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auxiliary2418
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26 Apr 2015, 5:49 pm

I deal with this a lot. Employers wouldn't hire me cause of my age and inexperience. I'm not talking about a career just a part time job like McDonald's. I applied to them several times. Like if you got a teen and adult without prior work experience or little in my case. Then there most likely hire the teen. I never heard a good excuse on why. I've heard ignorant NTs say it's not discrimination. On what basis? I heard also that it's easier to train a teen then an adult. That saying about " :evil: you can't teach an old dog new tricks" is false hood. Any reason why this goes on?



Hoggy
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26 Apr 2015, 5:59 pm

I know where i work a lot of it comes down to the wages. Where i work its not down to the number of hours used a week its the total wage bill for the week.

If they can hire a teen in a entry level job and pay them £4 an hour, over an adult on £6.50 there gonna for teen and save hundreds a week depending on the number of staff and so can use more hours to get more work done.

Im not saying that's what the reasoning is but i know that's what a few places do. Of course there will be other reasons.



auxiliary2418
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26 Apr 2015, 6:53 pm

Yeah heard about that too. I just think they should hire the adult cause he/she is more mature and its alot harder for them to get jobs. A teen can get there first job much easier then an adult can. Because if this I didn't have much luck finding work. Without the help of vocational rehab I would have never worked period. I still struggle now. Rhe first I've held for at least 3months was last year and i got it through a temp agency. There was no way do to discrimination, that I would have goting my 1st held job any other unless I got lucky. My latest attempt was at Walmart I don't know why I didn't get hired. I suspect that I didn't do good on the interview or it was discrimination do to age and inexperience. I mean I dress right, but as soon as open up my mouth to answer question an ignorant red flag pops up in there heads.



carthago
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26 Apr 2015, 8:26 pm

Let's think about what's going on in a McDonald's manager's mind when interviewing the adult and teen applicants, holding all else equal.

The adult applicant, let's call him Tim, has never worked before, but is clearly an adult. Does this mean he is hiding something? Perhaps he has a history (which he neglects to mention) of working and skipping out on employers after doing some nasty stuff, is this what would turn up if I do a background check? I really don't want to get that far and find out I can't hire him. Tim seems like he would be a good worker, but at his age, he might not be satisfied with the McDonalds work environment, if for no other reason then because his coworkers are going to be much younger than him. The pay isn't attractive either. Will Tim skip out once he finds something better? Tim doesn't seem to fit the mold, which is raising a lot of questions right now.

The teen applicant, let's call him Johnny, is just like all the other applicants I get. I know everything about Johnny before he opens his mouth. I know I can keep him until he graduates high school, which is 2 years away, which is plenty of time to train him. It might be a long time before Johnny starts complaining about his job, because he's too young to know how low this job is on the totem pole. To Johnny, this is great. A free meal at the end of his shift is like the icing on the cake. I never really had any questions for Johnny. As long as he's not a drug addled sociopath, I just want to know when he can start.

It's not the nasty hateful kind of discrimination, it's just business.



ElsaFlowers
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27 Apr 2015, 3:30 am

carthago wrote:
Let's think about what's going on in a McDonald's manager's mind when interviewing the adult and teen applicants, holding all else equal.

The adult applicant, let's call him Tim, has never worked before, but is clearly an adult. Does this mean he is hiding something? Perhaps he has a history (which he neglects to mention) of working and skipping out on employers after doing some nasty stuff, is this what would turn up if I do a background check? I really don't want to get that far and find out I can't hire him. Tim seems like he would be a good worker, but at his age, he might not be satisfied with the McDonalds work environment, if for no other reason then because his coworkers are going to be much younger than him. The pay isn't attractive either. Will Tim skip out once he finds something better? Tim doesn't seem to fit the mold, which is raising a lot of questions right now.

The teen applicant, let's call him Johnny, is just like all the other applicants I get. I know everything about Johnny before he opens his mouth. I know I can keep him until he graduates high school, which is 2 years away, which is plenty of time to train him. It might be a long time before Johnny starts complaining about his job, because he's too young to know how low this job is on the totem pole. To Johnny, this is great. A free meal at the end of his shift is like the icing on the cake. I never really had any questions for Johnny. As long as he's not a drug addled sociopath, I just want to know when he can start.

It's not the nasty hateful kind of discrimination, it's just business.


Carthago thanks for this, this makes a lot of sense. I was very angry about not receiving a reply from my application to Pizza Hut but now I understand why I wasn't considered. It's unfortunate but I guess you cannot blame the employers. I would probably also choose a teen to work there if I was the manager.



SocOfAutism
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27 Apr 2015, 11:00 am

I used to be a hiring manager. Anyone who hires people but "doesn't discriminate" one way or another is a liar. I was always looking for a specific type of person when I was looking to hire. I hired people right out of school because they had fewer expectations and I could anticipate their needs. Also, I looked young and older people didn't always respect me.

I usually had three employees. I would take the two aside and ask what work did they not want to do, then I'd hire someone who wanted do that kind of work. Once I had a vocal assertive employee and a quiet assertive employee. I hired the third to be compromising and social. I lost the quiet employee to a better paying company so then I purposefully hired a quiet, aspie-type employee. I didn't want another social one because I needed someone more focused.

I'm not saying everyone does this, but it's a common hiring technique. To get around it, you can ask "what kind of person" they're looking for or "what skillset." Then you can cater your resume and application to highlight the skills/traits they want and play down the others.



auxiliary2418
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27 Apr 2015, 3:33 pm

I think this all sounds interesting, but I still ain't changing my view I would choose the adult as long as he's honest. I would give the poor adult a chance to prove he can actually work. I mean think about the shame this adult lives in everyday when he lives off his parents or off the government. And think about the poverty he could be in. In my case I love working I hate with a passion not working.



starkid
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27 Apr 2015, 3:47 pm

auxiliary2418 wrote:
I think this all sounds interesting, but I still ain't changing my view I would choose the adult as long as he's honest. I would give the poor adult a chance to prove he can actually work. I mean think about the shame this adult lives in everyday when he lives off his parents or off the government. And think about the poverty he could be in. In my case I love working I hate with a passion not working.

A business owner or manager who privileges those sorts of issues would soon destroy the business.



auxiliary2418
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27 Apr 2015, 5:15 pm

How



starkid
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27 Apr 2015, 5:20 pm

The purpose of a business is to make money; being discriminating about employees helps to achieve that goal. The reasons you cited for hiring the adult applicant are not helpful for reaching the goal of making money. If the business makes too little money (due to employee problems), it eventually cannot be sustained financially and must be closed.

Of course, taking a chance on an employee once, or with a business that holds a lot of assets (and can therefore afford to take risks) will most likely not lead to such disaster. But this sort of attitude toward business operations on a regular basis will.



auxiliary2418
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27 Apr 2015, 5:27 pm

How would hire an adult new to work destory there business its just a fast food joint not a printing company or what not.



starkid
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27 Apr 2015, 5:38 pm

auxiliary2418 wrote:
How would hire an adult new to work destory there business its just a fast food joint not a printing company or what not.

I meant that if the business owner and/or manager cares more about giving applicants chances and how much shame applicants feel than who will do the best job and other things that help keep the business successful, that attitude will lead to various other actions that destroy the business over time. I didn't mean that hiring one person would destroy the business (although it could, if that new employee does enough damage).



MollyTroubletail
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27 Apr 2015, 6:02 pm

Adults aren't hired for teenage jobs for the same reason that PhD's aren't hired for engineering jobs. They don't want overqualified applicants. Older or more educated employees are far more likely to complain about bad pay or bad job conditions, and they're more likely to quit and find a better job. Hiring and training is expensive, so they are simply holding down expenses.



auxiliary2418
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27 Apr 2015, 6:11 pm

I'm not overqualified and I won't complain about small pay. Employers doing this to my maladjusted kind. The way I got my first thing I would consider a held job was last year. At a printing company I was a maintaince guy. I'll admit im far from perfect, but I still have hope when I move with my parents. I will sign up for Job Corp.



auxiliary2418
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27 Apr 2015, 6:14 pm

I should say that is are kind if you are all like me autistic that is.



kraftiekortie
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27 Apr 2015, 7:08 pm

Auxilliary:

Job Corps might be good--but there are some elements which are military-like. You should look at a forum or a blog which details what people on Job Corps go through.

I'm not discouraging you. I'm just advising that you read about other people's experience with Job Corps.

Also: in England, there is a lower Minimum Wage for teenagers than there is for adults. In the US, both teens and adults have the same Minimum Wage.