The average age of the engineers that built the most powerful rocket ever built in human history, which landed a man on the moon, had an average age of 28. Now the average age of a NASA engineer is 47. I don't want to sound ageist, but it's been a good long while since anyone's been on the moon.
So does the average age of a company's employees say anything about its dynamism? Well, maybe I'm a little biased because I'm still a little wet behind the ears, but I think it might just have something to do with it. The chart below shows innovative companies like Facebook, LinkedIn, Salesforce and Google all having considerable younger median ages than the likes of IBM and Oracle. Don't get me wrong, the latter two are great companies, and probably have a fair bit to teach up and coming tech unicorns. But their corporate cultures just aren't as attractive as the newer start-ups. Working at IBM just doesn't sound as exciting as working at Facebook or Google. Don't agree with me? Facebook and LinkedIn are 5th and 6th respectively on the Glassdoor rankings of top companies to work for, whereas IBM didn't make the top 50.
That said, a broad range of ages and experience is obviously superior for most teams, and it shouldn't be something you set out to hire for. If you are looking at getting in some young talent, this chart from Quartz shows what they look for. Turns out its money!
Median age chart
What appeals in a job chart
By Robert Allen
Rob Allen is Marketing Manager for Numiko, a digital agency that design and build websites for purpose driven organisations, such as the Science Museum Group, Cancer Research UK, University of London and the Electoral Commission. Rob was blog editor at Smart Insights from 2015-2017. You can follow Rob on LinkedIn.
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