Getting older is becoming easier, not just because we are all living longer but also because the definition of growing old seems to be getting younger. The cult of youth is bearing down on us 'oldies' like a dead weight of stone crushing the air from our lungs and the hopes from our souls.

There is always someone ready to step in, someone ready to do the job at half the price, someone ready to run twice as fast, someone ready to talk faster and care less.

Have you ever wondered why all these call centres employing thousands of 'young' people have such a poor image for 'customer care', why managers spend a lifetime devising incentive programmes to get staff to answer phones competently and deal with problems efficiently? It's not because young people don't care, it's because they haven't got the experience, they haven't got the understanding, they haven't got empathy.

You don't learn empathy, it's a state of mind; it's putting yourself in the customer's shoes, it's the ability to understand and share the feeling of another; unless you have experienced responsibility for others, for family, it's tough getting that sharing feeling; unless you have experienced the 'fears' of trying to cope with the trauma of illness, the sadness of bereavement and the hopelessness of redundancy it's difficult to understand just how others do feel. It doesn't matter how much training, how much role-playing you have done on your induction training, it's going to be a giant leap.

Don't get me wrong; I have great faith in the younger generation. In my personal experience I have never been disappointed by the enthusiasm, dedication and that refreshing sense of moral purpose of the young, especially in relation to the growing challenge of our environment, but I am talking about 'empathy'. I want empathy in my professional life and my personal life, for me 'older is better'. I'm not prepared to gamble; I'm not prepared to risk anything but the best fit.

Have you worked it out yet? I am a lecturer at The Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy in Surrey; I help people to change careers, to start a new life, and to feel good because they enjoy what they do. There is only one thing better that being helped, and that's helping someone else.

There are many challenges in starting a new career, but what better than using your experience of life as a stepping-stone.

I always think putting yourself in the client's shoes is an excellent idea. How would you feel if you visited a 'life-coach' for advice on your career after working for 30 years in the financial services sector, to be greeted by a fresh faced young man whose only 'occupation' has been being a life coach, whatever that entails, and some times I do wonder!

Experience matters, maturity matters, and 'been there, done that' isn't just something you put on a t-shirt. When deciding to make a change often older is better.