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From... Do online companies discriminate against older workers?
April 6, 1999 by Debra Aho Williamson
(IDG) -- Diane Boos has worked with computers since the 1970s. She's held positions at companies like Boeing and AT&T, and she intends to keep going for some time. But when she recently applied for a Web content job at a Seattle-area company she won't name, she was turned down. She thinks it was because of her gray hair. "The guy was 36 or 37, and he was the president of the company," says the 55-year-old Boos. "He's sitting there and his nose is wiggling, and you could see he was trying not to make reference to age. I felt like putting him out of his misery."
In another interview, the recruiter liked her credentials, but told her, "I don't know how people here will deal with you. We're all so young." Is "age discrimination" too harsh a term to be applied to the Net? Part of the Internet's general mystique is its reliance on young people to work long hours in cramped quarters. Even as businesses mature and bring in seasoned management, the image of Net companies is still the same: Youth rules. "There is a perception that there probably are people who are younger who have more specific experience, who will fit in better culturally," says recruiter Ralph Protsik, managing director of Boston Search Group. Others deny there's much of a problem at all, and that qualified senior workers just aren't going after Net jobs. Says Yahoo recruiter Phil Quigley, 51, "I just never see anybody at that age range apply for jobs here. People can come in here with great ideas and do very well regardless of their age." Still, the numbers seem to reflect a trend. At Yahoo, less than 5 percent of the company's more than 803 employees are age 50 or above. Only five of the 450 U.S. employees of DoubleClick qualify for American Association of Retired Persons membership. And Net.Genesis, a 70-person Web-site analysis company, doesn't have a single employee over 50. By comparison, 21.4 percent of the U.S. workforce is 50 or older, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It's often argued that the rapid pace of innovation and the work-hard-play-hard ethos at Internet companies require a mindset that middle-age and older workers, accustomed to the shirt-and-tie mentality of a different generation, have a hard time adjusting to. For the few hearty souls who stick it out, there are a lot of benefits to being Internet savvy at a time when your peers are thinking about winding down their careers. "Age is an advantage," says Dick Hackenberg. At 62, the VP of marketing for San Francisco online textbook seller BigWords.com is 39 years older than 23-year-old CEO Matt Johnson. When the company recently sought venture-capital funding, Hackenberg was the resident grayhair – "proof that this wasn't just a bunch of kids playing," he says. Hackenberg got an early start. He led new-media work at ad agency Chiat/Day, then moved to GeoCities as VP of marketing in 1997 and joined BigWords.com last year. Chas Brown, 62, retired from a career in software sales, only to be lured back to work last year by Third Age Media, a San Francisco Web company that targets seniors. He now works 50 hours a week managing Third Age's chat forums and advising the sales force. Helen Doneger, meanwhile, is on her fourth career. In her last incarnation, she was a dietician. Now she's the accounting manager for the Basex Group, a New York-based technology research firm. She'll be 83 in July. Although age should never come up in job interviews (it's illegal), subtle symptoms of bias abound. One recent job posting to a Seattle e-mail list proudly touted the company's youthful environment. Some blame the Internet's young audience demographics for any perceived bias. Citing a current search for an editor for a Web site targeted to young adults, recruiter Protsik says, "It's not [that] we don't want someone over 40. But in certain situations, because of the intended market, we need someone who understands that mindset." That's a perception Marilyn Coughran wants to change. Calling herself "a seasoned pro of 'mumble mumble' years," Coughran, a high-tech contract worker for the past 15 years, wants more technology companies to open their eyes to older workers. In February, she founded CyberGals, a Seattle-area group for women 40 and older who work in high tech. So far, there are 27 members, most in their 50s and 60s. This month, CyberGals members will host a workshop to help members get the "old" out of their resumes. The bottom line for workers of any age, however, is Internet experience. A few years ago, it didn't matter. Now, most Internet companies demand it. And for those who don't already know all about the Net, few companies have the time for training. "The Internet world is developing so rapidly that it's really hard to get caught up to it," says Matthew Cutler, 26, cofounder and chief e-business intelligence officer at Net.Genesis. That has nothing to do with age, though; it's hard for anyone unskilled in Internet business, old or young, to get a job at a small Net company. Furthermore, the plus-50 crowd isn't necessarily clamoring to get aboard the Net train. Cathy Anterasian, consultant with recruiter Egon Zehnder in Los Angeles, says risk aversion on the part of seniors plays a big role: A lot of executives in midcareer aren't willing to – or just plain can't – give up a good salary and title to work at an Internet company. Says Yahoo's Quigley, "They don't realize that their 25 years of experience will count for something here. Older folks keep their talents hidden under a bushel." How old are you? The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the two fastest-growing segments of the U.S. workforce between 1996 and 2006 will be 45- to 54-year-olds and 55- to 64-year-olds. Employment among computer-systems analysts and computer scientists is expected to nearly double by 2006, while the workforce as a whole will grow only 14 percent. What's happening on the Net?
Source: Company information research assistance from Hunt-Scanlon Advisors
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