Employers hire candidates based on different criteria such as – years of experience, skills, educational level, industry experience etc. A lot of them actually make hiring decisions based on age, physical appearance and race. But for the purpose of this article, we will focus on age as criteria for recruitment.

Should age really matter when deciding which candidate to hire?

The traditional way we do things is constantly evolving, but it seems there are some things that will never change especially in Nigeria. In countries like UK and USA, there are laws put in place to protect jobseekers from age and gender discrimination. Sadly in Nigeria, many job adverts come with age restrictions. Aside from the fundamental provisions of the Nigerian constitution that generally guarantees all citizens of Nigeria freedom from discrimination, there is no specific legislation governing age discrimination.

Usually, there are certain age limitations that are logically acceptable when selecting candidates. For example:-

A hiring manager wants to fill an entry level position, typically, he will look for fresh graduates to fill in the spot. But, if he is looking to fill a senior manager role, he will definitely go for a well-experienced individual.

However, it is awkward to find an age embargo placed on a job that does not require such. Take a look at these two scenarios below:

Sample 1

ABC Company is looking to fill entry level positions with fresh graduates, and the job advert reads like this “We are looking to hire graduate trainees. Candidates should not be older than 25 years.”

This is considered age discrimination! Due to some reasons, some people graduate at a later age than others. This doesn’t make them any less fresh graduates than other applicants whom the restriction favors.

Sample 2

XYZ Company who wants to hire a project manager turned down a qualified candidate for the reason that he is too old for the job.

If the candidate has the required years of experience and can execute the job well, why should age be a problem? As long as the candidate meets the necessary requirements (which also includes being physically fit for the job) and has not exceeded the stipulated retirement age, it is considered discrimination if he or she is rejected on age grounds.

It is rather unfortunate that this has become the common practice among employers in Nigeria and has constantly remained unchecked.

The country is flooded with qualified jobseekers, and age bias forces people to falsify their real age, just so they can get employed. Everybody should be given equal chances when it comes to employment and let the best man win!

Employers and Human Resources managers should go back to the drawing board and restructure their hiring strategies. Come up with policies that will curb age discrimination and related issues in the hiring process.

Careerhubafricablog

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