What’s age got to do with it?
I was watching “Talking about your Generation” last week and it got me thinking about the constant generational battle that seems to play itself out in the media and in the workplace.
It was quite a funny show, with a few Gen Y insults thrown in for good measure. Normally I don’t mind a bit of harmless Gen Y bashing, but I have recently been on the receiving end of it, and I have to say, I am “not happy Jan.”
As a journalist/online manager I regularly attend events and meetings. It is a great chance to network and source new opportunities for the website. But there is one thing that really rubs me up the wrong way and that is the look of surprise that people get when they see me and immediately I know what they are thinking, “wow, she is young… how is it that she is an online manager?” Some of them even take one glance at me and bypass me, (without realising) and head straight towards an older person standing behind me.
Which leads me to pose the question: why is age such a factor in business? I may not have as much “life experience” as someone older, but what does that have to do with the price of fish? If the person in question is well educated, articulate and skilled in their particular field, then why question it?
Gen Y has garnered such a bad rep in the media that as a result we are not taken as seriously in business as our older counterparts. At every meeting/event, I always get asked the “so how long have you been with your company?” question. Now I admit, this could just be a way to make polite conversation, but the fact that in a sea of people, I am the only person being asked the question, starts to make me wonder whether they are being polite, or using it as a way to gauge how old I am, and as a result how experienced I am. I feel like I am constantly fighting an uphill battle to prove myself. And it’s not just age that’s a problem. People are judged every day on the basis of looks, gender, age and race. One of our bloggers James Adonis recently blogged on how looks can affect job prospects, where employers actually prefer to hire a good looking person, over someone not so “appealing.” (You can read all about it here)
I think it’s time to strip away all of the generalisations and preconceived ideas and take someone on their individual merits.
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Now this could say a lot about how old I look (let’s hope not!), but I’ve never had a negative reaction on account of being 27 and editor of Dynamic Business. I did assume people would be surprised that I wasn’t older, greyer, or more..well…male….but they don’t seem to have a problem with it or find it massively surprising.
Im 23, educated and outgoing but I wouldn’t blame people if I were in your shoes. Despite how qualified we think we are, we’re still not experienced enough and I think that counts for a lot and can’t be substituted by intelligence or drive. I’d love to leave my mark and make my own choices but I don’t have that luxury though my position yet. That’s fair enough. It just makes me hungrier and more motivated for when I am considered old enough.
Just an x-genner speaking and luckily for some weird reason when you hit 30 people no longer look at you that way! I had years of that too. I recomend speeding up the aging process by throwing away any quality makeup products, sitting in the solarium and oh, having kids, oooh that’ll do it real quick! Enjoy being young, beautiful and clever, take it as flattery, you are not supposed to be young beautiful and clever, didn’t you know smart woman are frumpy and old? Bad news is you will wake up one morning just like me and discover to your horror that you are not quite as young and beautiful as you once were. Enjoy it!
Interesting insight Jess. From a fellow Gen Yer, I agree that the older generations are prejudice against young people in networking situations. There are some benefits though. I find that some people remember what it’s like to be young in networking situations and are more friendly.
As someone of an indeterminate age (on account of being Asian!) I don’t usually get looks because I seem ‘too young to be there’ but I *often* get asked how long I’ve been working at —. I don’t know whether this is used to gauge age or experience or just small talk but I notice that people ask me more often than not.
I do have to say that when I go to a function where I’m against the demographic trend – ie if the event is full of senior Caucasian men in suits – I will definitely get the full questionnaire: who are you? Where are you from? How long have you been working there? Where were you before that? Etc…
You just have to grin and bear it until you have about five years behind you.