Ageism musings

The first time I encountered ageism was when I was in my mid-fourties. I remember going to an interview (run by an outside agency) for a project manager position (or whatever they called it back then), and the guy interviewing me (older than me) asked if it wasn’t problematic working with young people. I was flabbergasted; what did he mean – I was young! Obviously I had never felt any problem age-wise with my team mates, so found the question shocking. But he was right, many bright young people, starting their own companies, prefer to work with people their own age. Luckily there was another company that wanted my skills and didn’t look at my age.

Don’t get me wrong, I was not fired this time around because of my age. The problem is that people in their late fifties have no chance of getting a job. Forget late fifties, what about late fourties?

The last time I was in this position was nearly 10 years ago when the hi-tech bubble burst and everything went belly-up. I have a rock-solid CV, but not one response was received (barring the very occasional rejection letter), even for those jobs where the description looked as if it was written for me. Even worse was that none of my acquaintances in the field was starting a new project and needed me to define requirements.

I remember that as a very black time, I kept thinking I would get a job and so didn’t do anything else that would nurture my spirit. There was no income, so I was loath to spend money connecting to the Internet (expensive dial-up in those days), buying books or auditing a university course. Shaul, on the other hand, has been unemployed since he was 60 and has a much healthier take than me. Admittedly he knows that he won’t get another job (doesn’t even want one) so doesn’t look and won’t feel rejected. He also buys books, attends two courses a semester, surfs the Internet visiting far-off places that we may one day visit, and basically enjoys life.

Luckily my lady at the unemployment office saved me. A course was opening in technical writing. She explained to me that TW is much less age-related and that I would get an additional three months unemployment benefit while taking the course. So I took it and found it very easy (I had been writing documentation for years); but now I learned the rules: short sentences, simple words, active present tense. (Obviously there is more, but those are the basic rules.)

First I worked for the company that trained me and gained confidence in my abilities. That was baptism in fire. I was sent to a start-up, developing a telecom software switch, which required a user manual so they looked serious. Two senior writers had been in before me and failed. Maybe it was too early in the process, maybe they were writers and not techies, I don’t know, but I studied telecommunications over that weekend, filled myself with jargon and walked into their office with bravado. They assigned a patient product manager to me and within one month they had their professional looking user guide.

During the final week or so of the project, I started being interviewed for a full-time position, which I eventually got (with a lot of thanks to a great recommendation from where I was currently placed), and I worked there for over 8 years – a record for me who always worked for fragile startups.

So back to ageism. Yes it is true that my industry is full of young people, but we oldies can find our niches. This time around I am more aware of the problem (and it has obviously become worse by 10 years) and so have decided to become self-employed. I am hoping that my age is less of a barrier when a firm cannot (or doesn’t want to) employ someone full-time. I hope that this blog will reflect the journey and any successes I have on the way.