‘Filtered out ... this isn’t job hunting, it’s digital erasure’

Older workers are falling foul of algorithms as firms favour youth. But Jacqueline Freeman has decided to fight back – and says that over-50s should be unapologetic about their age

- Jacqueline Freeman

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, I lost my sense of self. Because for my generation, work was never just work. It was 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 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.

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. 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.