Top Exec Blog (Web Log)

In this baby-boomer obsessed economy, here's a provocative question for career seekers or hiring managers on the Career Path Express™:

If gray matter matters, then does gray matter?

This is not just a tongue twister, but really a philosophical question about who gets hired and whether or not the best talent is being matched to the right career opportunity.

Some say that age is a matter of mind; if you don't mind it doesn't matter. But in the hiring process there is invariably some challenge for the candidate who shows a bit of gray at the temple (highlights?), or a whitened moustache, or somehow has garnered the wisdom, experience and maturity to be known as a "gray beard" (or the female equivalent). While this is a visible manifestation of gray, it does not necessarily translate into success, based on gray matter, i.e., brain power.

In studies published here and there, some data suggest that younger workers are quicker and show more mental agility with certain tasks (numeric, etc.), while more mature workers have a far deeper reservoir of experience upon which they can draw to solve challenging problems and work up solutions far more readily than the younger cohort. Does this make a difference? Is this where gray matters, in terms of effectiveness on the job?

Given that societies, including the US, Western Europe and Japan, in particular, are faced with a pending labor shortage, as the "baby boomers" retire and withdraw from the workforce, it behooves companies and hiring managers to find ways to better utilize the talent that remains, whatever its age, that has somehow been constrained in its career hunt by that pervasive issue of age. Isn't it possible, all things being equal, for hiring companies to use new thinking in terms of matching the job with the candidate? Can't we find ways to use written, verbal or other test mechanisms to match the gray that matters (brains, experience, results) to the task at hand, without being concerned about the shades of gray in a person's coiffure?

With society looking for ways to a) keep the tax dollars rolling in (to sustain Social Security and other such "retirement pledges"), b) keep the economy's labor force competitive and productive and c) forestall the implosion of the economy due to the "burden" of all those boomers who will soon demand their fair share of Social Security's IOU, doesn't it seem logical to realize that gray matter does matter, but gray, per se, doesn't?

Thanks for reading and riding on the Career Path Express™. Care to comment?

© Daniel A. Cabrera, All Rights Reserved, 2007