Comment by cjamesd

My father-in-law holds degrees from Stanford and Harvard, and has similarly struggled to find a job as he's grown older. When I referred him to an open position at my company, his un-edited resume matched almost perfectly, but the recruiter called him "too operational" -- and obviously had not dug in to who he was. I didn't push it but it seemed that his gray hair visible in his LinkedIn profile was a put off. I can't understand this. What is their line of thinking? That older people are too set in their ways? They command too much salary? They will not be a cultural fit because of an age gap? Can anyone describe the position of those who slyly or effectively hire a younger crowd only? (I realize this is a different context than VC world, which the author is talking about but I think it's similar enough to contribute to the discussion here.)