Analysis from Women in PR (WiPR) has found 63 per cent of PR and communications job adverts contain at least one age-coded word or phrase, such as ‘dynamic’, ‘energetic’, ‘fresh thinking’ or ‘digital-first mindset’. Age-coded language can signal assumptions about youth, experience, energy, adaptability or cultural fit without explicitly mentioning age.
The audit of 100 UK PR and communications job adverts, across agency and in-house roles, searched for 46 core terms 34 raised through the joint Women in PR and Break the Silence Listening Labs, such as ‘digital native’, ‘youthful’, ‘rising star’ and ‘cultural fit’, and 12 widely recognised youth-coded terms, such as ‘hungry’, ‘go-getter’ and ‘work hard, play hard’. It also looked for wider pace, energy and workplace culture language, such as ‘always on’, ‘hit the ground running’ and ‘scrappy’.
More than one in five adverts (22 per cent) used a core term, with ‘dynamic’ the most frequent, followed by ‘fresh thinking’ and ‘energetic’. Pace and stamina language was the most common overall, with ‘fast-paced’ appearing in a quarter (25 per cent) of adverts, and more than a third (37 per cent) set inflexible working requirements such as fixed office days or out-of-hours availability.While many of these phrases may appear innocuous in isolation, participants in the Listening Labs described how combinations of language around pace, energy, adaptability and cultural fit can signal assumptions about who belongs, who is considered current, and how experience is
The findings come as WiPR warns that AI risks accelerating ageism already embedded in the industry. WiPR’s 2025 research found women reporting ageism from as early as 40, compared with 45 in its earlier research. With AI now widely used to screen applications, WiPR is concerned that youth-coded job adverts give those tools a skewed picture of the ideal candidate. When CVs are ranked against the language in the advert, experienced candidates risk being screened out before a person ever reads their application. Without meaningful human oversight, AI risks turning existing prejudices into automated rejection, with candidates excluded before their experience is ever properly considered.
WiPR is today launching No Right Age, a campaign and free playbook calling on PR employers to change how they recruit, starting with the words they use.
Similar language surfaced across three Listening Labs run jointly by Women in PR and Break the Silence in 2026. The small-scale qualitative study involved 35 PR professionals, recruiters, career coaches and people involved in hiring, and was designed to deepen understanding of ageism by building on the 2025 Break the Silence findings alongside Women in PR’s existing work on age and progression: ‘cultural fit’, ‘youthful’, ‘dynamic’, ‘energetic’, ‘gravitas’ and ‘finger on the pulse’. Participants described these phrases as subtle signals about who is seen as current, adaptable or desirable, and as language that could reinforce age-related stereotypes without explicitly mentioning age..
Recruiters described being told by clients not to put older candidates forward, and hearing “too much experience” or “too expensive” back when they did. Some recruiters advised experienced candidates to “botox” their CVs or “re-brand” themselves, for example by removing dates or shortening career histories, in response to concerns about how age and experience may be perceived, this was due to signals sent by employers. Participants also described CVs increasingly being written for AI screening as much as for people. As one put it: “…at some point, the price tag that you pay for the grown-ups becomes less attractive than the experience you bring as a grown-up.” Participants also contrasted PR with sectors such as banking, Big 4 consultancies and media, where experience and seniority were perceived to carry greater professional currency. Why should PR be different?
“Ageism in PR isn’t new. What’s changing is the speed and scale at which bias can be repeated through AI,” said Ginny Paton, President, Women in PR. “We have an industry that prizes expertise, yet too often treats experience as a liability. If AI is helping decide who gets through the door, a human must remain accountable for those decisions. And before employers post their next role, we’re asking them to spend five minutes checking the language they’re using. Because talent doesn’t come with an expiry date.”
Jules Shelley, Chief Executive, Ellwood Atfield, added: “As recruiters, we regularly put brilliant, experienced candidates forward and hear ‘too much experience’ back. Often the bias is baked in before we ever see the brief, in the words used to describe the role or team fit. Changing those words and digging deeper into candidate motivations are the quickest ways employers can widen their talent pools, and No Right Age gives them the tools to do it.”
