Ageism, internal candidates, and HE Admin

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

This is about ageism and internal candidates.  I am a HE administrator with 20 years experience at Harvard University, 10 years as Asst. Director of an academic program.  Of course, I am not 30 years old.  Does it rankle anyone else that even though the UK says it's working on obliterating ageism, everyone still wants a birthdate on the CV?  Has anyone just omitted their birthdate and been interviewed?  

Since I will be living somewhere between Durham and Glasgow, my job search is rather narrow.  Although I won't apply until I have my visa, I am very familiar with the uni web sites.  Time and again I have seen jobs go to internal applicants, then the applicants' jobs are posted.  Is there a trick to knowing if a posting has a strong internal candidate?

TIA, Chris

I think it's a horrible form of ageism that if you're under 30, you can come and work in the UK(albeit for a limited time), but if you're over 30, you have VERY few options.

Good luck, Chrishamil. Sorry I can't help. Just adding my 2 cents.

I work in a university, although as a secretary I'm obviously at a much lower level, and was offered this job when I was 47, having only done part-time work for years while my children were young. I'm not sure how strong the ageism factor is in HE; I suspect the internal candidate bias is much stronger, as appointing someone who's already on campus, knows the politics of the place. and can give internal references is a big plus. One way of getting a foot in the door might be to see if you can get temp work in a university through an agency, perhaps covering for a maternity leave. Our university gets all its temporary staff through one agency, and many of them then apply for permanent posts with some experience of the campus under their belt. Hope this might be helpful.

I was quite shocked to overhear my old boss tell her recruiter that she was looking for someone in their 20's. To be fair though, my boss was a cow who was very territorial and someone in their 20's didn't stand a chance of taking her on.

My husband works at on of the local universities and like HME said, they only use one recruiter and most posts are temp to perm. However, you can go onto their website and apply without the help of an agency. I don't know if it's like that with all universities, though.

From what I've seen since being here, if the post was to go to someone internally, they would keep the job opening internal only. If it's being offered to the public that probably means they don't have anyone from the inside to take it on but I don't see why you couldn't phone them up asking what kind of response they've had to the opening.

I work in a university, although as a secretary I'm obviously at a much lower level, and was offered this job when I was 47, having only done part-time work for years while my children were young. .

Did you get that when you were already here, though, or was it a work permit to come over? I was talking about the difficulty in getting a work permit when you're over 30 and not in an EU country and not married to a British citizen.

  Thanks for the feedback Snupy, HME, and Ashley.  Let me introduce myself.  I live in Boston, MA, and will (I hope) be getting an HSMP visa.  I have a master's degree in education and 17 years experience in management, 10 years as an Asst. Director.  ADs do all the work while the Director, who has a PhD, goes to meetings and teaches.  I am single, 53, and female.  I need to land a job fast because I'm self-supporting.  Thanks for the tip, HME, about working temp to perm.  Once they see what a dynamo I am, they just couldn't let me go!  

I've done a tonne of research hoping to find where I might fit in best.  I think my Harvard background will favourably impress universities in the Russell Group, similar to the US Ivy League.  I frequently check the web pages for Durham, Newcastle, Edinburgh, and Glasgow.  The best overall site for academic jobs is jobs.ac.uk.

I'm also bringing my Feline-American with me under the PETS program.  When I do get to the UK, I hope to be able to help others who need first-hand advice.

The reason I'm emigrating is my sister's grandchildren.  There are 7 of them now, and leaving them is more and more difficult each time.  Sis met her husband on line.  BIL has 3 sons, all married.  Sis went from being a controller in an investment banking firm in Boston to being Nana and a writer in Jedburgh.  In addition to the kiddies, I miss her a lot too.

My claim to fame is turning the kiddies on to Marshmallow Fluff.  First, I put a spoonful in hot chocolate and told the kiddies to watch the cup.  When the Fluff melts off the spoon, it pops up to the top of the cup.  Major cool auntie points for that.  Second, Fluffernutters!  They aren't half bad with UK peatnut butter, but next time I'm bringing Jiff.

Thanks again for your responses.  You have helped calm me down.  Chris

Did you get that when you were already here, though, or was it a work permit to come over? I was talking about the difficulty in getting a work permit when you're over 30 and not in an EU country and not married to a British citizen.

Sorry Snupy - no I'm a UK citizen so that's not very helpful to you.

Chris - I hope it all works out well for you. I'm sure you'd enjoy working in any of those universities - I was up in Durham for the day as my son is considering applying there next year. And of course Jedburgh and the Border countryis lovely!