Too Old? Think Again.

When Did Experience Become A Liability?

I went to see my doctor for my yearly physical today. The good news – I’m fine. The bad news – my doctor told me he's retiring.

I've been going to him for 20 years.

After I got over the shock, my first reaction wasn't, Well, you're almost 70. It's time.

It was: No. Please don't. I'll never find another you.

Because when I look at my physician, I don't see his age. I see experience and judgment, but most of all, I see compassion and wisdom that come from decades of doing the work. From seeing thousands of patients. From knowing when something warrants concern and when it doesn't. From learning things no textbook or medical school could ever teach him.

Those years mean something and they matter to me.

We understand this when we look at our physicians.

We even get it with musicians and actors who've spent decades mastering their craft. Bruce Springsteen, anyone? Or maybe Anthony Hopkins?

We even understand it with journalists who have covered years of history and can bring context to what's happening today. And we understand it with our beloved teachers who have spent decades learning how people learn.

Experience matters.

So why isn't it the same in the job market?

Too old. Too experienced. Too overqualified.

I was recently having lunch with friends, and we were talking about the job market because several of them are looking. They told me they feel like they need to dye their gray hair or get Botox just to compete for a job.

Think about that: We're not asking them to become more qualified. We're asking them to look less experienced.

We've gotten so comfortable with this that we actually encourage people to hide it.

• Take dates off the resume.

• Don't go back more than 10 or 15 years.

• Don't talk about having 30 years of experience.

• Be careful not to “date yourself” in an interview.

At what point did experience become something we needed to apologize for?

Of course, years alone don't make someone good at what they do. Age doesn't automatically equal wisdom. And experience doesn't mean someone has stopped learning, growing or adapting.

But neither does age automatically mean someone is resistant to change, technologically challenged, too expensive, unwilling to learn, or counting the days until retirement.

Those are all assumptions.

Today, when my doctor told me he was retiring, I wasn't thinking about how many working years he had left. I was thinking about everything he had learned during the years he'd already worked.

Maybe we should start looking at experienced job candidates the same way.

Not: How many years do they have left?

But: What are they bringing with them on day one?