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How to make age less of a factor in your job search

How to make age less of a factor in your job search

Stacey A. Gordon MBA discusses how to make age less of a factor in your job search and application.

I was reading an article about age bias and discrimination with the premise that new research shows it's harder to get hired when you're older and my first thought was, "this isn't new." People have been battling this problem for decades and it gets worse when the economy dips because there are fewer jobs to go around. But I guess they meant to say the new research confirms the bias so I won't nitpick.

When I was recruiting I could guess the age of a person by their work history. That's the biggest and most obvious way to do it. Candidates want to demonstrate their experience so they put all of it in their resume. All 34 years! But there's no need because you only need to show 10-15 years of work history in your resume. Anything older than that probably won't be relevant to the job anyway. 

If you've got lots of great experience that you just have to put in your resume, using a functional resume can add in the extra experience you want to highlight without having to use lots of pages (and years). 

Speaking of years. You don't need to put your year of graduation in your resume either. You might eventually need to add it on a job application if required, but many employers have finally stopped asking. At least the good ones have. 

And let's talk about email. Having an AOL email address can age you. I don't know of anyone under the age of 40 who has one. It might be a good idea to have a separate email account dedicated to job hunting anyway because if your personal account looks anything like mine, there's a good chance you could miss an important email. And if your email contains your birth date, you definitely need to create a new account. I know I’m not the only one who has seen this. If you're Jenny71956 at gmail.com, I get that another Jenny took the email address you wanted, but differentiate yourself another way. 

If anyone needs to complain about age discrimination, it's millennials. I don't know about you but I'm tired of hearing webinars and presentations that promise to teach you how to manage millennials or explain why millennials don't work harder or stay longer than two years in their job.

Regardless of your age, you're an individual person in an individual circumstance who needs to be concerned about getting or keeping your individual job. So pay attention to the things that are within your control and make the decision to work with companies who have taken steps to become an employer of choice.

VERCIDA works with over one hundred clients who are committed to creating an inclusive work environment. If you are an employer and interested in working with VERCIDA to promote your diversity and inclusion initiatives and attract the best candidates, please call 02037405973 or email [email protected] for more information.

We are also officially recommended by Disability Confident as a step on achieving Employer status, please click here for more information.

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VERCIDA works with over one hundred clients who are committed to creating an inclusive work environment. If you are an employer and interested in working with VERCIDA to promote your diversity and inclusion initiatives and attract the best candidates, please email [email protected] for more information.

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