The labor market in relation to middle-aged people is unfriendly. HR managers are convinced that people with Soviet work experience are not able to assimilate new corporate values, that they are not sufficiently client-oriented or loyal to management.
There is some truth in this: it is difficult to make a zombie out of an adult, joyfully singing the anthem of the company. However, the idea that after forty it is difficult to learn new things is completely wrong.
A few years ago, The Learning Age, a national project, was launched in the UK, the goal of which is to make learning continuous throughout the entire working life. People who lost their jobs were given the opportunity to get a free education in a new field. The result surprised everyone: among the three age groups (18–25 years old, 25–40 and over 40 years old), older students passed exams 40% more successfully than younger ones, and the proportion of those who got a job in a new specialty was higher among older students. by 70%.
The richer the work experience of a person, the faster he masters a new profession
“We used to think that children learn new things faster than adults, and young people faster than old ones,” explains one of the organizers of the project, Brian Seal from the University of Warwick (USA). – But this applies only to the set of knowledge that is taught in high school. But there is also the ability to integrate into the team, resistance to professional stress and much more. Our data show that the richer a person’s work experience, the faster he masters a new profession. It’s like with foreign languages: the more you have already learned them, the easier it is to learn a new one.”
My friend Tamara is a living confirmation of this. After 15 years of working as an editor in a large Soviet publishing house, she had to get a job as a proofreader in one of the perestroika newspapers, where she first saw a computer and mastered this miracle of technology in half a day. She was older than most of the staff, and at the time of the crisis she was one of the first to be laid off. In the new online edition, where she came, there was no proofreader’s rate, but there were not enough journalists.
Tamara was cautiously asked if she could take a few interviews with the officials. The result turned out to be unexpectedly successful: seeing before them a respectable lady who behaved politely and with dignity, the officials did not shy away from difficult questions and were much more frank than usual. Now Tamara is the head of the political department.
My friend has a rare property: she is not afraid to learn new things. She recently celebrated her 60th birthday by scuba diving to the bottom of the Red Sea. The grandson insisted. Next up is surfing and water skiing.