Age Inclusion
A Manager's Guide to Hiring
Design a Role that Attracts Top Talent of Any Age
Identify Core Skills that Matter Most for the Role
Audit Language and Images for Subtle Stereotypes
Share Key Benefits and Policies Up Front
Identify Core Skills that Matter Most for the Role
A powerful way to mitigate age bias is to closely examine and broaden definitions of success. When you have a clear view of the skills that lead to success, you are more likely to hire the best candidate with those skills.
This first step can make or break the rest of the hiring process. Work with the hiring committee to determine the top five qualifications for the position, which can cover both business and technical skills. State these “Core Five Skills” explicitly in the job description, and list them in priority order so candidates know what you will be assessing.19 Keep in mind that you should:
Remove “culture fit” criteria which often is where unconscious bias plays out in preferring a candidate with whom you have things in common, or with whom you would be willing to socialize outside of work. If you strongly feel that” “likeability” is a key hiring criteria, ask yourself why.
Remove “likeability” criteria. If you feel there is a related skill that is required to succeed in the role, define it and add it to the qualifications rubric so your hiring team will have a structured, informed conversation about each candidate’s “likeability.” For example, if you are hiring for a client facing role, you might include a core qualification as “Able to quickly create rapport with clients and to understand their needs.” This clearer definition of “likeability” can help avoid affinity bias, which often weeds out candidates who are both youngest and oldest.
Embed this same set of top skills throughout your hiring documents now. For example, use the Core Five Skills in the interview assessment rubric that all interviewers will use, the rubric that the hiring team will use to assess the sample work assignment that all interviewees will complete, and a candidate comparison chart to facilitate conversation about choosing the finalist candidate.
Audit Language and Images for Subtle Stereotypes
Older workers are less likely to apply to job advertisements that contain language with ageist stereotypes. Check for three common age-based stereotypes in your job ads: implied communication skills, implied physical ability and implied technological ability. 23
Try to ensure that the job advertisement, job posting and company career marketing website and materials are stereotype-free.
Scrub language from your job description, ads and company marketing materials that can signal to older candidates that they will not be a good fit, or language that is generationally or age-specific and therefore not as likely to appear on older candidates’ applications. Reference the Say This, Not That chart from this guide.
Test the language by “flipping” it. Substitute another aspect of identity in place of age proxies to see how it sounds. You might not think “fresh” is problematic, but you’d never use words like “pretty.” How might it read to someone who is much younger than you are? Significantly older than you are? Ask others with different perspectives to review it for you.
Include older and younger workers in any ads, websites or marketing materials used in recruiting to reflect a diverse workforce. Remember that older workers need not always be “coded” as grey-haired in the images you select. People in their 40’s and beyond have a wide range of self-presentation that you can feature.
Check for language or application questions that can accidentally lead to age-biased recommendations from AI-enabled recruiting technology. Your job description language determines how recruiting software will filter and rank the applicants, so ensure the language is age-neutral and bias-free. Skipping this step can build age-bias into every step of the hiring process that is supported by your recruiting systems. For example, refrain from including graduation dates or birth date on applications.
Include language that provides a salary range. This can reduce concerns about older candidates being “overqualified” or assuming they will expect higher compensation than younger candidates for the same role. Hiring managers can therefore feel confident that all candidates are aware of the salary range before deciding to apply for the role.
Share Key Benefits and Policies Up Front
The benefits and policies that you choose to share– or not to share– send powerful signals about who your organization wants to recruit. Be sure your choices signal that you want to hire, develop and retain top talent of any age. 28
In the job description, job advertisements, and the organization’s career website and materials, try to adopt these best practices:
Include details on retirement savings benefits such as company matching, which can be key to workers who want to accelerate their retirement savings in later career phases.
Include information on specific amounts of vacation and holidays, so candidates are aware of this in advance. This may be of particular interest to candidates who have built up a lot of vacation time with their current employer due to seniority,
Include information about paid and unpaid leave policies. Candidates of all ages now routinely assess how a potential employer can enable them to thrive professionally during career phases when they have caregiving responsibilities for children, adults or both.
It is especially important to include policies around hybrid/ flexible schedule/ remote work options and around support for parents and caregivers in the job description, as these can be filters for candidates choosing where to apply.
Include information about how candidates can contact leaders of affinity groups or employee resource groups, where they can gather broader perspectives on the organization’s culture and approach to work-life integration.