Working under someone younger than you

[jango]

How would you feel about that?
Every one will say it doesn't matter if they got ahead by merit.

But deep down will there be resentment even if a little.

Or do you manage someone older than you, are there problems?

[ThePerfectCrime]

Haven't started a proper career yet but in my retail job, everyone in my department is younger than me and in their teens. I'm actually quite an old person (I'm 22) compared to them. If our manager is unavailable due to sickness or holiday, its usually the person who's been with the department the longest that takes charge - and he's 18 years old. He also did my training when I first arrived. Feels a little bit weird to be managed by someone younger than you - especially someone who's still at college and talking about which universities he's applying to. But there's no resentment.


People who resent the fact someone younger than them is managing them need to get real. Just because you're older, doesn't make you better at your job or better for managing. You have more experience yes, but I've met plenty of incompetent older idiots who are in positions of power. Some of the managers in both my jobs, for example, can do such stupid things you wonder how they got the position.




The fact of the matter is, I may be more experienced in life than that 18 year old in my job. But he is more experienced in the job and is better trained for it. Therefore I have no problem whatsoever with him managing me.

[smuk]

Well if the younger person is more qualified etc then I don't see what the problem is. I think it depends on how they manage their staff, how they communicate and dictate tasks etc.

For example, as soon as I graduated, I started working as a dentist and both my nurses who are in their early 40s with years of experience have to work under me. We get along very well and they listen to what I say, if I ask them to do things etc they will do it, but at the same time I am aware that I still have a lot to learn and I also listen to them and take their thoughts into account too. At the end of the day we need to work as a team.

It's a 2 way thing, there has to be some sort of mutual respect and understanding, no matter who is older/more experienced etc.

I've not had any problems asking any of the girls (we have quite a lot of nurses/receptionists) to do things for me etc. Fact of the matter is, I'm more qualified, I can do their job but they can't do mine.

[k0012789]

I recently relocated to Singapore. All the guys here have to do national service for 2 years when they are 18, so they do not go to university until they are 20's, if at all. I found myself as the youngest person in my department but not the most junior. Feels pretty good, but they do not resent me - they know its based on merit and I lead the team professionally and expertly.
If I was rubbish at my job, then it is not a problem.

A good friend of mine rose to quite a senior position with an investment bank at a relatively young age. When he was working in the early years of his career, he was doing like 18 hour days every day. In three years he did literally had more experience than most had accumulated in 6 years. Those who get promoted young usually have to work hard and have relatively more experience.

Although experience comes with age, you do not need age to be experienced

[ThePerfectCrime]

I'd imagine people from China might have different responses. The whole respecting your elders and authority culture that they have probably influences the work place. Is that right?

[Pach]

i'm younger than most people in my department and am the youngest of the 3 team leaders (and the original/ first)...

[bendan]

If my boss was a woman, hot and sexy, I wouldn't mind!!

[fixitqwik]

Originally Posted by jango

How would you feel about that?
Every one will say it doesn't matter if they got ahead by merit.

But deep down will there be resentment even if a little.

Or do you manage someone older than you, are there problems?

Unless you're going to gun for the top position in your hierarchy, then it's probably going to be the case that you're eventually managed by someone younger than you. If you're one of The Driven, then it's likely you'll resent anyone managing you in some way; it's that resentment that pushes a person ever upwards, and I think it tends to be apparent in someone at quite an early stage.

I agree that they'll be some resentment no matter what. We're bred to defer to our elders, and to expect some deference as we grow older. Working in a corporation inevitably means we get forced to do stupid, illogical, brutal things to make profit or mask moronism, and when we get forced to do it by someone younger than us, it's going to somehow suck more than when it's coming from a hard-nosed, tight-arsed, middle-aged person.

My difficulty wouldn't be with the fact that my leaders were younger than me, but rather that they might also be the ruthless, manipulative, fawning and bullying type. Everything I've seen in corporate culture suggests these characteristics tend to go hand-in-hand with technical skills and long hours in deciding who gets to lead. Having just written that, I'm lucky that my current manager, despite being only two years older than me, is manifestly better qualified and four years more experienced, so I can accept his leadership despite the negligible age difference.

It's relatively easy to accept that those people are in charge in my twenties, but I can't expect that it'll be so straightforward to stomach when I'm in my forties and fifties. I'll (hopefully!) have deepened and gained so much more life experience, but none of that will translate into being able to call any shots in the hierarchy. That's going to be tough, but having decided that I'm going to settle just below the middle rungs of the ladder and find a way to live a more balanced way of life, it's just going to have to be endured.

[Moron-Oxy]

I've had younger people be my team leader etc. I didn't have a problem with it at all as they were capable. People who i do have problems working for are the incompetent sensitive types. People who take it personal when you correct their mistakes. Bloody pathetic and a waste of space.

[manicmanc]

Originally Posted by Moron-Oxy

I've had younger people be my team leader etc. I didn't have a problem with it at all as they were capable. People who i do have problems working for are the incompetent sensitive types. People who take it personal when you correct their mistakes. Bloody pathetic and a waste of space.

i agree. some people are just so sensitive, it's a job... put the bloody ego aside and stop arguing with me over your own mistake!

yeh i can work under someone younger as long as they're competent. no problem for me, it's just a job.

[Ema]

When I was at Uni we had someone who was older then my dad on my course and during projects we all felt a bit awkward telling him what to do because it felt like ordering our dad around. It would have been cool if he did the whole "don't worry I am one of you guys" kinda routine but he didn't he just always tried to take over the film project and order us about and made us do his crappy ideas. And people were also too scared to criticize his work, even the tutors. I remember his last project (I did film) it was a total rip off of a Ch4 advert but no one dared to say anything. He even used the same music and everything!!!!!!! And then he would criticize our work but we were all budding film directors so all our ideas were a bit out there but he never got it so he would lecture us bla bla bla bla.

So yeah as above, GET OVER IT AND BE A DAMN PROFESSIONAL!!!

[davidchangUK]

its the same where i work, there r alot of guys that r old enough 2 be my dad. some of them r easy 2 talk 2 when u need things done, but others r a right pain. i sometimes tell my boss what 2 do, he dont like it.well depending on his mood but 9 times out of 10 he agrees with me

[Samantha]

It would depend on the person. At my workplace, one of the managers is the youngest person to get to that position in the history of the company but yet she is respected because she is just so nice, respectful to everyone and leads by example.

Sometimes though, even she says she has problems with getting people to behave, especially those who joined at the same time she did and therefore see her more as a friend or peer than their superior.

[jango]

Originally Posted by ThePerfectCrime

Haven't started a proper career yet but in my retail job, everyone in my department is younger than me and in their teens. I'm actually quite an old person (I'm 22) compared to them. If our manager is unavailable due to sickness or holiday, its usually the person who's been with the department the longest that takes charge - and he's 18 years old. He also did my training when I first arrived. Feels a little bit weird to be managed by someone younger than you - especially someone who's still at college and talking about which universities he's applying to. But there's no resentment.

I think once you start a proper career then it does come into the equation a little bit. You don't really care when it's say a student job as you know its not your career.

In the world of the office it's not always the person who does their job best that gets promoted, its sometimes the person who plays politics the best.

I think its not uncommon to be working under someone younger. Out of a bunch of grads starting, not everyone of them will be manager.

[sumyanguy]

i prefer it on the bottom. less effort and more leverage.