5 reasons why mature talent is being overlooked
Maureen Clough, Host of It Gets Late Early, a show about getting older in Tech podcast, recently quoted via Wired mature talent being overlooked “is an open secret in tech”. There’s evidence to support this - Payscale noted that the average age of an employee at Facebook, Yahoo, and Google is 30 to 35 years old.
Why is it that those who are slightly more mature in life and work are being overlooked, despite being highly experienced, talented and a growing proportion of the total workforce? Let’s examine the situation, and why they should still be considered valuable assets to any company.
A key point to understand: No one is intentionally restricting the job opportunities of mature talent. There are multiple factors at play that have resulted in this situation.
Why are they being overlooked?
1. Experience cost more
The truth known to all is that the older someone is, the more experience they likely have, which in turn would demand a higher salary.
Given the challenges of the current market, hiring those at increased rates may not be so attractive to employers when they could also get a more cost effective, inexperienced alternative.
2. Being older than the founder - a potential issue
In some startup/scaleup cases, experienced executives have more experience than the founder, possibly creating an awkward dynamic. It’s easier therefore to hire more junior executives to avoid this.
3. Experienced roles are few and far between
The hierarchical structure of most companies means that more experienced roles (department heads, C Suite roles) aren’t as readily available as those that require less experience. So there are simply less roles to share around a large and growing workforce.
4. The bots won't let you in
Maybe a bit more controversial, but the automated ATS / HR software / job-board ecosystem is mostly broken (some do work - Workable, Hibob, Charlie HR etc). They aren’t geared towards this more mature group and they will be screened out by bots. Unless each company has an experienced Talent Acquisition & HR team picking out the gems, they will be stuck in the system.
5. A ‘culture clash’
With the 25 to 35 age group taking up the majority of roles in tech, hiring someone who’s age gap could mean they don’t share similar cultural knowledge is perceived to pose a risk to team cohesion.
Are there solutions? Here are 4 suggestions to think about.
1. Mature talent can help guide younger C-Suite execs
Their levels of experience would not only let them hit the ground running, but also be a valuable asset to any founder or C Suite trying to navigate the incredibly tricky world of growing a business in this environment. Think about their prior experience dealing with not just company growing pains, but also unexpected global crashes such as the .com bubble, the Credit Crunch and the pandemic.
2. Settled people = less job hopping
Given they are typically more settled in life, mature talent are far less likely to regularly move around between jobs, so you have a long term hire in the role and less costs surrounding constantly replacing job hoppers.
3. Experience doesn’t always mean a leadership role.
We have moved beyond the idea that you get promoted by your time in a role, which works both ways for junior and mature talent.
The 40+ to 65 age group still has many years of health and vitality to give to a company. And given their likely-more settled lifestyles, they may not want the stress of a company leadership role. An important IC role could be ideal in any function, ie Sales, Marketing, HR, Operations or Finance.
4. Consider Interim or part-time roles
A concept that’s often overlooked or just not considered, bringing in experienced talent as interim or part time to tap into their experience. A part-time experienced hire would usually cost the same as a Full time more junior hire
Contact Ellis for a confidential discussion to hire experienced scaleup executives and the Sales, Marketing, Product, HR and Operations team!