alt Hacker News> once said long term technical unemployment would be a sign of the singularity; just pray for a soft take off
I think that's true, but in your case (mine as well), companies just don't really want to hire older people. People get touchy when this is brought up, but young recruiter women aren't attracted to them and are biased, younger guys/interviewers view them as some dragon to be slayed to prove themselves, etc. When they say they want "experienced", they mean not so junior so as to be clueless, but not so experienced that you see through their company bullshit.
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Have you considered the possibility that the issue might be your own biases, not those of the recruiters?
I've been doing one of those "Randstad" recruiter support things after lay off, and one of the first things they hammer away is "Ageism is a thing" and have us remove our dates of graduation on our LinkedIns.
So I think ageism is a thing. Or according to the commenters here, it can't be, and maybe you just didn't think of it the right way.
> young recruiter women aren't attracted to them
Having worked with a lot of recruiters, I promise -- promise! -- this is not a factor lol. Just because you find them attractive does not make the feeling mutual. They deal with enough shit from both management and engineers. They're friendly because of their job.
As a second knowledge bomb, the barista also does not find you charming.
I'm pretty sure any recruiter's primary motivation is to find a fit for the role so they can get their commission.