Ageism can get fucked.
But ... there is a lot of ageism out there. Which I've never understood.
According to the folks I’ve worked with in the past, I’ve done great work, and I’m still in regular contact with many of them.
And yet taller people tend to make more money and have more positive qualities associated with them by others.
I think age is a weird one, because there are both positive and negative biases at play.
Maybe you don't think about age consciously, but subconsciously maybe you're more inclined to trust someone's opinion or experience if they're older.
Conversely, you (and many other hiring managers) may feel a bit weird giving basic tasks or ordering around someone who is older than you. Maybe you don't realize it, but you might have more of a sense of "this candidate is less likely to take instruction"
I'm not saying you're ageist (any more so than the baseline since I think we've all internalized ageism to some degree). But the fact that it "doesn't cross your mind as a criteria" doesn't necessarily mean that it hasn't affected your hiring decisions anyway.
I didn’t realize you could do that.
Either way, as soon as they figure out my ago, the screening call is typically over.