Employers tend to favour job candidates who mirror their own identities, according to a new survey from the Employers’ Forum on Age.
More than a third of the 2,000 respondents to the online poll said that they’d experienced discrimination when applying for a job or promotion. Almost two-thirds said that the other workers in their offices were similar to them in terms of age (68%), gender (62%) and social background (53%).
However, the phenomenon isn’t necessarily a sign of deliberate prejudice, psychologist Dr Rob Yeung explains. ‘People have always been drawn to people like themselves.
‘If you go to a party, you’re generally drawn to people who grew up in the same town, or support the same football team,’ says Yeung. ‘It’s a deep part of human nature and not necessarily evidence of outright prejudice and intentional discrimination.
‘One small piece of advice for candidates is that you can help yourself by aiming to dress like your interviewer,’ says Yeung, who is also the author of Confidence: The power to take control and live the life you want (£12.99, Prentice Hall Life). ‘If it’s a fashionable dress-down company, don’t turn up in your best suit.’