The CV You Skipped Might Have Been Your Best Hire
You have forty applications for a role that needed filling last month. Then you spot a graduation year from the early 1990s, and something decides before you reach the second line. Too senior. Too expensive. Probably won't stay. Next.
Few hiring managers screen on age on purpose. But the pattern shows up wherever anyone has measured it, Luxembourg included.
What the Numbers Say About Mature Talent Screening
In one of the largest field experiments on the subject (published in 2019), economists sent more than 40,000 fictitious applications to over 13,000 US job openings. The CVs were identical except for age. For administrative roles, women in their mid-sixties were called back about half as often as women around thirty. Nobody interviewed them and found them lacking. They were simply never asked in.
Closer to home, people aged 45 and over make up more than 40% of jobseekers registered with ADEM, and around six in ten have been looking for over a year. Luxembourg's employment rate for 55–64 year-olds sat at 49.5% in 2025, against an EU average of 66.4%.
What Employers Lose When Screening Out Experience
When you skip an experienced candidate, you lose the person: judgment built over years, and expensive mistakes already made on someone else's budget. You lose something for team performance, too:
Higher Productivity: Research from the OECD found that firms with a 10% higher share of workers aged 50 and over are 1.1% more productive.
Lower Turnover: Older colleagues are far less likely to quit, reducing recurring replacement costs.
Untapped Talent Pipeline: While every employer in the Grand Duchy chases the same 30-somethings, the experienced candidate in your rejection pile may be the qualified professional nobody else is calling.
“ADEM refunds the employer's share of social security contributions when you hire a registered jobseeker aged 45 or over on a permanent contract.”
Addressing the Common Hiring Myths
Myth 1: "They will be too expensive"
Sometimes they might be, and a fifteen-minute call will tell you. More often they will not: many experienced professionals have reset their expectations or care more about impactful work than a title.
Furthermore, ADEM refunds the employer's share of social security contributions when you hire a registered jobseeker aged 45 or over on a permanent contract (CDI) (conditions apply):
Aged 45–49: Refunded for 2 years.
Aged 50+: Refunded until retirement
Few hiring managers know this incentive exists.
Myth 2: "They will be overqualified"
Either they can do the job easily (which is what you wanted), or you worry they will get bored and leave. That second worry is a direct question you can put to them during an initial screening call.
The 30-Minute Challenge for Hiring Managers
The ask is small: Next time you shortlist candidates, include at least one experienced professional who meets the requirements, and give them the same thirty minutes as anyone else.
If the interview confirms your doubts, you have lost half an hour. If it doesn't, you may have found the steadiest person on your team for the next ten years. If you would like an objective review of your hiring process to ensure there is no unintentional age bias, or to train your hiring managers, we can help.
Next in this series: How to interview an experienced candidate fairly. The questions to drop, and what to ask instead.
Partner with Career Circle: Career Circle supports experienced professionals in Luxembourg and works with employers seeking to widen their talent pool. If you are hiring, get in touch with our team - we may know your next best hire.
