I came across an attention-grabbing quote attributed to Billie Burke. She said, ‘Age doesn’t matter-unless you’re a cheese’. I can vouch for the accuracy of her observation when it comes to cheese (and red wine), but I’m assured by those who’ve tried, that, when it comes to getting a paid job commensurate with one’s skills and interests, age really does matter.

A familiar message I hear at numerous gatherings of baby boomers (the first of whom made it to sixty in 2006), is that there is a use-by date when it comes to regaining meaningful employment: age does matter. This same group of disillusioneds can site many examples to show that achievement doesn’t have a use-by date. The achievements of Pablo Picasso, Clint Eastwood, Sir Francis Chichester, Leopold Stokowski, John Glenn, Coco Chanel, and Sophia Loren serve as inspirational role models. When it comes to re-entering the ’salt mines’ or ‘happy factories’ of their choices, however, I’m assured that it pays to heed Lucille Ball’s advice and lie about your age.

So vocal was the majority claiming that age matters, I thought I’d check out their claim for myself. I recently celebrated my fiftieth birthday for the tenth consecutive year, so I felt qualified to put to the test Billie Burke’s assertion that age doesn’t matter.

I checked through the weekend press and selected a job that I knew I could do blindfolded, standing on one leg, with one arm tied behind my back. I assembled all the information I needed-resume, selection criteria, and referees who were world-recognised leaders in the field relevant to the position being sought-devoted several days to tailoring an application, passed the completed document by an expert in executive recruitment, and delivered the application online so that the document reached its target long before the advertised closing date.

During the weeks leading up to what I regarded would be a certain call-up for a short-list interview, the planets aligned resulting in the Government-of-the-day, the Opposition, the Unions, the media, and social researchers all agreeing that the Country was facing a skills shortage that could be addressed, in part, by those who possessed those skills re-entering the workforce. It seemed that everyone whose opinions mattered thought that retiring retirement would be good for Australia and for Australians. Billie Burke’s observation was looking accurate.

BLUSH! I never made the interview short list. When my ‘dear John e-mail’ arrived (a standard, impersonal one, that I assumed was bcc’ed to all those who failed to make the cut), I revisited my application, the selection criteria, my list of referees, discussed the outcome with those who were aware of my project, etc. Could it be that Billie Burke got it wrong after all?

My next step was to (very politely, of course) ask the recruiters for feedback on my application. My enquiry received the standard ‘there were people better placed than you’ and ‘the selection panel has made its decision and that’s all there is to it’. I’ll never know whether or not age was a factor in not making the short list. Recruiters, or course, could never acknowledge that ‘age’ was a consideration (while my resume never mentioned ‘age’, it divulged that I’ve been married to the one lucky person for thirty-five years and have three beautiful adult ‘children’.) Even though the recruiter did not attend my recent birthday bash, he or she would have been able to make an accurate guess that if I wasn’t over the hill, I was probably climbing it.

This exercise in futility taught me three valuable lessons.

The first lesson is that Billie Burke got it wrong-as have politicians and all those who feed off them. When it comes to gaining meaningful, paid employment, age does matter. It’s OK for Mae West to say, ‘You’re never too old to become younger’, but try telling that to the recruiters who are making it increasingly difficult for older people to return to paid employment of their choices. We have a long way to go if we are to practise what we preach about the multi-benefits of having highly motivated and enthusiastic older people in the workforce.

The second lesson concerns the potential damage to the self-image of the person dealing with being told that he or she is past their use-by date. Many participants in the ageing process-that’s you and me-would agree with George Burns’s observation: ‘You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old’. When it comes to employment via the standard process, however, chronological age is the only determinant of age. Even though it’s impossible to feel a number, recruiters possess an incredible skill that allows them to tell when you’re number’s up-without even meeting you.

The third lesson is that the employer (the one who pays the recruiter and who had probably hoped to get the best person for the job) may never really know what it missed out on. Providing the recruiting agency is able to show that it followed its brief, complied with legislative requirements, and deals with requests for feedback from those who missed the cut, why should selection bias be an issue? Old farts have had their time in the sun: it’s time to move on. How embarrassing for a recruiter if he or she short-lists an experienced person who makes the recruiter’s favoured choices look second-rate-definitely not good for business. From the recruiter’s perspective, saving face (especially when it’s their face) is far more important than finding the best person for the job

If you’ve chosen to re-join the workforce in a paid capacity, all is not lost. There are two positive and productive steps you can take. The first step is to be aware that it’s not what you know or who you know; it’s who knows you. Recruiters are only marginally better than a waste of your time-unless of course, they know you. Devote some time and energy to identifying who knows you and can help you in your quest for employment. Make these people your starting point. The second step is to search out positions that look as though they are being advertised by the employer. Throw your hat into the ring for those positions. In this way, you can be reasonably sure that a wise and lucky employer (one who is worthy of a person of your unique qualities) would jump at an opportunity to meet with you and discuss an item of mutual concern-namely, securing the best person for the job on offer.

Billie Burke was rewarded for her quip when her audience showed its appreciation. But we’re being conned. When it comes to securing meaningful, paid employment, age does matter.