As younger Australians continue to strive for a changing workforce that includes greater flexibility and rights for workers, older Aussies who grew up in generations past are increasingly finding it difficult to gain a foothold in the modern workforce.
During Wednesday’s Indeed seminar, Talent Table’s CEO, Andrea Kirby, explained how older workers are experiencing ageism from the generation below, which has now moved into leadership positions.
“Suddenly, at the age of 50, I was not getting jobs after being interviewed by people that were 35 or 40,” she said.
“I think it was an ageism issue, a perception of how I would behave. It is definitely something people aged 40 and above have to think about,” Ms Kirby added.
The CEO, who started her own business due to these ageism issues, noted older Aussies, especially those in leadership positions, are being viewed as taking a spot from the next generation and have no choice but to remain in their current roles.
“We’re holding onto the jobs because it’s hard for us to get another job easily with all the age issues that are going on at the moment.
“We want the interesting work, but we are taking away the opportunities for our next generation to come through,” Ms Kirby explained.
“But for us to move, if it’s going to take us two years to find another job, the moving around does not become an option,” she said.
As such, she highlighted how many older Aussies are having to change their roles or downplay experience in order to get ahead.
“We are bastardising our CVs to take off the years we went to university,” she said.
“I fudged the first 15 years of my working life because if I put down I started work in 1984, suddenly I am ageing myself considerably,” the CEO continued.
“I have applied for jobs that I should’ve got an interview for, but just getting back ‘sorry, you’re not the right experience’ despite being able to tick every box on the job description,” she continued.
Apply to me directly: ANZ boss
While older Australians are struggling to get back into the workforce or continue their careers, job shortages and rising vacancy rates mean employees are becoming desperate to get new staff.
One solution brought up by ANZ’s boss was to draw older workers back into the workforce to fill the shortages.
In fact, ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott publicly called for older Aussies to reach out to him directly if they would like to work for the big four bank.
“Come straight to me. So, my email address is
