The Candidates Interviewing to Replace My Boss All Have Something in Common. This Is Fishy!

Good Job Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by DariuszKolorz/Getty Images Plus and fizkes/Getty Images Plus. Good Job is Slate’s advice column on work. Have a workplace problem big or small? Send it to Laura Helmuth and Doree Shafrir here. (It’s anonymous!) Dear Good Job, I’ve been at my company for six years. When I was first hired, my department was small—just my hiring manager (“Jen”) and me. We were about the same age (mid-30s at the time). Now I’m 43, and the team has grown in size to about 10 people. Jen has been my boss this entire time, through several promotions on both of our parts, but she has gotten a new job and is leaving soon. The search for her replacement is being led by her boss, “Dan,” and I’m not really involved except for a third-round “culture fit” interview. So far, I have spoken to three candidates and noticed a trend. All of them have been in their late 20s or very early 30s. I feel sort of ageist just noticing that, but the thing it … it feels ageist to me that these candidates are all so young! The person they are interviewing to replace has at least 10 more years experience than they do, and I just don’t see how that isn’t relevant! Also, once Jen leaves (and she’s basically checked out already), I’ll be the oldest person on my team by several years. I’m married and a mother; there are a few other people who are engaged, one other person who is married, but I’m the only parent on our team. I am pretty private anyway so I don’t really bring up my personal life or family life at work, but there’s definitely a season of life difference going on. I’m working with Dan a little bit while Jen transitions out, and he is also my age, but I don’t talk to him about my personal life either, and I don’t feel comfortable asking him why everyone he’s interviewing for this job is so young. I guess my question is, is this just how it is, you get older and everyone else gets younger? If it is ageism, who is supposed to do something about that? —Not That Old, But Feeling It Dear Not That Old, But Feeling It, I have been the manager of people older than me, and I have also been managed by people younger than me. It can definitely feel awkward the first time you are managed by someone younger than you, because for the first 10 or so years of our careers, people’s titles do generally correspond with how much experience they have. But as we progress in our careers, people take different tracks. Some want to remain in Individual Contributor roles, while others want to more into management. And once you get past a certain amount of experience, it may not necessarily matter if someone has 10 years of experience in the field versus 15 or 20—if they are the best person for the job. I know it feels jarring right now to come face-to-face with all of these younger candidates, but I’d urge you to give them a chance—both for your sake and for theirs. Now, to the bigger question of ageism—yes, ageism is real, but no, I can’t tell if that’s what’s going on here. There are some bigger structural forces at play (like moms of young kids leaving the work force at the highest rate in 40 years) that make a linear career path a little more complicated these days. What can you, personally, do about it? One thing that comes to mind is that when you’re in a position to hire people, try to interview a group of people that’s diverse in every sense of the word—including age. —Doree Classic Prudie I live in a one-bedroom cottage surrounded by large hedgerows with my sister. Both of us are retired and adore puttering around our garden—sometimes in the nude. We grew up in a nudist colony and have come back to our roots, so to speak. We had lived here three years without any conflict with our neighbors, until a new family moved in a few houses down with a pack of nasty little boys. Never miss new Slate Advice columns Get the latest from Prudie and our columnists in your inbox each weekday, plus special bonus letters on Saturdays. Advice Workplace Jobs