Over-50s like me are being weeded out of the job market – it’s time to fight back

Losing a job is hard enough, but being phased out of the job market by youth-biased AI algorithms is making job hunting impossible for people still a decade away from retirement. Jacqueline Freeman is not giving up because, she says, only someone over 50 knows how to turn a closed door into a side entrance

When I was made redundant for the fifth time, I didn’t just lose my job. I lost my footing. My financial safety net. And, for a moment, my whole sense of self. Because for my generation, work was never just work. It was our identity. We introduced ourselves with titles. We wrapped our worth in our business cards. And when that job was taken away, so was the answer to the question: “So what do you do?”

That’s what makes redundancy in your fifties so brutal. It’s not just income. It’s identity. It doesn’t just impact your role – it unravels your very essence. I had worked in the media my whole adult life, a brutal industry at the best of times and no more so than when you hit midlife. I was first made redundant at 45, and the last time was just as I was approaching 55, but I was still not in any position that I could retire, or even think about it.

And there comes the second shock – the job hunt. You do all the right things: update your CV, write the tailored cover letter, apply online. And you wait. And wait. And wait. Not for rejection – for silence. You’re not even being turned down. You’re being ghosted. You’re not missing the shortlist – you’re being weeded out before any human ever sees your name.

Men and women at the top of their game, with years of experience, just don’t tick the AI boxes. Didn’t look like the candidates the system was built to favour. Not because they weren’t good enough. But because of their age.

When I recently talked about this, one woman who had been at the top of her career wrote to me after being ghosted 92 times. Another 150 times. Not rejected. Ignored. Smart, capable, qualified – and over 50.

And in today’s hiring systems, that’s often all it takes.

So many don’t make it past the algorithm. That’s not bad luck. That’s discrimination that has been built into the process. And recruiters know it. More than one has told me flat out: “Don’t go near job boards. Just don’t do it. You won’t make it through.”

They know once you’re over 50, the platforms become digital graveyards – not gateways. You’re filtered out.. You're wasting time, hope and emotional energy on systems that were never designed to let you in in the first place.

This isn’t job hunting. It’s digital erasure.

And if you’re a woman? This cuts even deeper. We’re not just judged on capability. We’re judged on how we look. Even if we do get in front of a real person, suddenly our grey hair becomes an instant liability, not a sign of assured experience. A firm and confident voice? You’re seen as “intimidating”. All those years of experience? You’re “overqualified”.

And so, we start asking ourselves the quiet questions: Should I colour my hair? Should I ditch the glasses. Maybe take 10 years off my CV? Should I lie about my age – just to be seen?

I’ve heard from men doing the same – stripping back achievements, watering down experience, pretending to be less than all they are, just to make it past the filter.

Jacqueline Freeman has founded 58 & Unapologetic, a platform to confront ageism (Supplied)

This isn’t a strategy. It’s survival. We are fighting for our workplace lives. I am a solo mother with two children now aged 27 and 25. I was almost entirely responsible for their care, so in these difficult years, if it weren’t for the kindness of friends and their financial help, we would have lost everything.

We talk endlessly about diversity. About LGBT+ inclusion, disability, gender equality, pay parity and mental health awareness. And yet, we’re quietly ageing out an entire workforce, and barely blinking. Behind the buzzwords, “diversity”, “inclusion” and “belonging” is a recruitment process quietly designed to reward youth and punish experience.

No hashtags. No headlines. Just silence.

But I’d like to ask recruiters this: If you’re lucky enough, you’ll get older too. So, what exactly are you building? A world that rewards youth at every turn and discards the rest. This isn’t just shortsighted, it’s self-sabotage.

I’ve spoken to HR leaders and off the record, they admit the truth: applicant tracking systems weren’t built for nuance. Time-poor hiring managers default to what feels familiar, and that rarely includes someone in their fifties. This is not theoretical. It’s structural. And it is devastating because redundancy in your fifties doesn’t just hurt, it flattens you.

Most payouts today are slim, a month’s salary, maybe three. If you’re lucky, a little bit more. The days of the big golden goodbyes are in the past. There’s no cushion. No glide path. Just a sudden stop. And when bills keep coming, rent, groceries, mortgage, fuel, the pressure becomes immediate. You lose employer benefits, pensions, insurance, protections just at the time you might need to rely on them.

Older job seekers are being discriminated against by AI algorithms (Getty/iStock)

But there is no to recalibrate. You have to keep at it because you know you’re still a decade or more off retirement. One misstep now and you can easily fall behind financially, with little time to recover. And the spiral begins, from being top of your game to questioning your worth and your future.

And it’s not just individual pain either. In my opinion, it’s a catastrophic loss to the workplace, because of what older workers bring that no algorithm can replicate: culture. The sense of continuity. The ability to mentor without ego. The glue that holds teams together when things go sideways.

We’ve seen enough to know what matters. We know when to speak, when to listen, and when to quietly fix what others haven’t noticed yet. That’s not just competence, that’s important cultural infrastructure. And without it, you don’t just lose talent, you lose trust, calm, cohesion, and the kind of wisdom that stabilises organisations under pressure.

Meanwhile, we hear that automation is wiping out entry-level roles too - with a third of roles already gone - meaning many of the youngest workers never get trained. So, if the young don’t get a chance at the start of their career… and the experienced are weeded out at the top, we need to seriously ask, what the hell is left in the middle?

The career ladder is broken. The system is broken. And still, too many employers are pretending not to see it.

So, what can we do?

Some of us are fighting back. After redundancy number five, I rebuilt, not because I had a set plan, but because I’d had enough. I just didn’t want to play in the system anymore. It didn’t serve me, so I stopped trying to fit in. Instead, I lit my own fire. I became self-employed. Multi-streamed. Unapologetically independent. No single employer gets to pull the pin on my whole life anymore.

‘The career ladder is broken. The system is broken. And still, too many employers are pretending not to see it’ (Alamy/PA)

I built my own media agency. And I started 58 & Unapologetic as a mission born from a personal truth. It’s become a public platform, and the response has been overwhelming. Not from trolls. From people over 50. People who’ve led teams, raised families. Held it all together for everyone else and are now being quietly pushed aside. Brilliant, experienced, ready. But blocked.

They’re not applying for dream jobs. They’re applying for jobs they’ve already done, most often, brilliantly. And still, they’re being overlooked for someone “more junior”, “more dynamic” or a “better cultural fit”. It leaves us with a decision – to keep sleepwalking through the marginalisation of experienced people – or to push back.

Because let’s be very clear, age discrimination is illegal. And yet it is happening in broad daylight, coded in keywords, baked into algorithms and poorly hidden in vague excuses of not being “quite right” for the role.

But when we sideline people in their fifties, sixties and beyond, we strip organisations of exactly what they need most: judgement, perspective, resilience, and real-world leadership.

This isn’t about making space. It’s about refusing to waste it. So, if you’re in a position to hire, influence, recommend, or advocate – do it. So, if you’ve got experience, own it – don’t shrink it. And if you’ve been pushed out – don’t disappear.

We’re not relics. We’re not burdens. We are the most underutilised asset in the economy today. And we’re not going quietly - we’re starting side hustles, forming consultancies, retraining in fields we actually care about. Not because it’s easy, but because “the system” has left us no choice.

We’re not giving up. We’re building around it. Only someone over 50 knows how to turn a closed door into a damn side entrance.

Jacqueline Freeman is the founder of 58 & Unapologetic, a platform confronting ageism, celebrating lived experience, and ready to take the second half of life by storm