I had a reporter reach out to me and ask what I would say to someone who is older competing for jobs in today’s corporate environment.

My answer.  “Experience is your greatest asset.  Your ability to contribute experiential knowledge helps build the asset side of the company’s Balance Sheet.  As you compete for the position, create within your interviewer and company a vision of what they are gifted when hiring you.  Bring the focus to the seasoned professional, secure in who you are.  Ready to contribute immediately without training and tenure.  Highlight that you have raised your family, pursued the corporate ladder, experimented with various careers and now you sit before your interviewer a complete package of ability, experience and stability.  Ready and able to harness your skills in this position without outside pressure or personal agenda.  At 73 years old, Ronald Reagan famously said “he would not exploit his opponent’s youth and inexperience in the election,” as he ran against Walter Mondale who was 56 at the time.  Reagan won 49 of 50 states with humor and experience that exuded confidence.  Selling yourself as an asset of experience, stability, security and capability means turning what may be viewed as a liability into the vision of a more complete and capable package.  Paint the picture.  People are inherently not creative.  Help the interviewer’s view of you.”

An interesting question with many lanes for answers.  As a 62 year old guy, I choose to not surrender my position and the value that I bring because my experience contributes invaluable perspective and insight.  I have read the Bible faithfully for 20+ years and find nothing about retirement and continue to lean in on the truth that my age is a much needed asset for those coming behind me and entering seasons of leadership.

I choose to segment life into three primary seasons (trimesters of life).  Getting started and established in the first trimester.  Building and leading in the second.  And guiding and giving in the third.  I’ll leave it to you to decide which season you are in and how you choose to approach each season.  My point is this.  You are in charge and your approach to each season of life can be as impactful or self gratifying as you choose.  

Abraham was 100+ and his wife Sarah 90, when God gave them Isaac.  Noah was 500 when he began the 100 year construction project of the Ark.  Job was 70 when he lost everything and started over.  Moses was 80 when he was appointed to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.  Joshua was 80+ when he took over for Moses.  Ruth was 40+ when she had Obed, King David’s grandfather in a time when most mothers were in their late teens.  Most young people love the verse, Jeremiah 29:11, until they learn that the plans being spoken of were 70 years in the future.  My point is this, God’s timing is perfect and seldom aligns with our plans.

You are created for purpose.  If you are older, you have been gifted these years to contribute to others coming behind you or walking alongside you.  If you are in the third trimester of life, this is your greatest season of influence.  Your greatest asset, emotional stability. Your calm in the face of storms being weathered by those who have not experienced these events, priceless.  In the New Testament we are told the story of the disciples being terrified of drowning while crossing the Sea of Galilee and when they woke Jesus, he stood and commanded the storm to ‘be still.’  And it was.

Now I am not comparing any of us to Jesus, but do believe age and experience allow us to stand up and say:  ‘I’ve been here.  This too will pass.’  And then provide experiential context for how the situation will likely resolve itself.  To the new parent, the rising manager, the struggling entrepreneur, the addict walking out of chemical dependency, the wife or husband facing life alone, the knowledge of those of us who have navigated these fires of life cannot be properly measured and likely need our willingness to offer them before the ‘ask.’

So the question begs, do you properly value yourself?  I find that high achievers understand the value of what they contribute.  I know without a doubt that the need for wisdom and guidance never retires.  I believe that if we choose to remove ourself from the access of those coming behind us, we rob them of that which is exponentially valuable.  Experience.  

So ageism is real.  And while adopted by many companies and in many areas of today’s culture, the need remains.  There is no stopping point for selling ourselves.  Equally, there is no limit beyond our own mindset to the value of what we deliver.  I encourage you to love those in your life enough to justify perpetually contributing to all those in your path.  They need you.  Whether the know it or not.

Let’s go.