Sometimes I wonder if HR decisions are well thought out by business executives before they agree.

The unthinkable happened twice in the last week, so I wanted to highlight this horrible new trend and advise everyone to stop doing it.

If your company needs to hire people at any time in the future, this is NOT the way to work.

The scenario x2:  a company calls Tech-Tav and says they are in need of technical writing services. They describe the position, we agree (in written and executed contract!) to the terms and recommend some well-qualified candidates. The company then conducts a first, second and third round interviews of multiple candidates that include a grueling writing test and a grilling by HR. Job offers to specific candidates are made and start dates are set.

You can probably imagine that there are a lot of people who are feeling very good at this point. Two fabulous people received job offers that they were excited about; two doc managers are finally bringing on the staff that they need in order to meet their deadlines; and two people in my office (Karen and myself) are thrilled to once again have found amazing jobs for these two well-deserving technical writers.  Sadly enough, the good feelings did not last long. One after the other, these two companies - after completing the ENTIRE hire process - called and apologized that the budget was “suddenly frozen” and the job offers would be rescinded. Whoosh. All those good feelings just flew out the window.

HELL YES!! In fact, I just convinced a top hi-tech company to do that just this past week. Maybe I shouldn’t tell you, but she is actually 64.

Guess what? She totally rocks at what she does, she isn’t going to up and leave her job in another 18 months and she has no interest in office politics. She is fast as a whip and will get the job done and done really well.

When smart companies stop and realize that older workers bring maturity, experience, true wisdom and greatness to organizations they join, maybe then Israeli hi-tech can really embrace the world stage.

The last few weeks have left me upset and reeling. Since my last post on ageism and sexism, I have received CVs and heard stories from all corners of this country that make me want to crawl under a rock with shame for Israeli hiring and recruiting practices (and also their blatant ageism when firing people) and shake these HR people to wake them up.

In my opinion, we currently face a crisis of talent, leadership and direction. The high tech industry lacks leaders and visionaries. It also lacks growth-oriented HR policies. Newsflash – we don’t have a shortage of talent. We have a shortage of people willing to think outside their carefully drawn HR policy boxes.

Any idea what happened in the last few months to spark the technical writing boom we are now experiencing in Israel? Tech-Tav’s phone has been ringing off the hook and I can barely keep up with the proposal requests, training requests and documentation emergencies that have been forcing me to work 15+ hour days for weeks on end. All this craziness is the main reason I haven’t blogged recently (the other reason being that I smashed my hand in a closet, making it really painful to type).

We keep seeing job ads on Techshoret and other lists touting “young” companies looking for “energetic” employees. At worst, it’s ageism. At best, it’s a veiled attempt to let the job seeker know that the salary is going to be low. But I think that by deliberately passing over mature and experienced technical writers, companies are losing out on a potential wealth of knowledge and experience and trading it in for the 1 in a billion chance that they’ll find the next Marc Zuckerberg or Bill Gates.

There’s obviously a bias here towards hiring recent grads or young men and women fresh out of their army service, and for seemingly good reasons. Younger employees tend to be cheaper and have more stamina. You can pile on the work and expect to get a good year or two out of them – before they burn out completely and move on to the next opportunity. But if you are part of a company that values consistency, experience, stick-to-itiveness and long-term success, you would be wise to consider the benefits of hiring a more mature technical writer.