It is ageism when a company would hire a 25 year old with the same skill set but would’t hire the 45 year old in those circumstances (or insert anyone in a protected class). The point is, they arehappy to invest in young ppl but not so-called “older” ones. The only way around this is collective action that includes the young- other industries have unionized and sued again and again w class actions to protect themselves and their futures. It’s how discrimination became “illegal”