Industry Standard, April 12, 1999

Pulling Out the Gray Hairs

By Debra Aho Williamson

Diane Boos has worked with computers since the 1970s. She's held
positions at companies like Boeing and AT&T, and she intends to keep
going for some time. But when she recently applied for a Web content
job at a Seattle-area company she won't name, she was turned down. She
thinks it was because of her gray hair.

"The guy was 36 or 37, and he was the president of the company," says
the 55-year-old Boos. "He's sitting there and his nose is wiggling,
and you could see he was trying not to make reference to age. I felt
like putting him out of his misery."

In another interview, the recruiter liked her credentials, but told
her, "I don't know how people here will deal with you. We're all so
young."

Is "age discrimination" too harsh a term to be applied to the Net?
Part of the Internet's general mystique is its reliance on young
people to work long hours in cramped quarters. Even as businesses
mature and bring in seasoned management, the image of Net companies is
still the same: Youth rules.

"There is a perception that there probably are people who are younger
who have more specific experience, who will fit in better culturally,"
says recruiter Ralph Protsik, managing director of Boston Search
Group.

Others deny there's much of a problem at all, and that qualified
senior workers just aren't going after Net jobs. Says Yahoo recruiter
Phil Quigley, 51, "I just never see anybody at that age range apply
for jobs here. People can come in here with great ideas and do very
well regardless of their age."

Still, the numbers seem to reflect a trend. At Yahoo, less than 5
percent of the company's more than 803 employees are age 50 or above.
Only five of the 450 U.S. employees of DoubleClick qualify for
American Association of Retired Persons membership. And Net.Genesis, a
70-person Web-site analysis company, doesn't have a single employee
over 50. By comparison, 21.4 percent of the U.S. workforce is 50 or
older, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

It's often argued that the rapid pace of innovation and the
work-hard-play-hard ethos at Internet companies require a mindset that
middle-age and older workers, accustomed to the shirt-and-tie
mentality of a different generation, have a hard time adjusting to.

For the few hearty souls who stick it out, there are a lot of benefits
to being Internet savvy at a time when your peers are thinking about
winding down their careers.

"Age is an advantage," says Dick Hackenberg. At 62, the VP of
marketing for San Francisco online textbook seller BigWords.com is 39
years older than 23-year-old CEO Matt Johnson. When the company
recently sought venture-capital funding, Hackenberg was the resident
grayhair – "proof that this wasn't just a bunch of kids playing,"
he says.

Hackenberg got an early start. He led new-media work at ad agency
Chiat/Day, then moved to GeoCities as VP of marketing in 1997 and
joined BigWords.com last year.

Chas Brown, 62, retired from a career in software sales, only to be
lured back to work last year by Third Age Media, a San Francisco Web
company that targets seniors. He now works 50 hours a week managing
Third Age's chat forums and advising the sales force.

Helen Doneger, meanwhile, is on her fourth career. In her last
incarnation, she was a dietician. Now she's the accounting manager for
the Basex Group, a New York-based technology research firm. She'll be
83 in July.

Although age should never come up in job interviews (it's illegal),
subtle symptoms of bias abound. One recent job posting to a Seattle
e-mail list proudly touted the company's youthful environment.

Some blame the Internet's young audience demographics for any
perceived bias. Citing a current search for an editor for a Web site
targeted to young adults, recruiter Protsik says, "It's not [that] we
don't want someone over 40. But in certain situations, because of the
intended market, we need someone who understands that mindset."

That's a perception Marilyn Coughran wants to change. Calling herself
"a seasoned pro of 'mumble mumble' years," Coughran, a high-tech
contract worker for the past 15 years, wants more technology companies
to open their eyes to older workers. In February, she founded
CyberGals, a Seattle-area group for women 40 and older who work in
high tech. So far, there are 27 members, most in their 50s and 60s.
This month, CyberGals members will host a workshop to help members get
the "old" out of their resumes.

The bottom line for workers of any age, however, is Internet
experience. A few years ago, it didn't matter. Now, most Internet
companies demand it. And for those who don't already know all about
the Net, few companies have the time for training.

"The Internet world is developing so rapidly that it's really hard to
get caught up to it," says Matthew Cutler, 26, cofounder and chief
e-business intelligence officer at Net.Genesis. That has nothing to do
with age, though; it's hard for anyone unskilled in Internet business,
old or young, to get a job at a small Net company.

Furthermore, the plus-50 crowd isn't necessarily clamoring to get
aboard the Net train. Cathy Anterasian, consultant with recruiter Egon
Zehnder in Los Angeles, says risk aversion on the part of seniors
plays a big role:

A lot of executives in midcareer aren't willing to – or just
plain can't – give up a good salary and title to work at an
Internet company.

Says Yahoo's Quigley, "They don't realize that their 25 years of
experience will count for something here. Older folks keep their
talents hidden under a bushel."
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How Old Are You?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the two fastest-growing segments
of the U.S. workforce between 1996 and 2006 will be 45- to
54-year-olds and 55- to 64-year-olds. Employment among
computer-systems analysts and computer scientists is expected to
nearly double by 2006, while the workforce as a whole will grow only
14 percent. What's happening on the Net?

COMPANY

# OF U.S.
EMPLOYEES

% AGED 50
OR OLDER

Cyberian Outpost

158

9.0%

Digital River

147

1.4%

DoubleClick

450

1.1%

eBay

138

0.0%

Macromedia

492

3.0%

Media Metrix

90

1.1%

Net.Genesis

70

0.0%

Third Age Media

50

20.0%

Source: Company information research assistance from Hunt-Scanlon
Advisors
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