A survey from Ringover has found how age is affecting candidate hiring chances.
Graduates are facing one of the toughest job markets in recent years. Showing how demotivating the job search can be, a study by Ringover found that when applying for five common job types, a 21-year old applicant hears from just 2.4 out of 10 job applications – and 1.1 of these are rejections.
The study created CVs for four candidates of different age groups: A 21-year-old (recent graduate), 35-year-old, 50-year-old and a 60-year-old and applied to 2,000 job adverts, across five of the most common job roles. The qualifications were kept consistent across the ages (for example, certifications and degrees). Five of the most common UK roles were picked, ranging from low-salary to high-salary careers:
- Finance manager
- Primary school teacher
- Retail assistant
- Nurse
- Road transport/ HGV driver
The 21-year-old candidate received 12.8 per cent positive responses to their applications – below the 14.6 per cent study average. The study counted responses which asked further questions, informal phone calls, conversations and interviews as a positive response. Rejections were counted as bad responses. Out of 500 applications each (100 per job type), the 21-year-old received 64 positive responses (12.8 per cent of applications), the 35-year-old 74 (14.8 per cent), the 50-year-old 81 (16.2 per cent) and the 60-year-old 72 (14.4 per cent).
The 50-year-old candidate had the best positive application response rate, although the overall margin between the ages was just 3.4 per cent. When it came to explicit rejections, the 21-year-old received 56 outright rejections (11.2 per cent), the 35-year-old 67 (13.4 per cent), the 50-year-old 48 (9.6 per cent) and the 60-year-old 56 (11.2 per cent).
Retail assistant the only job type which favoured the 21-year-old.
Retail and sales assistant is the most commonly reported job in the 2021 census, employing more than 1.1 million people. This job type had the lowest reported average salary at £26,141 per year or £10.24 per hour. The overall response rate for a retail assistant job was 11 per cent, and was tipped towards negative responses/rejections: at 4.4 per cent positive, 6.6 per cent negative. This was the only job type where the youngest applicant – the 21-year-old – had the greatest number of positive responses (5.6 per cent).
