1. Young v. Mature Graduates: Who Has The Advantage?
Published: The River, 7 February, 2014
Gennifer Harding-Gosnell
You can buy the right suit, have a professional write a stunning CV and practice your interview skills on friends,
but there is nothing any of us can do about our age when we are sitting face-to-face in an interview.
Age is out of our control; 20-year-olds can't look 35, 40-year-olds can't pull off looking 25. Because age
discrimination is illegal, judgments based on a potential hire's age cannot be made outright, but more subtle
forms of judgment do exist and can make the difference between who gets the job and who does not.
The up- and down-sides of the age debate in employment have become more significant recently as the baby-
boomer generation is now retiring in droves and the tight economic market makes competition for jobs quite
fierce.
Young graduates are expected to have new ideas and be in touch with current business trends that older workers
may not be aware of from being entrenched in their industry for so many years. Young graduates bring a fresh
approach to a company. Because they haven’t worked long, stagnant business operations, “the way we've always
done it”, mean very little to them, whereas older workers are more likely to want to stick with methods and
ideologies they are already familiar with and that have succeeded for them in the past. Companies benefit
financially from hiring young workers; they can be more flexible with salary requirements than someone further
established in life with commitments like children and mortgage payments. Young graduates are often
characterized as being energetic, enthusiastic, ambitious and driven.
But young graduates can also be characterized as inexperienced, narcissistic and inconsistent. Lack of experience
in the job-seeking process can lead to initial complications for young workers before they ever get hired. Shane
Green of Office Zebra, a recruitment agency in Kingston, says: “We have to work a lot harder with younger
candidates in preparing them for the interview; there is almost an expectation that all the ground work will be
done for them and all they have to do is turn up.”
In an article for Inc.com, business consultant Hollis Thomases cites research done by Clark University showing
that under 40% of 18-25 year-olds feel they are not yet in the throes of adulthood as evidence of the lack of focus
and direction that plagues many younger workers. She writes: “They tend to feel unstable and self-focused and
would rather explore who they are and how they can transform their lives.” Companies looking to hire someone
talented for the long-term see hiring younger workers as a risk because they are more likely to leave jobs they
don't entirely enjoy and to constantly be seeking out better opportunities. Mr. Green says: “The more mature [the
candidates] are, they are looking for a career move rather than just a job. In 2013, we placed just over 500 people
into permanent jobs of which 74% were over age 25.”
Mature graduates are expected to be more loyal to their employers and have life experience that makes it easier
for them to establish better relationships with clients and colleagues. The University of East London's
Employment and Enterprise Team states on their website, “reduced staff turnover and lower rates of sickness
absence are both characteristics of an older workforce”.
Mature graduates are able to use their experiences from previous jobs and life events to develop “soft skills”. An
employer survey by Adecco, a US recruitment agency, showed “44% of respondents cited soft skills, such as
communication, critical thinking, creativity and collaboration, as the area with the biggest gap”.
But Mr. Green of Office Zebra says the impression of mature graduates having transferable skills from life
experience to the workplace is “not always true”. The downside of hiring older workers also includes higher
salary requirements, a lack of flexibility due to family commitments, and an aversion to technology and new
ways of doing things. Mature workers with mortgages and children cannot be as flexible with salary negotiations

2. or time, as family obligations allow them less freedom to travel and put in late hours at the office.
Though it is unethical for a company to ask a potential hire anything about their age, it isn’t for them to figure it
out. Mr. Green says: “In this day and age, unfortunately, if an employer wants to find out someone’s age, it is
very easy to do so from a CV or LinkedIn by roughly working it out based on how old they may have been when
they went to school.”
So how does one win the battle for the ages? Have ammunition. You can give yourself an edge by knowing what
the perceptions are about your age group, focusing on the positives and working to combat the negatives. Age
can really be just a number.
Young Graduates
Should:
Mature Graduates
Should:
o Share new ideas with
potential employers
o Strive to learn and
practice proper
business
communication
o Make sure you really
want the job before
you accept it.
o Prepare for interviews
and practise
interviewing skills
o Show enthusiasm for
the job
o Be adaptable
o Embrace new
technologies and
business methods
o Be as flexible as
possible in salary
negotiations
o Emphasize your soft
skills in interviews