Wait... if we select a 25 y.o. engineer over a 85 y.o. engineer it means ageism? We must pretend that cognitive functions doesn't decline with age? (Which has been completely proven as any biologist can tell you)
The fact that there are still people that don't understand discrimination in this day and age is infuriating. If you think your interview candidate is potentially senile then you should screen for senility and not lump people based on statistical averages for whatever pigeon holes your constructed for them. People need a chance to surpass whatever stereotypes you hold even if they're based on statistically facts.
Not only is it down right illegal, it what perpetuates discrimination and causes so many of our social problems
PS: I'm sorry this is off topic, but this is a very important issue - and simplistic narrow minded thinking like this needs to be pointed out for the common good
The cost of screening 70 year old stripper candidates depends on how many such candidates their are to begin with. I doubt there are many, because the candidates select themselves out.
I was just trying to say that I believe that the absolute number of such applicants is so small, that it's a moot point. I could be wrong though...
Even an utterly unfit for purpose metric like "how fast can you type?" would be a better filter than just age for a software engineer job?
Can you show any links to reliable research ahowing cognitive decline is inevitable in 70 year olds? Or is that just something you know and think is obvious?
When does age-related cognitive decline begins http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0197458009...
White matter damage on diffusion tensor imaging correlates with age-related cognitive decline http://m.neurology.org/content/66/2/217.short
Evidence for cortical “disconnection” as a mechanism of age-related cognitive decline http://m.neurology.org/content/57/4/632.1.short
I can't believe I'm being down voted for this. Is like when someone says males have naturally more upper body strength and then some feminists get mad, even when is written in a biology study about musculature.
This obsession for political correctness is corrupting scientific knowledge and research.
That 25 year old will expend many neurons and lots of that fresh cognitive capability on waste due to inexperience. Have you ever met a practicing 70-year old engineer? That perspective and experience has an outsized impact.
The male vs female upper body strength thing is totally different. For one, it's measurable. Second, it's not a job attribute that is offset by expertise -- a firefighter has to be able to carry an average sized person or a roll of hose. 30 years of hose carrying doesn't make it lighter. Usually, fire departments recognize this by allowing fire fighters to retire starting at the 20 year mark.
Brain plasticity is a real thing, and it goes away really quickly, is depressing but is a reality, I'm 27 but I already feel my reflexes are a bit worse than when I was 24, here is a nice video that gives some perspective about the issue, you may have seen it before (reverse bicycle): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0
Diversity requires you change how you think about talent and work. Change from 80lb containers to 30lb containers and then you can hire people with less upper body strength while reducing injuries.
Moves like this signal to me that Google is dying. I, for one, will shed no tears when it finally kicks the bucket.
Yeah, we should be good with each other and nice with each other, but sometimes that is not in line with how the market/capitalism works. I don't think I was completely right but I don't think neither are you.
Brain plasticity is a real thing, and it goes away really quickly, is depressing but is a reality, I'm 27 but I already feel my reflexes are a bit worse than when I was 24, here is a nice video that gives some perspective about the issue, you may have seen it before (reverse bicycle): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0
This was not the claim, you added "inevitable", thereby diverging from a statistical claim to an absolute strawman.
See? I can play this game too.