Hiring managers don’t care what you want (objective); instead, they want to see what you can offer them (professional summary). Image: MMD Creative/Shutterstock.com
By: Nancy SegalI regularly hear from people who believe their age is hindering their ability to get a new job or a promotion. We all know that age discrimination is illegal. That being said, individual hiring managers may have biases and unfortunately ageism is one.
There are a number of strategies you can use to minimize age being a factor in hiring and promotion decisions.
Here are 5 strategies you can employ:
1. Keep the focus on your past 10 or so years of experience. I promise you that no one cares what you did in the 1990’s. You do not want to come off as if you’re living on your laurels. Hiring managers want to know what you have done recently. You can show earlier work experience in a category called Earlier Work Experience and list your titles, employers, City, ST without including dates. You can, if there’s room, list an accomplishment or two.
2. Remove graduation dates (if you graduated more than a couple of years ago). If your resume states that you graduated in 1978, for example, the first thing anyone is going to do is the “math” to figure out how old you are.
3. Ensure you have an updated email address. Your email should be Gmail or something similar. You should not be using AOL or Yahoo for job hunting. AOL especially screams that you got your email 25+ years ago.
4. Remove content that immediately dates you. Examples include mentioning your success in managing Y2K, have your summary state that you have 25+ years of experience (or even more!), outdated software on your list (WordPerfect, LOTUS 1-2-3, etc.).
5. Including Objectives and mentioning References on your resume. Hiring managers don’t care what you want (objective); instead, they want to see what you can offer them (professional summary). All hiring managers know that you will provide references if asked; mentioning them on your resume is considered old fashioned.
The above goes for both federal and private sector resumes.
If an individual job posting requires something on this list (such as graduation dates), of course you need to include it. But as a general rule, ensuring you are following modern resume standards will help minimize opportunities for you to be eliminated on first glance because the reader makes a negative assumption about your age.
That said, be sure to convey the value that comes with your background – longevity can be a competitive advantage. It’s also a good idea to highlight technological fluency to combat an age-based assumption about older workers being uncomfortable with change or adopting new tools – note any continuous learning (courses, certifications, software mastery); Explain what you have done to incorporate AI into your workflow, for example.
Finally, emphasize reliability and low-risk hiring: “Track record of delivering on commitments with minimal oversight.” That’s something a junior candidate is unlikely to offer.
Nancy H. Segal is a federal job search expert. Following her own senior-level federal HR career, she founded Solutions for the Workplace LLC to provide a HR management perspective to astute applicants to U.S. government positions.
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