What Did You Do in the War, Grannie?

Welcome to this week’s Discuss HR, the HR blog written for and by members of Human Resources UK.

This week we welcome back our resident HRD, Sheena McLullich who once again has written a thought provoking post.  Her article also heralds the last of the year from our panel of writers.  We will then be welcoming two guest writers before the end of the year.  In the meantime enjoy Sheena’s post. (Ed Scrivener)

What Did You Do in the War, Grannie?

Luckily I haven’t been asked this question – yet!

However, I’m about to make a confession which will, I fear, immediately invoke a prejudice in many people’s minds.  This could seriously impact my chances of ever being head-hunted or of being recruited into another company and could in fact destroy my future employability. 

Anyway, here goes …. I am a Grandmother – of five.

Actually, I’m called ‘Grannie’ (after my own Grannie who also spelt it that way) and, in my defence, I was 21 when my eldest son was born and my son was 22 when his son was born.  Do the maths, as they say.  Even though my oldest grandson is now five, this doesn’t make me old or even vaguely approaching retirement age, but it does invoke strong responses in some people when I’ve told them.  ‘I don’t think we’ve ever had a grandmother before’ was the response of one director and someone else suggested, in all seriousness, that I might want to reduce my working hours… he never got to finish that particular sentence!

My present CEO said to me during my interview ‘we have a young, metropolitan workforce and you don’t fit that model’.  He went on to say that in his view, that was a good thing as I’d been there and learned from the experience, which made me better able to advise and empathise with others and less afraid to make a  tough decision where necessary.  I’m really glad he did that as it gave me an opportunity to bring the subject into the open and to discuss how my life experiences could enhance the organisation.  Unfortunately not many CEOs share Jon’s candour or his attitude to diversity.  

I’ve been present at too many job interviews (both as candidate and interviewer) where someone has been rejected purely on the grounds of age.  ‘They won’t learn.’  ‘They won’t adapt.’ ‘They’ll be too slow’  ‘They won’t like change’ are common misconceptions. 

Like many ‘baby boomers’, I started my working life in the early ‘eighties.  Back then, the personal computer was just coming into common use.  There was no email, no social media, no internet.  If you wanted to find something out, you had to look up a reference book or ask someone else.  (Networking is not a new concept by the way!)  Since then we’ve mastered numerous versions of increasingly sophisticated software packages and coped with radically different ways of working – ‘won’t learn, won’t change’ – I think we’ve proved that exactly the opposite is the case. 

During my career I’ve had to deal with almost every challenge that working with people can throw at you.   I’ve struggled through recessions, coped with redundancy (from both sides) and had to handle some very traumatic situations, including some real human tragedies.   As you get older, I think you become less emotional and more resilient.  You’re less likely to panic when faced with something unfamiliar and more inclined to step back, assess the situation and decide on a course of action that won’t make things worse.   These are not skills that are taught in business schools – I know, because I’ve been there too. 

So, on my desk at work you’ll see a photo of five smiling little faces whose Grannie has a wealth of experience to share with them (when they’re old enough) but who isn’t ready to retire to a rocking chair for some considerable time yet.  

But I wonder, what will you see the next time you interview an older candidate?

About the author

Sheena began her career in Training & Development before moving to a generalist HR position in 1998.  Since then she has held senior HR roles for several SMEs in a wide range of industries. A Fellow of the CIPD and Member of the US SHRM, she has a keen interest in Employee Development, specifically in coaching and supporting managers to enable them to get the best from their people.  She was appointed as Director of People for SPA Future Thinking in September 2011.

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