By Leigh Ann Hubbard
She’s mid-40s. Hitting her stride. She finally feels like she might actually, by golly, know what she’s doing!
“Look at me with all this skill and wisdom!” she bellows, flying through the air with confidence and glee. “I am soariiinnnggg!”
— SMACK.
A glass window (ceiling?) pops up and reconfigures her face.
Words are scrawled on it in black Sharpie:
Run this copy by a Gen Zer.
We need somebody young to help us with TikTok.
Find us a millennial to help us reach millennials.
Hire somebody young we can mold.
Well, crap.
Remember Tom?
“New media requires young people.”
“Modern marketing requires people under 40.”
It kills me when people think that way, but especially when people think like that in senior living, which should be the least ageist industry on the planet.
It’s like …
That lady over there? The one in the bright pink pumps? She’s done digital marketing since there were forums and chatrooms and, you know, “Tom.” She’s stayed up-to-date for decades — social media, coding, graphic design, video editing — the works.
Yeah, her.
She prolly can’t do the tick-tocks.
Or how about:
That dude with the salt-and-pepper hair? He’s written 517 articles, brochures, postcards, web pages, blog posts, email blasts, drip series.
Nah, he couldn’t write something good for us. You saw the salt, right?
Does your age make you incompetent at your job?
Hire for skill, not for age — or you’re cutting yourself short, and you’re discounting some people who are at the top of their game.
Open the window, and see who flies through!
