when I used to work at the insurance company. after I got divorced in the late 90's we had lots of temps, college kids working for us at 9 dollars an hour. full time employees started at 18 back then, I was a senior account administrator, making close to 30.
we hired only those freshly out of college and never anybody over 30. the thing that bother me is not that we would hire the most qualified but we would hire those that "could fit in". in other words we hired people with good looks that dressed nice.
most of the time those we hired didnt even know how to use a stapler, but they could talk big about how they were going to save the company.
that still bothers me to this day. when I moved from NC to sou cal, I went thru the same thing. applied for an office job every where. never found one. had an interview once with a girl about 25, who told me I had more experience that she did. I didnt get the job.
semp