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Why is “recent graduates” a problematic term for want ads? 

On Behalf of | May 30, 2023 | Employment Discrimination

In some cases, employers may post job listings that say they are looking for recent college graduates. They know they need to bring on new talent. They believe they can find it with college students from the area, so they’re trying to attract those individuals to the job opening. From a business perspective, the owner of that company may think that they’ve done nothing wrong.

But this could actually be very problematic. The issue is that “recent college graduates” tend to be in their 20s. They are relatively young workers. Yes, someone could enroll in college in their 50s or 60s. But one look at the local college campus is going to show you that the vast majority of students are either teenagers or people in their early 20s.

In this light, a business that says it wants to hire recent college graduates could be committing age discrimination. Employers are not allowed to discriminate against those who are over 39 years old. But if they’ve already made it clear that they want to hire someone in their 20s, should people in this older age group even apply?

A fair opportunity

This doesn’t mean that the business has to hire an older worker or can’t try to bring in new workers to have fresh and innovative ideas. It can. But it’s also important not to discriminate against workers based on their age, as they all should have a fair opportunity to show what they can bring to the business and how well they can do the job. Employers still have to honor this, even if they don’t directly state that they only want to hire young workers.

Do you feel that you’ve been discriminated against by an employer because of your age? If so, you need to know what legal steps to take in order to best protect your interests.