Joan, a highly educated, professional found herself downsized after 12 years in a manufacturing corporation. She received a severance, a letter of reference, and immediate access to unemployment. Money saved, access to her substantial 401K, she decided to take a long (much needed) vacation, unconcerned about her future professional direction.
Refreshed and ready to go back to work, she paid a professional to update and polish her resume then began networking within her professional organizations, former colleagues, utilizing job boards, and spreading the word through family and friends. After submitting over 100 resumes, she landed only four interviews with no solid interest or offers.
Six months later and submission of seemingly hundreds more applications and resumes, she remained unsuccessful in her job search. She was increasingly concerned as she had never experienced any length of unemployment. One day a friend hooked her up with a highly recommended recruiter. After a ‘getting to know you’ telephone conversation with the recruiter and review of her resume, Joan began feeling hopeful as she, almost immediately, was scheduled with three interviews in a matter of 2 ½ weeks. The recruiter remained encouraged, as Joan had a great tenure with former organizations, solid experience and work ethic. After returning from one of her interviews, the recruiter made his typical follow-up call to Joan to discuss her experience and to pass along any feedback. This time, however, the recruiter simply asked, “Just how old are you?” Joan stunned, blurted, “56, why?” The recruiter quipped, “Oh, no wonder - you are chronologically challenged!”
Chronologically challenged? Evidently, a tongue-in-cheek method of saying you are too old! Even in jest, that has got to sting!
Even without realizing it, hints of a person’s age can creep into the interview process, without the potential employer even asking. While everyone is well aware of the legalities of discriminating against a viable candidate, due to age, actually proving age discrimination is quite difficult. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) they received 24,582 cases last year on age discrimination and only 18 percent resulted positively for the complainant.
Therefore, control what you can and respond with what you have – your work experience work ethic, creativity, education, etc., etc. Let’s begin with the resume. Unless the job you held in 1979 has a direct impact on the position you are seeking today, it is not necessary to include it on your resume. Listing the last 15-20 years of employment is plenty of experience for a potential employer to review. If you have only had two jobs in the last 25-30 years, the set-up of your resume should list your “Accomplishments” and under separate heading “Employment” listing the companies you worked for, your title(s), and dates of employment. Capturing a potential employer’s attention by what you accomplished first, minimizes any possible negative effect of how long you’ve worked. The actual point of the resume is to get the interview...that’s it! Don’t count yourself out with a long list of employment history and/or titles and one line bullets of tasks. Hiring managers want to see accomplishments of cost reductions, streamlined processes, programs implemented, and results!
If you are not technologically savvy, get that way. My 75 year old (plus) father bought a brand new desktop computer, high speed internet and did not have a clue how to work any of it. He wanted to receive and send emails and look up things, including creating a genealogy family tree. He knew he was never going to learn by just sitting around thinking about it. He had a willing spirit. Gain and retain a willing spirit to learn new software programs or other technology to keep you viable and mainstream for that next corporate setting.
So, now you have the interview and you are sitting in front of a 25 year old department manager. Aggressively overwhelming him or her with your abilities could cause the manager to correlate your personality with a parent or other authority figure. Instead, do your homework on the company and specifics of the job you are applying. Then be prepared to convey how your experience corresponds to the needs of the position, providing the manager with a visual of how you would fit in and how your experiences can benefit their current and future needs.
Do not appear too needy or a know-it-all by attempting to be the perfect candidate for every job. No one person’s professional experience and background is appropriate for each available job in their field. Sometimes the organization is a square box and you are a circle. Trying to fit in to an organization that has polarizing values then yours, for example, will only result in you probably seeking employment in a very short period of time, either voluntarily or involuntarily.
The over age 40 workers today is approximately 71 million and growing. Corporate leaders and hiring managers have become increasingly aware that older employees often add a depth of credibility and wealth of knowledge not typically found in a much younger candidate.
So, get out there and emphasize your talents, demonstrate your willingness to keep learning, stress how your background correlates with the job and employer, reflect confidence, try to relax and step into that next opportunity!
Comments
Upon reading your article, I realized where I am may be providing too much information during interviews and coming off a little desperate by pleading my case, rather than selling my skills.
As I proceed, I'm going to follow a few of your tips and hope for the best.
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