I think you should just tuck the incident into your file of Swiss experience and thank your lucky stars that the HR wallah showed their true colours and lack of professionalism so quickly.

It’s a fundamental criteriorn to check a candidate’s age before arranging an interview, so it would seem that the methodology of the PR concerned leaves much to be desired and you’re well to be out of any further negotiation with that particular outfit.

Meanwhile, all the best in your search.  Luckily, there are still some good employers out there

it might well be the case that the impression you gave the HR person in the phone interview, led them to perceive you as not mature enough. however, having said this, it would be interesting to have asked how old the HR person was. perhaps they were not mature enough to to be able to recognize your qualifications!! nowadays hr people are rarely qualified to deal with interviews with really experienced professionals. quite a shame as good talent gets cast aside.

Catalin - I have discussed this with my wife who is an HR professional and the upshot of that was some points.

1. There is no need for you to include either your age or a photo on your CV if you don't want to. - in some cases you probably would  -eg.if you were applying for a job as a model .. she uses neither on her CV - in actual fact she advises to have multiple CV's with differing info and decide on the job you are applying for as to which you use. (there are plenty of people on things like LinkedIn who do not incude photos)

2. In Aust,NZ and US it is illegal to discriminate on the issue of age, She suggests that if you have a lawyer friend then pose the question in relation to Swiss law.

Hope this little bit helps

i would like to add, that most often hr people don't give you the "real" reason for not considering your CV. as jeffery said, it is illegal to discriminate due to age etc. in europe or usa ( not in switzerland or on glocals :-))

they rather tell you what you could believe........but giving an age as too young was most likely meaning you don't appear to have the experience needed.

what really gets me going is when they say you are over qualified! i mean who doesn't want the best possible person? when they say, it's because you will get bored.....i can't believe they care about that! everyone gets bored sooner or later, so ask, what do they do to keep their good people interested and satisfied!

"1. There is no need for you to include either your age or a photo on your CV if you don't want to. - in some cases you probably would  -eg.if you were applying for a job as a model .. she uses neither on her CV - in actual fact she advises to have multiple CV's with differing info and decide on the job you are applying for as to which you use. (there are plenty of people on things like LinkedIn who do not incude photos)"

That's true if you consider that all companies will have a competent HR staff. In a country where more of 90% of the companies are small and medium entreprises it's unlikely to be the case, in fact, I know A LOT of swiss companies that does not have a dedicated HR department.

It's nowhere near to improve as the crisis have made Switzerland so appealing for a lot of candidates from everywhere in Europe. Nowadays a recruiter has 200+ applications for a job where he had less than 25 few years ago. No need to say that a lot of people are taking advantage of this.

"2. In Aust,NZ and US it is illegal to discriminate on the issue of age, She suggests that if you have a lawyer friend then pose the question in relation to Swiss law."

Swiss law is still loosy on the subject.

Thanks Yoyo - I just love the word 'loosy' !!

I am with you Epicure...really gets my goat as well. Hell if I was running a business all I would hire would be people like you and me !! I also cannot fathom companies that want degrees for drop dead positions where experience should be the main atribute.

In my defense, I didn't had my coffee this morning .

Jeff:

These days a degree is needed to indicate that that candidates have had some instruction in reading and writing, although that doesn’t necessarily mean that they have heard of syntax or even spelling.

You may be forgiven this time, but don’t let it happen again.

How else was I suppose to illustrate your wise words? 

"although that doesn’t necessarily mean that they have heard of syntax or even spelling."

Horrible thing to happen but just wait until you are at the other end of the age group!

HR departments tend to read your age before even looking at how well qualified you are. Over 45 and you have had it! Scrap heap. No further use to anyone.

This prompted me to start my own little business and work from home, although I realise this is not possible for everyone.

It's really galling that there is such blatent age discrimination. What difference does age make anyway - the crucial factor is whether you can do the job adequately and with confidence.

yes sheila, if they can do the maths to calculate birthdate and age.....but they also look at the photo.....but please, don't get me started!!

Oh, please do.  I’d love to hear what you have to say and perhaps Sheila would too.

R.

Thanks for your comments and suggestions everyone. To clarify, my experience and qualifications have not been questioned, the guy specifically said that my age was an issue because the people in the team were older than me, and that happened within the first 5 minutes after checking a couple of facts such as was my birth date correct?

Now if you'll excuse me I'll go draw a beard on my Cv photo hoping it will make me look older.

"the guy specifically said that my age was an issue because the people in the team were older than me"

That shows the work atmosphere there is probably really bad. So, maybe it was for the better.

Good luck.

Just use your Glocal id...that'll have em thinking !!

If age is such a vital factor, then it should be specified in the job description.

And in such circumstances, where does the age-range stop and start?

Two years younger than the “baby” in the team or five years older than the “doyen”?

Jeff:

He’ll be had up for masquerading!

> In Aust,NZ and US it is illegal to discriminate on the issue of age, She suggests that if you have a lawyer friend then pose the question in relation to Swiss law.

I've asked the same question to an employment consultant short time ago. She replied that the person that's hiring has the right of choosing whoever he wants i.e. in Switzerland is perfectly legal to discriminate by age.

By the way, the same thing happened to me when I was around 35. Only that in my case I was "too old" for the job.