Simple. Swiss or other foreign subsidiaries of US recruiting firms, such as Kelly and Manpower, would not be able to list age range requirements for their Swiss or other foreign clients, to comply with extraterritorial US law. On the other hand, foreign subsidiaries (or local companies) of non-US recruiting firms such as Adecco and Randstad could list age range requirements for their Swiss or other foreign clients. This would give the non-US recruiting firms a leg-up on the US-owned competition.
OK so they do not list age range requirements but they simply do not process any applications outside of their known (but not published ) range.
My experience of recruiting here is that many job applications have to be discarded anyway.
Why?
Because to keep unemployment benefits people must make x job applications per month.
Many people are happy to spend some months living on unemployment benefits so send applications for totally unsuitable jobs where they have no chance of being recruited.
Although the age discrimination behavior of some companies may change, enforcing the US law that prohibits publication of "ideal age ranges" in help-wanted ads may just drive the practice underground for others.
I am generally not in favor of extraterritorial laws. Laws should stop at borders ... but the US Congress has spoken!
I found the "desired age" always a bit idiotic... But I suddenly feel the urge to add it to my next hiring profile just because I can. Any American who feels offended by it can write to his congressman.
Which is exactly what happens in the US. Any manager worth their salt can look at a resume (remember - no pictures in the US either) and make an appropriate estimation of the applicant's age.
Agree. Count back 18 years from when they entered college for their undergrad degree and you can tell +/- 1 year how old they are. And if the year of graduation is not on the CV, look on LinkedIn.
I find it ridiculous to assume you can't find out someone's age just because you don't indicate a yob on the CV. Same with gender or ethnicity and likely nationality of course. If I have a "Sarah X" on a CV, it's quite safe to assume it's a female But God forbid anyone should find out
And even if you don't know age, gender, ethnicity or whatever else you may not want to know, you still find out at the latest in an interview and can still discard a candidate based on whatever prejudice or bias you may or may not have - only by then, time has been wasted and hopes have been raised, all for nothing.
Discrimination is a tricky concept. I by no means dispute that it exists, of course it does, everywhere and it takes many shapes and forms. But the US has taken it to another level, where everyone can essentially claim anything is discrimination just because they didn't get what they wanted. That is certainly not the way to go, sorry.