How Young Are You?

Of course you know that in the United States it’s illegal to deny someone employment based on their age. But it’s not for maturity.

Maturity and age are very different things.

Typically, maturity comes with age. Why? Because by the time you’ve lived a few years, you’ve learned so many life lessons that you’ve become much more settled in how you view life and react to life’s ups and downs — at least that’s the idea. I’ve seen my share of older people act, and react, like 15 year olds.

But you can be young and mature, too. It could be that you simply absorb life lessons easily, or you had experiences at a young age that most don’t have until much later — or at all.

How is this a career move? Maturity is an extremely valuable commodity for young or old. From an employer’s point of view, it’s easy to get caught in a trap of connecting age and maturity. From your perspective, it’s important to project a maturity that goes well beyond the expectations that others have just by looking at you.