Startups like to present themselves as innovative, unconventional, and committed—or, in short, "young." This is true: startups are, by definition, young companies. However, it becomes problematic when companies advertise job advertisements seeking young employees, as this can be perceived as discrimination against older job seekers.
Young people in particular—often university graduates—are looking to start their careers in startups. In innovative startups, it feels like more can be achieved, or actually is. The hierarchies are flatter than just on paper, and the tone of communication is usually more similar to that of a student than in a medium-sized company or corporation. And startups reciprocate this love for young professionals. After all, they often rely on the cutting-edge knowledge of university graduates. Furthermore, many founders are of a similar age and life situation to their young employees. These are all understandable arguments—but when young applicants are specifically given preference, this constitutes discrimination against older workers from a legal perspective.
We are young
The job portal “Joblift" has now examined 56,236 job advertisements from startups from last year. All companies that describe themselves as such in their job postings were classified as startups. Companies that merely advertise with the flair or character of a startup were excluded from the study.
The adjective "young" appears in 12,561 of the analyzed job advertisements. This corresponds to 22 percent of all advertisements. The study does not reveal how many of these mentions refer to the company and how often the team is described as young. According to Joblift, however, the latter case could already be considered a violation of the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG) and thus constitute discrimination. Simply publishing such a job advertisement can therefore be expensive.
Even beyond the issue of discrimination, it's worth taking a look at the results: Startups describe themselves as international even more frequently (15,462 job advertisements). "Young" comes in second, followed by "dynamic" (12,020) and "innovative" (11,984). A total of 7,185 startups call themselves "leading."
We are looking for
Startups most frequently look for a self-directed or independent working style (15,773) among job applicants. This is followed by communication skills (10,748), analytical skills (10,447), and commitment (10,149).
We offer
Job advertisers most frequently attract potential applicants with a high level of responsibility (9,440). Next most frequently, they emphasize flat hierarchies (8,526), training opportunities (7,043), and only in fourth place, attractive compensation (6,816).
The company has summarized the most important results in an infographic:
