I work at a university. I’ve encountered a small but noticeable number of students stating that they could graduate early, but don’t want to because they would only be 21, not 22. I suspect most of these students would want to extend their college career anyway, since a lot of students insist on a four-year experience even if they have dual credit or credit-by exam so this isn’t really necessary. If someone is applying for a job and has a college degree, how much would you actually care if they were 21 rather than 22? I have a hard time believing a single year makes that much difference for someone who is otherwise qualified, but I curious if there’s anything to this.
I have noticed that no one has ever said they didn’t want to graduate because they would only be 22 when they finished school and would prefer to be 23, so apparently 22 is magical.
Age is but one factor in hiring. Personnel departments function mainly to determine if applicants are qualified on paper. The interview with the hiring department is the crucial aspect. If a 21-year-old doesn’t know how to dress or conduct himself, that counts against him. Dress professionally, be cordial, smile, shake hands, and be confident (not arrogant). Follow up with a letter (yes, an old-fashioned letter), not an email, expressing appreciation for the opportunity.
I assume this is in the USA? If so, who would know? Hiring managers who know what they are doing would NEVER ask someone how old they are in an interview, and I assume folks aren’t putting their age on their resumes. I can’t imagine that this would have any bearing at all on getting a real job.
Age is not “one factor” in hiring. Age is not a factor at all. Experience is a factor, but a 22 year old recent grad will have the same experience as a 21 year old college grad.
It wouldn’t matter in the least. College age people place a lot more emphasis on age because they are young and come from a highly age segregated environment. There are big differences between someone who is under 18 (not in college), an 18-19 year old freshman, 19-20 year old sophomore, 20-21 year old junior and a 21-22 year old senior ready to graduate. Anyone older than that are alumni and considered “old”.
From a hiring managers perspective, I’m working with people in their 20s through their 60s. For all intents and purposes, a kid right out of college is a kid right out of college, regardless of their age.
And how about people whose birthdays are in the first half of the year who would graduate at 22, versus those in the last half of the year who would graduate at 21?
As everyone else has said, it is absolutely not a factor.
Just curious - is there any difference among the kids with this belief? Seems like an excuse to me. As others have pointed out - people won’t know. I do think age - in general - makes a difference. People, subconsciously at least, don’t think of someone as young as having the experience needed, but a year isn’t going to be that noticeable.
I graduated from college in only 3 years when I was 21 and was thrilled about it. My age affecting whether or not I got hired never occurred to me as I was employed at the time (not at a McJob, at a real job that related to what I went to school for).
Maybe these students are just hesitant about leaving school. In my case I was a) paying for everything so saving money on a year’s tuition was huge for me and b) I was working, living on my own, etc. already so classes were just an annoying thing that I had to do on top of everything else. There wasn’t a major transition from college life to “adult life.”
I was speaking of age as a matter of maturity, but yes it’s a small part depending on education and experience. As I said, the crucial factor is the interview. As for whether the hiring company knows your age: the company I worked for couldn’t ask for the applicant’s age, but it could ask for specifics about education, including dates! If someone graduated with a bachelor’s in 1991, then he/she is 21 years old. If that 21-year-old applicant doesn’t seem to know his stuff or doesn’t handle the interviewer’s questions well, interviewer may very well move on to the next candidate.
I graduated from college when I was 21 due to a late birthday. It is absolutely not a factor and never heard of it being one in the workplace. The difference between 21 and 22 is non-existent. They are all just really young junior employees to everyone else.