Age wording in job advertisements sustains age inequality through selection and partially through attraction processes

This research examines whether words used to describe ideal candidates in job advertisements are more strongly associated with younger workers (under 30), older workers (50 and over), or equally with both age groups. We first identified such associations, then conducted experiments to test how age-typed and age-shared descriptors in job advertisements influence candidate attraction and selection. Across two studies, participants aged 18 to 75 evaluated job advertisements that stereotypically aligned with younger workers, older workers, or both equally. We hypothesized an age-matched attraction effect, predicting that participants would find job advertisements with descriptors reflecting their own age group more appealing. This was supported for older participants in Study 2, who were more likely to apply to the advertisement with older descriptors. We also hypothesized an age-matched selection effect that participants would match resumes containing younger, older, or age-shared descriptors to corresponding job advertisements in a fictitious hiring scenario. A selection bias was confirmed for advertisements with younger and older descriptors, but not for the advertisement with age-shared descriptors, where candidates were equally preferred. The findings suggest that age-typed wording in job advertisements can sustain inequality in hiring by reinforcing selection biases and reducing attraction among older workers, but only on the objective measure