Look at the picture of Communications specialist Jane Austin. A face alive with personality and zest. She says her age is the main barrier to finding work.
This story is a break out of a longer ABC story which you can find here. Age prejudice is a disease in the jobs market this story shows how freakin’ useless government funded recruitment agencies are as well as recruiters who hire.
“Walking into an interview and knowing straight-up, from the look on people’s faces, that I have no chance of getting that job,” the 62-year-old says. “You can tell they’re just going through the motions.”
She says she’s experienced “loads” of those types of interviews, particularly over the past two years.
“I noticed a decline in my career from the minute I turned 50,” she says.
She’s required to apply for four jobs a month with the help of government recruitment agencies.
“So if you want to get a job, you have to deal with these external recruitment agencies,” she says. “They’re useless, absolutely useless … however they get paid when I get my own job.”
She says having someone else benefit from her “own abilities to get a job” has been soul-destroying and worries that potential employers will look down on her for being out of work for more than 12 months.
“After one year they put you on another list, so the number of jobs you have to apply for lessens,” she says. “So I went from eight or 12, to now four, and that’s because I’m perceived as unemployable.”
Julia receives $683 a fortnight from Centrelink, but it’s not enough to live on so she’s eating into her savings.
A government spokesperson said they expect employment providers to “help job seekers get into work as contracted” and may sanction those that fail to meet this obligation.
If job seekers feel they are not getting help, they should speak to their provider in the first instance or if they are not happy with the response, call the national customer service line, the spokesperson said.
(I’ve worked in the employment sector for more than ten years and I’ve never heard of a sanction yet)