Selling Your Wisdom As An Older Candidate...

If you are over 50 and find it hard to get interviews or feel you aren't being taken seriously in your job  search, you may want to pick up Jeannette Woodward's Finding A Job After 50 (Career Press) for thought-starters, recently featured in Business Week's Personal Finance column.

Among the advice in the FAQ:

Does how old you look matter?
Yes. As you hit your 50s, one day you can look 40, the next day you can look 70. During your interview you want that to be the day you're looking as close to 40 as possible. Get a good night's sleep. Make sure your outfit and hair are up to date. Try not to lumber around when you walk or look arthritic when you sit in a chair. You need a quick, energetic step.

How else can you deemphasize age?
Make your résumé as neutral as possible. Don't put down dates for your education or go back more than 15 years on jobs. You don't want to call attention to the fact that you were in the work world in 1966. Once you establish a relationship with the interviewer, you'll have less difficulty with age prejudice.

Is there an upside to job hunting when you're over 50?
What's happening in most industries is, as baby boomers retire, they're leaving a hole in the workforce. If managers can't fill the jobs because they can't find the type of people they're looking for, they might be open to older people. Even if salaries aren't great, you may be able to negotiate things that are more important to you: flextime, more vacation time. If you're looking for the job of your dreams, sometimes you can help structure it.

For more fun and debate, check out the comments as readers sound off on her advice, especially the counsel not to list dates on the resume.  My take agrees with some of the commenters - don't lie or omit, find a better way to focus readers on your skills via some projects or initiatives they wouldn't expect from a candidate over 50 - maybe a functional area blog, etc...

Comments

[abercrombie france]

Pour ne pas être à l'intérieur du comprendre le plus souvent, je suis enclin à n'aimez pas les messages concernant ce sujet progressivement supplémentaires considérez que vous êtes à l'écrire à la mode outre vos moyens personnels, nous avons obtenu de dire, c'est vraiment, vraiment une belle publier de ceux à retenir.