The Reality of Age Discrimination

An Offer I Never Applied For

The other day, I received an offer from a Japanese service.

“You have an impressive background. Would you be interested in joining us as an employee?”

That was the general idea.

Naturally, I did not mind hearing that. I assumed they had looked at my profile and work history before contacting me, so I replied.

I only wanted to confirm one thing.

“I am already in my 50s. Are you still inviting me to join as an employee?”

Their response was:

“After careful consideration, we regret to inform you that we are unable to meet your expectations. We wish you every success in your future endeavors.”

Wait a minute.

I never applied.

They approached me. They made the offer, considered it on their own, rejected me on their own, and then told me they could not meet my expectations.

Which one of us had expectations here?

I had to read the screen twice.

The Moment Age Entered the Conversation

Presumably, the selection process ended the moment my age came up.

Of course, companies have their reasons: the age distribution of their workforce, salary ranges, organizational balance, and so on. I understand that.

But if those things matter, they should at least read a person’s profile before reaching out.

I do not hide my age. If the dates add up correctly, my work history alone makes it fairly obvious that I am in my 50s.

In fact, if they had not noticed until I mentioned it, that might be the more concerning part of the story.

I wonder what would happen in the United States. I have heard that age discrimination is taken seriously there, so this kind of exchange might create complications in some cases.

I am not an expert on US law, so I will not make any definitive claims. In Japan, however, stories like this are hardly unusual.

Why I Treat Recruiters with Caution

That is why my first reaction when a recruiter or agent contacts me is usually rather cool.

“Here we go again.”

That is about the level of enthusiasm.

There are, of course, competent recruiters. Some have introduced me to genuinely good opportunities. Ignoring everyone would mean missing out on those opportunities.

So even if an approach is mildly irritating, I will reply when the role itself interests me.

Two Lines, No Context

Recently, though, I have also received messages from overseas recruiters that say nothing more than:

“Can you do Java?”

“How many years of Java experience?”

That is literally the entire message.

No greeting. No sign that they have read my profile. No explanation of why they contacted me.

Perhaps somewhere in the world there is a sales technique built around optimizing the very concept of human interaction out of existence.

Unfortunately, I am Japanese, and I have not yet adapted to that culture.

I generally ignore those messages and quietly remove the connection.

The sender may wonder, “Why didn’t he reply?”

From my perspective, the question is, “Why did you think I would?”

Recruiting Is Still Human Communication

In the end, both recruiting and sales are interactions between people. Even in the age of AI, that has not changed.

We now live in a time when AI reads resumes, AI searches for candidates, and AI writes recruiting messages.

And perhaps the result of all that technology is:

“Can you do Java?”

Technological progress has a certain irony to it.