Calling Bullsh!t – Age Discrimination is Wrong, M’Kay?

I’ve just read Maggie McGary’s post on age discrimination against older people going for social media jobs.  As a young person (24), I grit my teeth every time I see a job listing for “social media guru” or the like.

I’m 100% behind Maggie’s frustration. It’s not entirely her fault; most old (wink wink) people I know are actually quite savvy. It’s just the ones that aren’t savvy but claim that they are, are so friggin vocal and inches away from actually being mentally deficient. When they label themselves gurus, I’m amazed they have a grasp of the necessary sentence structure. They then proceed to spell doom for other old (wink wink) people.

There’s a -real- difference between using social media tools to market and surfing Facebook ad infinitum or even having a Twitter account; it’s marketing that separates the people who know what the hell they’re talking about from the people who claim to be all-knowing.

I graduated with a dual degree in Computer Information Systems and Marketing… and I’ve seen the worst of the worst when it comes to job listings: for the record, marketing is not cold calling or phone sales. I’ve seen job listings for “10 years experience” in programming languages that have only been around for 2. I see a lot of social media job listings with the same requirement (ie, 10 years experience on Twitter… yeah. #FAIL).  And people wonder why I work for myself.

Then again, I work for myself because I couldn’t be trusted to get up at 8AM unless there is some sort of fire alarm going off, and even then it’s a gamble… but I’m with Maggie – screw this myth that only young people know where it’s at.  Some of my age-peers are clueless as the walking dead when it comes to blogs or social media tools (particularly the ones who claim to get it). There’s no reason Maggie, with a little under two more decades of wisdom on her belt, couldn’t do just as good a job as I could whipping up a social media marketing plan.

What’s more, “social media” as most people refer to it is just a collection of tools and (hopefully) a mindset to actually listen to your customers where they’re talking. And are there gurus?  Swamis sent from above, blessed by the gods who just get it?  Hell no.

Are there any telephone gurus in the house? Try saying that out loud with a straight face.

I’ve learned -a lot- from people who are twice my age or more, particularly in the realm of social media and marketing. But I’ve also had to sift through so much crap from so-called gurus that I’m surprised there are any car salesmen, lawyers, or Made-for-TV personalities left.

Social Media is such an inbred field… the A-Lister “gurus” have spent so long pandering to the masses and tooting their own horns that words that actually should mean something, like transparency and authenticity, are now buzz-words for “things you should be doing, and by the way, where’s my check for being awesome?”

More alarming than discriminating against the gray and dusty is the reverse – discrimination against the value of youth, as if young people’s opinions don’t matter or count or that they shouldn’t even have opinions because they haven’t formed the body of experience yet. I think that’s all relative – everyone has something valuable to contribute; trust your wobbly legs and stand up, Bambi!

This boils down to stupid businesses cloning stupidity to new fields.  If they’re that stupid in public forums, such as recruiting, then you can only imagine the drool-inducing sort of conversations occurring in the board room.  Flee as far and as fast as you can and don’t look back.