Ageing is a natural process no one can escape. Natural as it is, our society is mistreating older people nonetheless. This mistreatment can also be seen in the labor market. Older people are more likely to be unemployed and receive fewer calls for a job interview. Older people are protected by law, stating it is illegal to discriminate on the grounds of age. Even with it being illegal, discrimination based on age still exists. There are three main sterotypes regarding older people. They are not prone to change, they do not want to learn new skills and they struggle with new technology. A stereotype is only one of HR manager's perceptual distortions that happen during the employment process. This negative perception of older people is the foundation and reason for my research. The human factor in conducting a job interview allows the perceptual distortions to appear, consequently making HR manager's decisions biased. The most common perceptual distortions regarding age are stereotypes, halo effects, selective perception and self-fulfilling prophecies. The theoretical and empirical research in this thesis made apparent that older job candidates are discriminated against in the process of candidate selection and employment.
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