What do you do when your boss is younger than you?

What to Do When Your Boss Is Younger Than You

1. Show Some Respect.
2. Be Flexible and Cooperative.
3. Remember Age Is Just a Number.
4. Communicate.
5. Focus on the Organization.
6. Be Sensitive.

How do you deal with a manager who knows less than you?

How to Cope When Your Boss Has Less Experience Than You

1. Don’t Get Mad. You may never know why your manager was promoted despite their inexperience – and honestly, the reasons are not important.
2. Find Something to Respect.
3. Focus on Your Own Strengths.
4. Make Your Boss Look Good.
5. But Don’t Become Their Surrogate.

How do you become a boss to someone older than you?

Tips for a New Manager: How To Manage Someone Older Than You

1. Earn respect by building relationships.
2. Ease into change.
3. Work alongside your team.
4. Recognize hard work with praise.
5. Seek feedback, not approval.
6. Build work relationships, not friendships.
7. Develop an authentic leadership style.

Can a job interviewer ask your age?

Questions you can’t ask in an interview are those that pry into an applicant’s protected status or privacy rights. For example, workers over the age of 40 are protected by age discrimination law. So you can’t ask an applicant’s age, even if their appearance or the graduation date on their resume gives it away.

Should you be worried about having a younger boss?

But don’t dismiss your feelings either, says Meister. “Having a younger boss—particularly when the person is the age of your son or daughter—can be an emotional situation so you need to deal with it on an emotional level,” she adds. “If you don’t deal with your feelings, it will impede your productivity.”

Is it normal to feel resentment when reporting to a younger manager?

It’s perfectly normal to feel some resentment over the fact that you’re reporting to someone much younger than you. The mix of emotions can be overwhelming—from dealing with feelings of smug superiority toward your manager because you’re older or absolute insecurity over the fact that your boss has this prestigious title and you don’t.

Should you tell your boss how old you are?

While it’s wise to avoid dwelling on your age in the workplace, your experience and life stage are integral to who you are. So you and your boss happen to be in different phases of life. Embrace it; be philosophical about it, says Cappelli. “It shouldn’t be hard to imagine what it’s like to be 30 with kids if you are 50 and your kids are now 20.”

Is it OK to work with younger people as a manager?

The tendency to want to guide and teach those younger than you are is not only a natural response, but a useful one—even when the younger person we’re talking about here is your boss. All employees (managers included) work better in open environments where collaboration is welcome.