I'm lucky enough to look young for my age, so I leave my early jobs off my resume, and don't put my graduation year on there.
While I don't exactly hide the fact that I'm in my late 40s, I do find myself avoiding some discussions at work that would show my age, like talking about my older experiences or making pop culture references from the '80s or '90s.
Yes, you can talk about making yourself so useful that age doesn't matter, etc., but the truth is that age discrimination is often an unconscious bias, and I just find it easier to "pass" as younger than to spend my energy trying to overcome it.
Of course I focus mostly on just being good at what I do. There are benefits to age. Experience and knowledge, of course, but hopefully also wisdom and temperament.
If there's one thing I'd like people to take away from this thread, particularly people in their 20s, it's to re-examine your unconscious biases about age. How often have you assumed something about a person because they were older than you, and what can you do to overcome that and judge them on their merits instead?
>How often have you assumed something about a person because they were older than you, and what can you do to overcome that and judge them on their merits instead?
I pretty much always think they are 'smarter' than me.
The only issue I've had with older folks is that they often say 'not my job'.
> The only issue I've had with older folks is that they often say 'not my job'.
Which, from my experience, is not a bad thing. It's often a sign of someone who recognizes that meeting everyones else's expectations at the cost of their job expectations is short sighted and the equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot.
And rarely does anyone have enough time to even meet their personal job expectations.
There are those whom are just lazy and only want to contribute the least amount possible, but I think you'll find that's not limited to older folks.
There are two sides of "not my job." There is the Art of Saying No where you protect your deliverables, and there is the non-team player who wont help others.
I've had a similar bias. I (unconsciously) assumed that because a cayndidate was older, they naturally have much more experience and should be super impressive. That is not fair. Evaluate them in comparison to the job requirements and the applicant pool, and don't give them a higher bar just because you imagine they should more awesome.
While I don't exactly hide the fact that I'm in my late 40s, I do find myself avoiding some discussions at work that would show my age, like talking about my older experiences or making pop culture references from the '80s or '90s.
Yes, you can talk about making yourself so useful that age doesn't matter, etc., but the truth is that age discrimination is often an unconscious bias, and I just find it easier to "pass" as younger than to spend my energy trying to overcome it.
Of course I focus mostly on just being good at what I do. There are benefits to age. Experience and knowledge, of course, but hopefully also wisdom and temperament.
If there's one thing I'd like people to take away from this thread, particularly people in their 20s, it's to re-examine your unconscious biases about age. How often have you assumed something about a person because they were older than you, and what can you do to overcome that and judge them on their merits instead?