People are concerned with the idea of perspective employers making assumptions about their age and how well they would perform in the posted role. Should you be concerned?

As the workforce ages, people need to be aware of how their application is received, and what we want to avoid is someone on the other end making a judgement call not to pursue your application without meeting you in-person.

I remember looking at a Kijiji job ad, and the person heading up the recruitment for the company requested a young professional female to work in the sales department. This is wrong on so many levels (a-hem human rights issue anyone?) and yet this type of behaviour continues.

So, this post is about email addresses and how employers can spot someone who may be seasoned.

Email addresses with the year attached
When we see an email like cindykopani1968@gmail.com, we can make the assumption that Cindy was probably born in 1968. Is Cindy too old for a job? I don’t know, but maybe someone might think so. I would recommend making a generic email address, like cindykopani@gmail.com.

Shared spousal/partner emails
This is common to see in the Baby Boomer community. Couples’ email addresses are a tell-tale sign that you are from a certain age group. Jimandmartha@sympatico.ca, the connors@rogers.com, maryanddavid@AOL.com, etc. are some examples of these addresses.

We recommend an email divorce. Split up and apply for separate email addresses.

Ageism does occur and it’s unlikely that if you are subjected to this illegal practice you will find out, so play it safe, and try to eliminate some barriers on the front-end of the recruitment process. Get to the interview and show that you are probably more capable then someone half your age (you’re not going to the gym five days a week to play cribbage!).

If you liked this article, please share with your friends and strangers, and feel free to email us, call, or comment below. We are thinking about starting a series on age-related topics, so check back here again soon.