Think youre facing age bias in your career Heres what you should do next Viewpoint careers advice blog

Think you’re facing age bias in your career Here’s what you should do next Have you ever felt that you’ve been denied career development or promotional opportunities for no good reason? Or perhaps you weren’t being given the responsibilities that you think you deserved and could handle. Whichever situation you were faced with, did you have a niggling feeling that it might be because of your age? While it’s unlikely you’ll ever know for certain if your age was a factor in such decisions, age bias is certainly alive and well. To give you an example, my team in Hays Australia surveyed 1,516 employers and candidates, and found that more than seven in ten believed an employee’s age has an impact on the career opportunities they are given. More so, it’s both younger and older workers who face age-related biases in the workplace. Most of the time, it is not a conscious bias that takes place in a manager’s mind, rather, a set of subconscious assumptions or stereotypes surrounding a particular age group. These preconceptions will unintentionally affect the way the manager behaves towards staff who fall into this age group. So, if you think you are currently experiencing a degree of age bias at work that’s holding you back from achieving your career goals, then I recommend you take control of the situation and follow the below advice. 1. Identify the areas or scenarios in which you most commonly face age bias Write down some of the areas in which you think age bias could be impacting you in your professional life.   For instance, your manager may neglect to invite you to an overseas conference, and as a more senior employee, you may assume that this is because they are questioning your energy levels or family commitments. On the flipside, you could be a younger worker who is also passed up for this opportunity, and you may automatically assume that your boss is questioning your level of expertise, maturity and experience. You may also be concerned that your age is affecting your responsibilities. For example, you might be a marketing executive who is perfectly equipped to manage social media updates, but your boss keeps asking a younger member of the team to do this. You have a hunch that your boss may not view you as being particularly tech savvy, simply because you aren’t a millennial digital native. Once you know why which age-related stereotypes could be working against your career goals, you are better equipped to overcome them, which brings me onto my next point. 2. Defy the stereotypes Now it’s time to get working on your strategy for disproving any of the stereotypes that you think are holding you back. For instance, if you are a digitally skilled, relatively older marketing or IT executive, prepare examples that showcase your digital skills. If you are a younger people manager, build case studies of well-performing team members who you trained from scratch. If, on the other hand, you are lacking in examples that disprove the stereotypes, do all you can to upskill yourself and bridge this gap in your expertise or experience. This might involve finding a mentor who isn’t your boss, volunteering to work on certain projects, or attending training sessions. In short, prove that you are more than capable of successfully accomplishing whatever task or opportunity you are being passed up for. 3. Make sure your boss sees your potential Now that you can prove your capability, diligence and determination, it’s time to show your boss what you’re made of. Highlight which opportunities you want to be more involved with as well as examples to prove you can successfully perform the associated duties or responsibilities. You should also mention how these fit in with your overall career goals. Listen to what your boss has to say, and take any feedback on board. If there are areas you need to improve upon, make a plan to do so, and ask for your manager’s support and guidance. If your boss can see what you’ve got to offer and is aware of your career plan, she or he is less likely to make any subconscious assumptions based on your age or any other extraneous factor. 4. Your last resort If you are doing all you can to disprove the presumed age bias, and you still find yourself being treated differently for no clear reason, then consider why. It could have nothing to do with age bias at all. If you can’t determine a likely reason, ask your boss for a meeting to discuss the situation. Age bias is a difficult thing to pinpoint and prove, and quite a weighted accusation to make, so if you do decide to suggest that you are being categorised because of your age, make sure you keep a cool head and can back up what you are saying. Julie Freeborn, an esteemed occupational psychologist, says, “Present it in a neutral way as far as possible and if you have a log you can give them that evidence.” As I said in the beginning, you may never know for certain whether age bias is impacting upon your career goals, but the good news is that the power is in your hands.   Defy expectations by identifying and overcoming whichever stereotypes you think are getting in your way. Once your manager sees you in action, and is aware of everything you would still like to achieve in your career, they are more likely to sit up and pay attention  to the diligent and ambitious professional standing in front of them, not the age bracket that you fall into. 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