When is too old to still be in the workforce and who decides.

 

Many of us are not in our 20´s, 30s or even 40s. We all have acquired years of experience in either one of various professions. We have been thru the start and evolution of technology. We were the ones who had to read and really research an opinion or facts before sharing them. (Remember those encyclopedias?)  Where newscasters reported the news with colaborrated facts regardless their opinion.

We have been fortunate of being part of both worlds. We are a breed of our own with traditional ways adapted to the new tendencies. There is no expiration age to stop working.  We want to keep on working. We are in better shape health wise than most of our parents ever were when they were our age. So why are we not marketable? Why is an algorithm making our career choices and not a person. When is too old to still be in the workforce and who decides?

It is really motivating that a younger generation is eager to learn, or  think that OUR EXPERIENCE could be an added value to their services (for themselves as well as for their clients). The awe pretense by the experience that you might have, has been completely ignored by the information that a software outputs. The trust that is put in an anti-personal source of information is mind boggling.   The use of social media and platforms is their basic source of network.  How many people do they really know of their contacts? How many followers do they have? How many would they really trust to use as referral? What do they learn from this? Yes, tech savvy. Knowledge, it can be questionable.

Networking was a form of personal gathering of people in which they truly shared their experiences, expertise, know-how and know who. Always keep your passport, credit cards and resume active because you never know who you might meet or where life would take you. Now a resume should be revised weekly, again because the algorithm has new key words. Remove dates. Long lasting stay at a current job is perceive as not being assertive. Not having the initiative of moving on. (regardless of the promotions within the company).Yes, times have changed, people have adapted to current situations, instead of being a burden, it should be considered an asset. The DOERS VS THE ACHIEVERS?

The current generations have their own domain. Their self-assurance of what they think, know or do is impressive. These is not a judgement call, is a perception constantly felt by my peers. They are those younger ones that are truly achiever in a world that have different pressures, standards and tendencies. Deserving of every respect earned. 

Why all this dialogue?  Ironic, wanted to share my own experience. It is not unique, but also it is not absolute. After being contacted by several consulting companies that were interested in adding me to their team. They reached out to me because of my profile and the information given (is all out there). “Your profile is impressive; our clients would benefit from your knowledge”.    Some have hired me; I am happy for that. But in the last year, I kept getting the same end response from the eager young agents. (salesperson, executive agent etc.). "Please take a brief survey to make sure you qualify for our program".  Granted, there has been exchanges of conversations and viewing of work experience.   To be rejected by a 4 questions computer survey to see if you are a fit. Being: age, country of residence, place of birth and describe yourself in one sentence. I do not know what is more disappointing the exclusion or the decision making process by these companies. For them to loose great opportunities and talent,  because they leave the decision-making process to a program which now a days is taken to heart making their lives easier and in their mind productive. When is too old to still be in the workforce and who decides?