This is Richard Celler- I was the attorney feautured in the USA Today article years back on age discrimination. I am now the managing partner of a national wage and hour overtime practice and would love to say that age is no longer a consideration- that would be a lie.

About 2 months ago, I was at a conference on a large national class action overtime lawsuit. I was lead counsel for plaintiff and we had a full conference room of lawyers. In the middle of my presentation, an older southern defense lawyer stopped me mid sentence and rudely asked in front of all? Son, how old are you? I replied, old enough to date your daughter sir. That was the end of the conversation on that point.

His attempt to embarass me based on age could not have been more obvious. To the extent anyone still believes that a baby face means nothing, you are mistaken. I actually have worn an itchy beard for the last 5 years to make myself look older in front of judge and jury. Although, in the last 3 years or so, I have started to embrace my young look and actually make jokes to the jury such as- "I know I look like I am 9 but . . . "

Richard,

Thanks for your response! This is a disturbing story.

Here is the link to the 2003 USA Today article to which you referred:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2003-10-07-reverseage_x.htm

The old do, in fact, envy the young, which may have spurred the older lawyer's put down. The plight of older workers facing age discrimination is far more well known, and the biases against them are real as well (perhaps the older fellow felt threatened with his own diminishing prospects?) An older workers might well say, "Give me a break. He's young, well-educated and handsome. He has an intact memory, physical health and his whole life before him. What has he to complain about? Look at my situation!"

My point is this: regardless of age (or race, gender, religion, sexual preference, etc.) we all need to respect each other for the professionals we are and be aware of our destructive biases.

I constantly come across reverse ageism in fields which used to be anything but. When I started in IT in the 1970s, we were all young, and running big complex projects. Today I constantly hear "He/She doesn't have enough experience yet" from 40+ leaders talking about their juniors in their late 20s/early 30s, yet they got their own first big breaks in their mid/late 20s! Astonishing. Train people well and, with good coaching and support, give them early leadership experience - you'll be amazed how fast they get the hang of it. After all, we all did. And we're running out of us older experienced leaders; we need to grow our replacements - fast!

As a young entrepreneur, I do find it difficult when dealing with 'elders'.
Take the case of when we opened our first bank account for our business. The branch manager doesn't seem to treat us as well or even greet us whereas she'd go out of her way for the other patrons. I've learned since then to fax inquiries first and request for proper briefings. Less chance for age discrimination if they don't see you from the start.
I'd agree with @Jim though that it goes both ways. I meet with fellow tech startups and they're mostly in the 20s to mid30s age range. I suspect it'll be hard to deal with elders just because of the slim chance of their interest in web application development... or is that a stereotype again?

When I first learned that the age discrimination law was meant to protect workers over 40 I was shocked. I'm the one that needs protection?!!

At 27, my age seems to be my biggest obstacle (yes, even more than being a woman and a minority. For some reason, I've consistently found myself in jobs where the majority of people I work with could be my mother (or father) and (at least at first) have had a way of treating me as such. My way of counteracting has been to never "respect my elders" as the saying goes but to treat them like colleagues from the get-go--as if I am unaware of the years between us.

As the current associate editor for a business research journal, imagine what it's like when I try to tell a grey-haired PhD professor that his article needs more work... For this job, my primary mode of communication is definitely email!

When I first learned that the age discrimination law was meant to protect workers over 40 I was shocked. I'm the one that needs protection?!!

At 27, my age seems to be my biggest obstacle (yes, even more than being a woman and a minority. For some reason, I've consistently found myself in jobs where the majority of people I work with could be my mother (or father) and (at least at first) have had a way of treating me as such. My way of counteracting has been to never "respect my elders" as the saying goes but to treat them like colleagues from the get-go--as if I am unaware of the years between us.

As the current associate editor for a business research journal, imagine what it's like when I try to tell a grey-haired PhD professor that his article needs more work... For this job, my primary mode of communication is definitely email!

Diversity is one of the keys to creating next generation products and services, Diversity comes in many flavors: age, race, gender, background, and thinking. Digital immigrants and digital natives can thrive with collaboration. Bronwyn, great that you're bringing attention to this issue.

Are You Underutilizing Younger Employees?
Bronwyn Fryer
When companies refuse to hire or promote experienced people over 50, it’s called ageism. But, what do you call it when you overlook or dismiss a serious young professional?
You are telling me of what place?
Let us get that perception clear. You meet people, you talk to them, they understand you and you understand them. I fail to se the age area here. Later that night, I thought more deeply about my behavior. You are pepped with the ego. You were late. You ought to have shut your trap that time. The next 100 years are for the youths. All products are fro the teens from 12 to 27. So what was your idea of thinking that the Harvard
The youths are taking over the businesses from the fathers and passing these to the sons who are now at the age of 11. When you and I talk of the teens, we usher ourselves in the ages of 70 when the teen was 13 the end note teen or tin. This is misconception. The teens are now from 11 to 27.
It is not our fault. Honest. At that time, we were taught the life insurance was good enough for the endowments at 50. No. The age is 90 and the insurances premiums will give you a better idea of how old we are. The premiums high tells us, we are gone.
I honestly think when we talk to the youths talk to them about the latest the in the Blue DVD and the Vista or, “What is the latest in the virus to stop my PC getting hacked.” That will tear him/her apart, they will tell us how deep are they, and how down the tube we are. Talk of the I-pods walk with the music, exercise with the wires stuck in the ears. They love these rather then, “So what are you doing”.
It is getting the tricky to break the ice once we are over 30.
We are nerds, hippos carrying the body and less brain.
I thank you
Firozali A. Mulla MBA PhD
P.O.Box 6044
Dar-Es-Salaam
Tanzania
East Africa

Are You Underutilizing Younger Employees?
Bronwyn Fryer
When companies refuse to hire or promote experienced people over 50, it’s called ageism. But, what do you call it when you overlook or dismiss a serious young professional?
You are telling me of what place?
Have you noticed that the advertisement companies are turning more of the Black and White with little with of colour in it?.
I thank you
Firozali A. Mulla MBA PhD
P.O.Box 6044
Dar-Es-Salaam
Tanzania
East Africa

We have a small organization of around 50 people. I run the company - I'll be 27 in June - and we have a good variety in the staff profiles, from fresh graduates to seasoned managers with 15-30 years experience.

I was speaking to a Senior Manager from one of the departments to see how we utilize our younger staff, and we found that we were sending out good quality engineering graduates to undertake tasks that with the training that we provide can be undertaken by almost anyone (even those with no high school degree).

Especially in India, where we operate, the traditional system in our industry (construction machinery) seems to be essentially that people get given tasks where they can fully utilize their minds and spirit of enterprise, after they've had around 5-7 years of experience.

We're looking at running a small pilot program where we change things around - sending our technicians instead of our engineers for customer servicing. And those engineers will be occupied in areas where we are desperately short of brainpower, i.e. marketing and customer relationship management.

Thanks for the post Bronwyn. If you'd like, I can relate the experience of the pilot program.