Thank you! At least you said it, others just do it… They do not hire old people, and they have their reasons…
The other day I was asked to give my opinion about what a site, with most men, could do to more successfully promote women in the field of STEM… The thing is like; do you need to diversified or to look for talent? To treat old people, females or other minorities in some areas in a special way just make the majorities mad. I think it doesn’t matter gender, nationality, race, primary language, or age.
The minority definition it is being revised… if you are a teacher in an elementary school you certainly are not a minority if you are a female. In some industries, branches of knowledge that are mature let’s say mechanical or electrical engineering fields the seniors are the most knowledgeable ones and they are treated as what they are a fine rare kind of distilled wisdom… in the 1800’s the youngest senator was 28 considering how long people lived at that time, 40 years average, they saw it as a mature person. Today the youngest senator is 39.
How do you define an old person? Because of experience, because of age? How old you need to be in your eyes to be old? In some fields there are veterans at 35… Athletes I could think about… in the new fields being developed let’s say software or e-gaming the curve of learning is so steep that the persons who retired, mainly they feel they are totally out of shape and obsolete in a couple of years…
For what reason do you need an old person? Do you need them for past glories? Maybe their field was wipe out!! But to know the future, you need to be back in time ♫ ;D
Seniors were the ones who created the millennia generation, the ones who gave you access to the calculators, computers, cell phones. All our wonderful new toys were given to you since you were born. An also the empowerment to create with them, because in this present time you own the world… And old seniors are very proud of this generation, they surrender to your ability to press buttons rapidly to find almost everything… :D
Instead of feeling threatened what we need to think is that we are in need of a diversified pool of brains, no matter any other issue. Go to the source of your needs and frame the job. If you do not like their clothes, just have conferences with them in the chats or hang outs, give a dress code… If you don’t like that they run to their families, or else... Establish a schedule, and social rules so they can go with you to the next boxing event or whatever you please… you are the one hiring, so you set the rules… At some levels people do incredible unusual things.
The new way for people to be hired is very interesting; you can just put it in a contest, or for bid… in the internet. The old fashion was to earn the contract in some instances, and still it is very active for very specific projects. For years, you have people being measured by the IQ tests, the EI tests, and many other tests…Also, have you seen the movie Money Ball? You have machine learn experts to tell you a very precise prediction of the behavior of the brain you need right now. Decisions measured by statistics and your intuition are the best ones. Does it matter what you've done? Or what are you doing? ♫ It depends of your age it seems, because some people value experience, others, looks, others brain power, others empathy with others, you name it… so why do you need an old person among the young ones? Sometimes is vital...
The classic titles for old executives which are still new, they are from the 80’s, with fancy names are consultants, CEO, COO, CFO, CIO… and there is a way to narrow or to enhance descriptions of jobs… or create a new title… how about Time Line Enhancer Executive? :D
What I can see in the nearest future is that instead of humans looking for work, there are going to be set on the table for them, a variety of paid activities that required the human essence. Because most of the things are going to be done by robots… the unique treats of being human are going to be appreciated like never before, and humans nowadays are totally enhance by chemistry, medical interventions, and so on. So, you are going to live longer. When are you going to become senior? The rule can change. Right?
One day our beloved X generation is going to be a senior and that is the thing, sometimes you need the oldies to tell you a story because Nature repeats itself and that is helpful, also; if you have different generations in your team, you look opened minded, rich in diversity, world class, humanitarian, inclusive, and that helps to give you money to keep playing, and to show the world you own it (or at least feel like it) ;D…
I saw the first version of the blog, http://bhorowitz.com/2012/12/05/old-people/ was simpler, more casual, and funnier, it looks that now the blog have a team to edited and fatten it. You did it! It looks very serious, very academic, and very useful... Thank you! :D
