60-year-old widow cries out for help: she can hardly believe employers’ behavior

Later, Delfi published an article about the situation in Lithuania due to unemployment and that the complaints of employers about the shortage of employees do not seem to be based on the statistics of the OCT, since it contains 240 thousand. registered unemployed, a woman registered with the same service also contacted the editorial staff.

He said he really wanted to tell how an elderly person felt who could not find work during a pandemic and found himself in the “care” of an OCT.

“I read an article about unemployment and I can’t help but comment. I am a 60-year-old widow who worked my whole life in the public sector. Last year, just before the emergency, without even feeling the future difficulties around the world, I quit my job, I didn’t think anyone would need my experience.

I graduated from university in 2006, so it is definitely not just “Soviet education”, I work well with all major computer programs, I speak two foreign languages ​​fluently. Unfortunately, most of the employers I sent my CV to didn’t even invite me to job interviews, ”the woman consoled.

According to her, both guests were very indifferent and asked questions that showed they were not willing to hire.

“It just came to our attention then. The question that seemed even strange to me was what kind of reward I would like; after all, I needed a job, not millions. I just wanted to change the noisy work environment to a quieter one,” he assured me. the woman.

He also mentioned that after submitting a lot of resumes, he started learning German, because he doesn’t think he can get a better job in Lithuania. However, I wanted to draw attention to the problem of the plight of people who have one or two years to retire.

Theoretically, there can be no discrimination

Cvmarket.lt specialist Raimonda Tatarėlytė Delfi commented that, in theory, there is no age discrimination.

“We do not allow any information in the ads that is discriminatory, we adjust the ads and inform the employer about possible discriminatory content and ask that they not use it in the future.

However, the selection process itself is not in our hands. How the job interview is conducted and what the employer chooses is up to him. However, we hear from job seekers that employees age 50 and older are less likely to be invited to job interviews. “They change jobs a little harder than the youngsters,” he explained.

He also pointed out that it should not be ruled out that the position also depends a lot – if it is a senior management position, or there are very few specialists required in the market, then the age cartel increases, that is, older candidates are also considered. .

“There are also job offers (rarely, but sometimes), when older people are invited. Being more sedentary, employees are more loyal to the company. In general, there is a floating attitude in the air that an employee Older knows less of a foreign language, does not know how to work or knows how to work with a computer, is slower to innovate and more difficult to change and adapt.

But it all depends on your own personality. Sometimes a young person has little or no computer skills. Often it also depends on the age of the whole team, that is, if all employees are young, they try to hire a colleague of a similar age (similar interests, current problems, etc.) ”, said R. Tatarėlytė.

According to her, sometimes it can depend on the age of the recruitment specialist, because if he is very young he is also 35 years old. the candidate will already look older.

“So it still depends a lot on what type of person makes the selections. We advise older professionals not to write their year of birth and year of graduation on their CV, but instead focus on the latest work experience and training, languages and skills.

The key is to go through the first stage of selection when the CV is being reviewed and perhaps if the employer rejects the candidates simply on the basis of age, avoid this problem, since simply the age will not be mentioned anywhere. When you get to the next stage (phone conversation or live meeting), there is a better chance to convince the recruitment specialist of your professionalism, knowledge and motivation ”.

He pointed out that we must not forget the fact that overall, the population in Lithuania is aging and the shortage of young specialists can only increase, so it is highly likely that companies will be forced to hire more than 50 people with more often, because there will simply be a shortage of employees.

No exact data is available.

Economist Romas Lazutka, who was asked to comment on the extent of age discrimination in the Lithuanian labor market, said it was difficult to answer exactly.

“I can’t really say because there is a need for research and it can be assumed that it will show that there is a lot of variety. Looking at what areas, what employers, what professions people. It is known that a large number of people of retirement age work in the field of healthcare, in other fields they are reluctantly accepted.

Of course, there could be some summative indicators if there were surveys, but they probably wouldn’t be displayed very accurately either. Those who, for example, discriminate on the basis of age probably do not always answer questions honestly. For example, would you appreciate the employment of an older person? “

According to the economist, when those employers are faced with such a situation in practice, they may resign from that older person.

“Orally, the investigation of such provisions does not always reveal everything correctly, so these cases are probably worth pointing out. Let’s say we interview people like the woman who tried to get a job and therefore collect data. only of those who refused to be hired, but also of those who refused to do so, to check who they are, “he said.

However, even though the necessary scientific data has not been collected, Ms Lazutka explained that certain provisions show that age discrimination is quite high and that job seekers often complain that they are not even invited to job interviews. job.

“You are simply asked to submit your CV and then there is no reaction or there is a very formal response that you have already found someone else and no longer need them. Of course, he does not write that by age, because certain ethics do not allow it, but it is clear that there are certain provisions “.

In addition, according to the economist, much less attention is paid to age discrimination. According to him, because the feminist movement is much stronger, so is discrimination on the grounds of sex.

“Age discrimination is called ageism and this is the attitude towards the old man when he differs. I can not say the number of Lithuania, but in the world it is described and it is known that there are stereotypes that an older person is inflexible at work. Then it is summarized that it is precisely because of age.

Women are also sometimes told that if any of them are irritable, then it is summarized that they are all like that, so it is better not to be named managers. Of course, that thought spreads and then some behave accordingly. “

According to R. Lazutka, although the biological structure differs between a man and a woman or the behavior of people of different ages, it is not convenient to “rule out” some of them immediately.

“It is often said that older people are less receptive to innovation, more difficult to adapt, but research shows that it is more difficult for them to learn new things, because teaching methodologies are developed especially for younger people.

There are also attempts to develop methodologies for older people, to take into account their experience, for associative thinking, and then they can assimilate new things by association. In this case, young people are being left behind ”, assured the economist.