too difficult to employ or might simply just be demanding about how things are done around them and there's plenty of proof that that's actually the case… We're not going to be, if we're a little bit older, swayed by free pizza or a fußball table."
While the trappings of a modern, casual working culture such as a fußball table mightn't have the same appeal to the older generation, they shouldn't be considered at a disadvantage when it comes to technology, Michael says.
"There's a general belief out there that older people don't take on technology for example easily or don't take on new work practices… People who might be defined as old at the moment were kids of the 70's. They were playing with Sinclair ZX computers so they're ok with technology… What they won't take on is a daft idea or an idea that's not thought through."
What about energy levels though, Richard argues. Surely a younger person is brimming with enthusiasm and about to outperform an older person in this aspect of working life?
"I'm going to go straight to The London Business School where they did some research on this and they discovered that the one age group that report being exhausted more than anything else are the under 45s and the age groups that have the least amount of exhaustion in the workplace during the days is the over 60's… It's about walking and doing it properly instead of running and getting half the job done."
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