People over 55 face more rejections when looking for work

Age seems to be a decisive factor in finding a job in Panama according to the results of Konzert’s latest report “How does talent selection work today?”.

This report shows that 53% of HR professionals in the Panama did not count a single person over 55 years old in the last year, 33% consider less than 5, and 3% less than 20.

The scenario is repeated in the region. Most recruiters also haven’t taken anyone over 55 in the past year. In Ecuador, the percentage was 74%, in Argentina 68%, in Peru 53%, and in Chile 52%.

Faced with this situation, 70% of respondents in Panama said they take age into account when selecting new talent, compared to 30% who do not.

The outlook is not better for people over 45, who would also face rejection.

Research shows that 20% of Panamanian experts did not consider persons older than 45 years in the last year, 47% only less than 5 talents, 3% more than 5 people, 13% less than 10, 7% more than 10, 3% more than 20, 7% more than 30 and None of the respondents from Panama answered that they took less of 20 and less than 30 persons older than 45 years in the last year.

While when it comes to younger talents, the trend in Panama is that 10% of those surveyed in the last year have not managed any person under 30 years old, while 20% consider less than 5, 13% more than 5, 17% more than 10, 3 % less than 10, 13% more than 20, another 13% more than 30, 7% less than 20 and 3% less than 30 people.

“Different and multi-generational teams They provide different views of reality and tasks that have to be solved every day. And this not only creates a more inclusive work environment, but also directly contributes to the productivity of organizations,” explained María Alejandra Cruz, head of Konzerta.

What is the age of workers in companies in Panama?

57% of Panamanian HR professionals say most of their company’s talent is between 30 and 40, 20% say most people are between 20 and 30, 13% have most people in their company between 40 and 50, and only 10 % answered that they have talents in the age group between 50 and 65 years.

The trend indicates that the older talents are, the less present they are in companies and less income, which is confirmed by the results.

On the other hand, 28% of experts in Panama believe that age can be decisive when a person does not have enough experience for a position because of his youth, 17% when a person does not have the necessary management of digital tools because of his age, another 17% when they are older and cannot meet certain physical requirements of the job places.

In addition, 6% said that this factor affects the age of the talent It can prevent you from joining a company or teamanother 6% when the talent has too much experience for the position due to his age, 11% when the person is a very expensive talent for the company due to his great work experience due to his age and 17% when the person does not have the flexibility and energy needed for the position due to his age.

Scenarios change depending on availability. For example, if HR in Panama were looking for workers to work on a building, 47% would hire a 35-year-old with 10 years of experience, 43% a 25-year-old with no experience, and 10% a 50-year-old with 20 years of experience.

But if they were looking for an accountant for a junior position, 17% would hire a 20-year-old person studying accounting, with no experience in similar positions; 80% to a 30-year-old accountant with 2 years of experience in similar positions and 3% to a 50-year-old accountant, who has just finished his studies, with 3 years of experience in similar positions.