About
six months ago, I turned 40 and it was like the world was my oyster - my theme
was Forty and Fabulous - I joked to my
friends and family that if I knew 40 would be this great, that I would have
happily skipped the 30's:)
As
joyous as turning 40 can be, I still find it hard to believe that age
discrimination for jobseekers start as early as forty years old. Incredible!
The reality is that there are millions of well qualified jobseekers who fall in
that category.
So
if you are over 40 and have been unexpectedly thrust into unemployment, how can
you find career success? Well, overcoming the barriers of age discrimination
takes persistence, dedication, a positive attitude and employing a few proven
strategies for your job search.
I
often cringe when well-meaning experienced professionals send me their resumes
for review and there are elements in the content that just scream "I am
old and outdated." While your age - like your experience and value -
should be celebrated, there are simply resume development strategies to keep in
mind, so that you don't cut potential job opportunities too early in the game.
While
you need to emphasize the breadth of your experience, you want to avoid
including information that “ages” you. Here a few techniques that will help you
“de-age” your executive resume.
- Encapsulate your early experience or
positions in a summary paragraph without dates
- Remove the dates from the
Education section
- Restrict the number of years experience
in your profile summary to “15-plus” or “15+”.
- Bring older achievements to first page
on resume under a section called “Career Milestones” or “Career
Achievements”
- Include volunteer, community outreach
and extracurricular activities to subtly diminish concerns about your vitality
and energy level.
- Highlight computer and technical
training to demonstrate that you are current with the latest technology.
Abby M. Locke, Executive Director of Premier Writing Solutions (www.premierwriting.com),
is a Nationally Certified Resume-Writer and Personal
Brand Strategist who helps senior-level
professionals and C-level executives achieve personal success with customized,
branded executive resumes
and career marketing documents.
