Third of UK IT executives believe professional life stops at forty - 12/2001

Thirty percent of executives believe that IT professionals become unattractive to employers at forty, according to a new study by FirstPersonGlobal.

Surveying nearly 300 senior digital economy executives about their experience of ageism and the attitudes of employers, the study reveals that more than a third felt that they had already been discriminated against in their career as being too old.

According to the surveyís findings, 50 percent of UK executives have experienced some form of age discrimination in their career although interestingly, 12 percent stated they had been discriminated against for being too young.
ìItís clear that IT executives feel the issue of ageism at work is still current. They believe that where the skills demanded are constantly evolving, the value of business experience that older employees bring, is over-looked in favour of the young and apparently more nimble staff,î said Paul Smith, CEO of FirstPersonGlobal.

One respondent was quoted as saying, ìThe old in IT (40 plus) are out of touch, always talking about how it used to be. They think that just because they could code Cobol on a 360 machine, that somehow that is relevant today.î

www.firstpersonglobal.com