Recruiters blamed for ageism in IT

Recruiters are largely to blame for perpetrating ageism in the IT industry, according to a recent poll of silicon.com readers.

Readers voted for recruiters 2-to-1 over employers as the party responsible for ageism, with 65 per cent of respondents pointing the finger in their direction.

Meanwhile fewer than 1.5 per cent of the 320 respondents said ageism is the applicant's fault.

The issue has resurfaced following new research which revealed three out of five IT workers has suffered because of their age and half of IT workers suffered age discrimination when applying for jobs.

Last year the government kickstarted its ongoing 'Age Positive' campaign against ageism in the workplace by handing out awards to anti-ageist employers and to workers who had overcome age discrimination.

But the issue still hits a chord with silicon.com readers, who gave a big response to the research. They said older IT workers have a lot to offer businesses and blamed short-sighted recruiters and inexperienced managers for failing to hire and promote them.