It’s widely known that employers want young people. Age discrimination is real. Young people have stamina, will work long hours, don’t have preconceived ideas that get in the way. They’re more flexible in their thinking, more willing to adopt the company’s ways of working.
At least that’s the theory. And honestly, isn’t it more or less accurate?
I’m on the cusp of being discriminated against so I think I have a right to speak; I’ve been young and now I’m old. At the risk of offending some of my fellow old people for speaking on their behalf without permission…
You’re damn right old people don’t want to work long hours, nor do they want to do things in a specific way without explanation, nor change their mode of thinking since it’s taken a lifetime of a wins and losses to get it where it is now.
Old people are less employable because they know, without a shadow of a doubt through late nights of trial and error, that family, personal growth, systems-level impact, and human connection are way more important than any single job. And they’re well aware that they’ve earned the right to live by this creedo, and to seek out employers who feel the same.
When it comes to work, no matter how much we love our jobs, our priorities inevitably change with age, slanting toward the things that grow our hearts, safeguard the future, and open up possibilities for the seismic changes that are only possible across lifetimes.
That’s someone worth having on the team. Isn’t it?