How to Get Your Co-Workers to Look Past Your Age

Published by Ryan Healy on June 14th, 2007 in Career Development, Noteworthy, Work | 14 Comments

Starting out in the corporate world immediately after graduation is no easy task. College and the real world are barely even comparable. In college, your peers are your age. All of a sudden you join the corporate world and your peers are in their thirties, forties, fifties and even sixties. It's a big adjustment to feel comfortable collaborating with people who could be your parents or grandparents, but it is actually quite easy when you get beyond the numbers. Here are a few ways I fit in with my older colleagues.

Make fun of your age. The day after my 23^rd birthday I was at work and needed to use the extremely slow color printer for the first time. I had a rather large document printing and a co-worker and my boss were also waiting for their documents to print.

My colleague said, "So you think now that you are 23 you can use the color printer?"

I sarcastically replied, "I thought you had to be 23 to use the color printer. Why do you think I never used it before?"

Yes, it was a very corny joke, but we all got a good laugh out of it and nobody took it seriously. It's nice to be able to joke around with your older colleagues and bosses. If you take yourself or your age too seriously, people will consider you the arrogant young guy who thinks he deserves more than he actually does.

Joke about your co-workers being "over the hill." There is a very fine line between joking around and being mean. Be careful with this one and don't get out of line. If someone brings up their exciting weekend of doing yard work and going to bed bath and beyond, say something like "My weekend wasn't quite as exciting as going to bed bath and beyond, but I did go on a date on Friday and to a concert with my old college buddies on Saturday." A quick one liner like this will not upset anyone and it allows you to chime in when your older colleagues are talking about things that you really can't relate to.

I must warn you. I don't work with too many women on my current project, but I know they can be a little more sensitive when it comes to their age. Use your best judgment when deciding who to poke fun at for being "over the hill."

Tell stories about your exciting weekends at the bar. My older co-workers love hearing what I did over the weekend. If I say I took it easy and stayed in, they are actually upset that I am "wasting my youth." They love to hear these stories because they used to do the exact same things. Often, co-workers will talk about their crazy adventures when they were "twentysomethings." You can really learn a lot about your coworkers by discussing your good times at the bar!

Be Yourself. This sounds simple enough, but it's easy to put on the corporate face and try to act older then you actually are. Don't make dirty jokes or get too wasted at happy hour with your co-workers, but there is no need to pretend you are older then you actually are. If I know nothing about cub scouts or Sponge Bob Square Pants I'm not going to pretend I do.

However, when little league stories come up, I chime in about my days as an All Star. It was only about 10 years ago after all; Phone cards; those days are still pretty fresh in my mind! Your co-workers will respect you and appreciate you for being genuine, and you won't look stupid talking about kids toys.

In the end, all of the young jokes coming from your colleagues are fun and harmless. Go ahead and let your older co-workers relive their twenties through your stories. This will humanize you and build solid relations that can extend beyond the office.