Older Workers: Never Find Another Job?
| This entry is part of a series about older workers. We’ll defy stereotypes all week!
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I teach English to a lot of people who think they are old. Some are grandparents, others have children as old as I am. And every one of them is able to learn English.
So, I was surprised to learn that most of them think they will never be able to find another job. In Germany, they tell me, companies don’t hire people who are over forty-five or fifty years old, and so, my students would never even consider looking for another job.
The logic, they tell me, is that companies think older workers have two problems: first, their training is out-of-date and they’re difficult to train. Second, because they’re older and will retire soon, it’s not worth the company’s time and money to train them.
The ideal job candidate, my students tell me, is twenty years old and has thirty years of experience.
What do you think? How easily can an older worker find work in your country? If you had a company, would you hire older workers? Why, or why not?
