Ageism is a Two Way Street, Getting Hired in the Modern Environment

This topic came up in response to a LinkedIn post where someone in one of my groups (I did not seek his permission to share his name, so I will just acknowledge that this was not my post) was talking about ageism and how it is affecting our older more experienced professionals, making it difficult for them to get work in favor of younger less experienced and ultimately cheaper folks freshly out of school. LinkedIn has a limit for characters in a response and I had so much to say I exceeded it. Therefore, I shall put it here.

I hear you. Those of us with a lot of experience cost more, that's because we bring more experience to the table, which makes perfect sense.

Unfortunately, the age of using computers to search for key words on resumes to determine who's resume even gets seen by a human is here. The older generation (yes me included) are used to handshakes and in person meetings and personal relationships, not submitting resumes online and hoping they get read by a human we don't know, have no access to, and has no idea of what we do. The reality is that computer algorithms do the initial weeding through of resumes submitted based on keywords and positive responses to specific items in the job description.

Only the candidates that score well on this get to a real human. That real human is most likely an HR person that knows nothing (not a knock on HR people, this is what they are asked to do) about the technical requirements of the position. This person will review and forward some of the resumes to a person that will ultimately be setting up interviews and hiring.

The younger generation (I call them kids because most of them are my kids' age) know how to play this computer game better than the more experienced of us, that is just the truth. Most of us (Including me) started our careers before the internet even existed. Mind blowing, right? I was a computer early adopter and distinctly remember writing code to create programs and buying my first internet yellow pages, you remember before search engines existed. Yep - and I am 51, too young to be a baby boomer and yet younger than a lot of the older workforce I am addressing here.

I have to say that I am thankful for many of the younger people I have worked with over the years. Not only have they helped me stay relevant, but they have also given me opportunities to pass on the knowledge (including my many mistakes they can hope to avoid) to the next generation of professionals. I had many mentors over my career that shared and taught me. It is now my turn to return the favor.

Ageism is a two-way street

Have I been guilty of ageism thoughts in my career? Yep, on both ends of it. When I was young I hated how the older guys treated me like a kid, and didn't listen to me because I didn't have enough experience. I didn't feel like an adult at work and I thought things like "man I can't wait until these old guys retire, time to make way for the next generation." I have been frustrated with older generations refusing to embrace the changes in technology, and I had to do parts of their job for them because they refused to learn. I saw those same people get pushed out of work eventually because they became irrelevant.

Now that I am the older generation, I catch myself having thoughts like "doesn't that company have anyone with gray hair working for them (meaning with significant experience)?" This last week when a "kid" no older than my youngest kids was asked to come and present to room full of us gray hairs on an important project, I had this exact thought. Was this fair? Relevant?

Maybe not fair but yes I think relevant. Perhaps this is an example of a company that is interested in hiring the younger cheaper labor and shunning the more experienced and expensive labor.

So what should an experienced professional do?

If you an experienced professional I encourage you to get your resume re-written by a professional resume writer. A young one, at least one generation younger than you, maybe two.

When I did this I was mortified that my resume writer insisted I put my photo on mine, but this is the way of things. Change is uncomfortable, but it is inevitable. We must embrace it or become irrelevant and ultimately be pushed out.

I also encourage experienced professionals to embrace the change and embrace what the younger generations bring to the table. Encourage their fresh perspectives and new ideas, treat them with respect. Remember what it was like when we were coming up, but at the same time acknowledge that things are different now. By paying attention to them and what they have to offer, they keep us relevant. Ageism goes both ways; we should not be discounting them anymore than they should discount us.

Darwin said it best. "It is not the strongest of a species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one that is most responsive to change." We must adapt to our environment or find ourselves left behind.

I think the industry needs us all, more experienced, and less experienced alike, we can help each other and learn from each other. As part of the older generation in the workforce, it is our duty to pass on the lessons we have learned to the next generation, and we can only do that if we are there working with them side by side.