Think about this.

Since 1998, the US has seen employment rise by 22 million to reach historical highs. The main cause of this increase isn’t the dynamism of Silicon Valley or the entrepreneurial energy of Brooklyn hipsters. The vast majority (90%) of this increase is due to higher employment for workers aged 55 and above.

Unless you’ve been hiding in a barrel, the greying of the workforce won’t be news.

What does surprise many managers is that older workers are looking for the same things in terms of culture and management as Gen X and Millennials.

Which are pretty much the same things workers have always wanted and I doubt that will change with Gen Z or the generations that follow.

No matter the role you’re hiring for, if you are smart the candidate’s age isn’t going to affect your decision.

And if it doesn’t, then you have conquered one of the biggest hurdles to being a great manager.

Moreover, you will have fewer problems staffing, since you will have a far larger candidate pool to choose from.

Image credit: Amtec Photos

If you follow Ryan’s Journal on Thursday you know that he’s been interviewing for a new position. (If you aren’t familiar with Ryan you can learn more about him here.) Last week he wrote about red flags and deciding factors.

As a Millennial and former Marine Ryan, is extremely sensitive to culture and that’s been number one on his list of wants, including challenge, learning, growing, making a difference, respect, team, etc., and all the normal stuff, such as compensation and benefits.

He has been interviewing for more than a year, both local and remote positions, and finally found it all in a local company called Spatial Networks.

The company builds geospatial intelligence products. Founded in 2000, it has survived the dot com bust and the 2008 financial meltdown, which says a lot about its management.

When Ryan called he was so excited about the company he was practically bouncing. He raved about the people, the culture and said the perks were unbelievable.

What constitutes “unbelievable” to a young married 30-something with 3.5 kids and a mortgage?

Benefits & Perks

Spatial Networks, Inc. continually invests in its employees, and nowhere is this investment more evident than in our employee benefits, development and enrichment program offerings.

Financial security

In addition to competitive pay and performance-based incentives, you’ll receive 100% company 401(k) match up to the IRS maximum (and are fully vested at eligibility), company stock options, and robust life insurance coverage (3x your annual salary).

Complete health

Spatial Networks covers 100% of medical, dental, and vision plan premiums for you and your family. We also offer short- and long-term disability, an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), 24/7 nurse line with care coordination and mental health programs, and on-site gym membership.

Life balance

We love what we do, but work isn’t everything. With flexible work hours, maternity/parental leave, and generous, tiered paid time off (PTO) and flex-time, you can devote time to the things (and people) you cherish most.

Continuous growth

At Spatial Networks, you’ll learn from some of the most talented, passionate software developers and geographers around and receive professional development and training (plus internal career growth/acceleration).

Happy workdays

Enjoy a fast-paced, fun and collaborative environment, a visible and responsive HR department, company-paid parking in downtown St. Petersburg, and all the fresh-ground coffee you can drink!

This is from a follow-up email Ryan sent.

Very profitable and they are growing. Plus the benefits are insane. I receive 4 weeks vacation to start. 100% payout of all medical premiums for me and my family (I was paying 20K annually before) and I also receive 100% match on my 401K up to the max which is $18,500 per year.

(Note Ryan’s compensation jumped $20K just based on the medical premiums he no longer pays.)

I call these adult perks, plenty of coffee, but no food. Unlike so many perks at companies such as Google and Facebook, none of these are designed to encourage people to stay at the office or build their lives around work.

Image credit: Spatial Networks

Technically I am a millennial, but on the older side of the generation. One thing I read a lot about my generation is the fact that we job hop and are never content.

I think this is a simplified observation by others as there are a lot of factors at play when deciding on leaving a company. This can range from the simple event where a better opportunity presented itself to the those leaving because the company is toxic.

I have been in the situation where I have started looking around, but also hold back out of loyalty to the current role. I am often curious though, is loyalty enough?

I think loyalty is an admirable quality when used in the right cases. Obviously you want to be loyal to a partner or family. Being loyal to friends is also welcomed.

In some cases loyalty can burn you. We all have that friend who drags us down that we stay loyal too. Jobs can do that as well. We feel guilt for looking elsewhere.

I often wonder why that is.

In my personal life I try to remain truthful to myself and my career regardless of the circumstances. When I am viewing other roles I remind myself that I still have a job to do and I want to do my best.

However, guilt remains.

I have thought about it I have reached the conclusion that, for myself, I try to keep people happy. As a result I hate to let people down and know that happens when people quit.

What are your motivations when leaving or job hunting?

I doubt it is as simple as people make it seem from the outside.

I believe that wisdom isn’t necessarily a matter of age or experience, but rather the result of deep thinking, as opposed to distracted thinking.

Last spring my young friend, “Carrie,” started an online diary. The entries are very brief, but the thought behind them is anything but.

They contain far more thought and intelligent conclusions than many folks who have been around decades longer — of course, most people have never asked the questions, let alone thought deeply about them.

Carrie has a brutal schedule, so there are only four entries, which means it will only take a few minutes for you to read them.

Here are a couple of teasers.

Trust me,…Honestly,… But here’s the thing,…
Society has developed a language of layers. We talk in circles that have little points and more layers of why anything and everything happened.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Push or get pushed. Walk or get walked on. Laugh or be laughed at. The concept of survivor of the fittest grows unnaturally in our culture.

However, it will take much longer to follow the thoughts they trigger.

Image credit credit: Chris McBrien

14 years and $8 billion led Wednesday to the activation of the Large Hadron Collider. (I doubt that US short-term thinking and tendency to cut scientific/education funding could have done it.)

The collider has to be some of the coolest science to come down the road in quite a while. But what I really loved was a collateral happening that goes along way to proving that science and the people practicing it are cool, too.

Meet Katie McAlpine, a Millennial whose efforts and interests have led her in a very short time to a fabulous job.

Katie graduated Michigan State University in 2007 with dual BAs in physics (with honors) and professional writing.

She has been the ATLAS E-News Journalist/Webmaster for ATLAS Collaboration, CERN since May.

Katie says, “I am an adventurer in the realm of ideas, and I have pitched my camp at a crossroads:  the intersection of science and writing.” She also thinks that “science itself should be fun.”

More than that, Katie walks her talk as her well received Hadron rap video proves.

See more of Katie’s raps. Better yet, show/send them to all the kids you know.

Image credit: CC license