They don't have to ask age but when your last 3 jobs equal 33 years of tenure then it doesn't take much to assume you're in early 50s at minimum.

Applications aside, it's so easy to find (or guess) someone's age simply by googling their name. You don't even necessarily need to do a pricey background check. In my case, even though my resume only contains my last job, it was 24 years long (thank you, downsizing) so..... And as a sidebar, don't bother with AARP's job search. Unless you want to be a line cook at a restaurant chain or have a medical background, forget it. The shake-your-head moment was one of their "favored" employers has a question on their application regarding graduation date that is required answering. Who here doesn't believe that's just a way to suss out your age? Shortly after I filled out the application ::cough::Lowes::cough:: I received a thanks but no thanks email....even though the posting is still running a month later.

The problem with leaving it out on resume is most places have you fill an application out and ask for HS graduation. Before I retired I found myself needing a job for at age 57 because the business closed. I had decades of retail management experience with a verifiable track record as a successful store manager. In 2 cases I had several phone interviews with various people and was ultimately scheduled for a face to face. I was appropriately dressed and professional but in one case the interviewer was visually disappointed when I showed up with grey hair and saw I was obviously "experienced". he cut the interview short and asked no questions only told me to watch my email for a message I knew would never come. Folks, ageism is alive and well and finding a good job at over 50 is a very disheartening experience. Your record of success and reliability is ignored or held against you. I was lucky. A combination of savings and part time jobs got me through but I was forced to take SS at 62 and roll the dice with health insurance. I'm doing well now but it was touch and go. I had some success with minimizing my experience and accomplishments but still ended up with mostly entry jobs.Chin up and keep at it. Be persistent and consider more than one PT job. I was working 2 PT jobs to get by. Sucks but sadly its a reality.

The employer is going to know the candidate's Date of Birth anyhow, so why do people continuously ask this rather pointless question? Other replies have indicated YES, to show the extent of a person's experience and hopefully "wisdom" towards performing a job, and some have said NO, that resume or application experience should be abbreviated and/or shortened to the last ten (10) years of work life; out of a concern for being branded/labeled as "over-qualified". Each person's age does factor in to the insurance liability a "Group" (as in "Group policy") assumes based on the composition of it's members, so this is a factor for many businesses because if the currently have 10% employees over 45 and during the course of a subsequent year this number increases to 20%, the rate the entire Group pays (or the employer's co-pay) may change as well. Does anyone else have information on this aspect of day to day business operations they could share? ~ Note to men: Stop coloring your hair, apparently some of those chemicals are carcinogenic!

In my HRM classes I was instructed that its illegal under Title VII to ask age or any other protected class discriminating questions but I still see them on applications.

I’m mad as hell. I went through a lot of comments on this subject.iam 68 years old. Most employers judge you by your age, that’s why you are asked questions about your date of graduation and your date of birth. We are productive individuals who, only know how to work, we’v Done it all our lives. We’ Out here in the workplace because we are trying to pay our bills, because the government decided that we are not worth what we did to work and not depend on the government for anything. We sit back and watch young people. Do nothing but have a baby and do nothing. We work because we have to. This is a slap in our face

Whether they're legally allowed to ask someone's age in an application is irrelevant. People who leave questions unanswered or comments unwritten in those boxes means they have something to hide. Never be ashamed to share your age or anything else which could possibly be used to disqualify you from the job opening. Acting in a professional capacity means you must take any criticism or fault standing up and not allow yourself to take it personal.

I've seen a lot of posts where people who have applied for jobs haven't received a response and they are angry because they took it personal. However, how old you are determines how well you accept this. Age is linked with maturity: the ability to act professionally is linked with age. The ability to get along with others is linked with age. The quality and amount of the work you can do is linked with age. The only thing that's probably not connected with age is your intelligence, but they can't exactly ask for that in an application, can they?

Im glad this is brought up

Here's where it gets a bit dicey. Yes, an employer can ask your age and now you must prove that you were age discrlminated against if they do not hire you. In other words it's almost impossible to prove any case of a non-hire event.

Been applying for jobs since last November. Every app asks for birth date and no matter how qualified you are ( most of the time OVER qualified) how able you are in spite of your age, what an asset you can be, that age number is a barrier. I went to school for 12 years and feel slighted that they base all my skill and experience on age, not qualification! HELP!