Michael
I always try to give the balanced view from my experiences. I am not a Wannabe any more, I have a job. I was not a 'young gun' when I started training. What I try to point out is what airlines seem to want, not what bigoted individuals think. I agree that ageism does exist, like it or not, but, I think if we are talking about 200hrs TT looking for the first job at 38 then I think you will have a harder time than someone aged 22 with the same hours. This is what you see at the big flying schools. What the older guy has to do is make up for the lack of flying during his younger years with what he has done during that time. For instance, if he has had an alternative career, or run his own business then that is valuable experience. Pick out the relevant bits and relate it to being an F/O with said airline. The older guy should have much better experience to draw on when answering the interview questions, giving fuller answers from when he has been in the situation that the interviewer is searching for.
Getting a good mix of age and experience is becoming a factor for many airlines, mainly the bigger ones. For a small operation they may well tend to take the same sort of recruit every time, ie always young with low experience as for them this 'mix' is not as important if they are only taking on a couple at a time. Consider this though; if 'x' airline needs 350 pilots over the next 5 years what is the point of taking them all on from a similar age bracket? If this is the way they recruit every time then they will have the same number retiring every time at some stage later down the line. This assumes that the pilots stay with the company; an airline that size would tend to be a career airline. Look at BA and Britannia, they have this sort of problem. Better to recruit a large diversity of age groups which means you don't then get the 'bulges' in the retirement bubble, and heaven forbid that the retirement bulge coinsides with the top of an upturn when there aren't too many 'suitable' candidates for interview........
Plenty of older guys get employed by airlines, I'm not just blowing smoke up the old you-know-where, it's a fact, as I am sure is the fact that these older guys don't tend to get their jobs via big flying school introductions (although I am sure that will have happened at some point too.) I think it is a plus point to be an older guy when approaching a turbo-prop outfit, especially if you would be happy to sit in the left seat for them and not disappear to squEasy at the first opportunity.
So there you have it, a bit of balance on the subject. It's not easy, whatever your age, it may be just a little harder if you're old and have no experience.
Good luck
PP
Edited to add;
I agree with CrashandBurn that the newly qualified older pilots ie 35 and above to tend to struggle enormously with trying to cope with the job if they are successful in getting one in the first place. I have witnessed this in recent years in this profession as they donīt seem to have either the co ordination or mental capacity to keep up with the job. It makes me wonder why they waste all their money training with so little chance of getting a job in the end. I would rather work with the younger, enthusiastic and more capable pilots.
I think that says more about your 'strange' generalised opinion than it does about guys over the age of 35. I have successfully converted through 4 sets of SOPs and had 5 OPCs in the last 12 months, all at or after the age of 35. First airline job at 34. Not one training captain felt he needed to mention any struggling, lack of co-ordination (with a hyphen I think you will find is correct) or mental capacity.
I think your point about it's harder when older is correct, just don't be quite so bigoted if you don't want people to get off their high horses in future.
PP