Inside IBMs Purge of Thousands of Workers Who Have One Thing in Common

[MarvinGardens]

56. I see it in science too.

I have spoken out against it when I was involved in hiring decisions and saw it happening. "Overqualified" is code for "too old". I was at a different company in the aftermath of the Great Recession. We were hiring for a couple of Chemist 1 positions, and had all these applicants with Chemist 3 or higher level of experience. A manager did not want to consider them, because "they'll leave as soon as they find something better." I thought we should hire the most experienced folks for the money. They know the pay range for this position. My reply: "If they could find something better, you think they'd apply for this? You think young people won't leave if they find something better?"

It's not uncommon in my field for older applicants to omit some experience, master's degrees, etc. from their resumes.

It affected my Dad too. He was laid off from a good job in the 90s, and had to work not so good contract jobs for years before he found something good.