Dear all,
I'm new to the Chronicle Forums and just found this thread. Thank you! I have submitted over 40 post doc applications. Well actually here in the UK many of them are branded as JRFs through colleges and so can state that they don't want apps from anyone who has done more than three/four years of graduate research (read 1 year M.A. and 3 year PhD) and candidates are under the age of 30. The exclusionary process has always been in place, it is only recently that it was clearly stated. Yes, they can do this as they are in a sense private colleges and fund the research fellowships not the government. So a great deal of time on proposals that were trashed as soon as they saw my age.
However, it has cheered me up no end to know that age bias is not as strong in North America - my preference! Of course having said that, I am aware of the intense competition in the academic job market.
To put it (too) simply, age discrimination is illegal is the US for most jobs. In fact, it looks funny to these Yank eyes to see ads in The Economist or other Brit pubs that state desired age range, or min/max. That's not to say that some age discrimination exists, but it can't usually be blatant.
